Many parents have to deal with the difficult situation of raising children! Every month, child was sick and sick, even though I went to many doctors, got all kinds of tests, took a lot of medicine. Whenever the seasons change, the weather changes, children are prone to respiratory infections, or digestive disorders.
The problem is that children have not built a strong and healthy immune system in the first years of life. In children, the first 5 years (especially 2 years after birth) is a golden period to strengthen the immune system. When your child’s immune system is strong, he or she is less likely to get infections, and if he does get sick, he or she will recover faster.
Here are 5 ways to help boost your child’s immune system
1. Breastfeeding
After birth, the baby receives some antibodies from the mother through the milk, called “passive immunity”. In the process of growing up, the child’s immune system is gradually perfected. Thus, in the first stage, babies need a lot of immune antibodies from their mothers. This is also the reason why the World Health Organization recommends that babies be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life and continue to maintain breast milk with complementary foods until the child is 2 years old.
2. Promotes gastrointestinal health
70% of the body’s immune system is located in the digestive tract. Therefore, taking good care of the digestive system is one of the important factors to help strengthen the immune system, so that children develop healthy.
There are many ways for mothers to protect their children’s digestive system and help them stay healthy. For example, it is not advisable to give solid foods to children too early when the digestive system is not yet complete, because it is easy to damage the immature digestive system. In addition, the basic way to take good care of the digestive system is to supplement children with useful nutrients for nurturing beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract.
Mothers can give children naturally fermented yogurt regularly to support the building of beneficial bacteria in the gut. Mothers should also give children a variety of vegetables and fruits. When your baby starts solids, offer them whole foods or pureed whole foods including fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Fruits such as bananas, apples, dragon fruit, papaya, asparagus are rich in prebiotics, which help the baby’s intestinal tract.
When there is a balance between good bacteria and bad bacteria, your child’s digestive system will be healthy, better prepared to fight possible illnesses.
3. Maintain hygiene
It is very important to clean and disinfect baby objects and tools. Especially in the corners, or in the pipes of milk bottles, water containers, or baby’s favorite toys, etc. Therefore, parents need to clean and disinfect them with water. boiled or sterilized in a sterilizer, or exposed in the sun, to clean bacteria.
4. Limit antibiotics
Using antibiotics easily leads to an imbalance of intestinal bacteria, making the digestive system worse and as a result, the child’s condition cannot be improved. Therefore, mothers need to remember to only use antibiotics exactly as prescribed by the doctor.
In case of having to use antibiotics for children, children should eat more yogurt, supplement with digestive enzymes, important micronutrients, vitamins and essential amino acids so that children can quickly recover from illness and rebuild. balanced gut microbiota.
5. Give your child milk with added immune-boosting nutrients
In the event that the mother cannot maintain long-term breast milk for the baby during the first 2 years of life or does not have enough milk for the baby, there is an effective way to take good care of the intestinal microflora as well as the baby’s immune system. That is for children to use milk fortified with HMO. HMO (Oligosaccharides found in breast milk) – is a nutrient that plays an important role in keeping the digestive system healthy and strengthening the baby’s resistance.
HMO protects your baby in 3 ways:
1/ HMO is a selective prebiotic that helps nourish beneficial bacteria in the intestinal tract, inhibit harmful bacteria, help a healthy digestive system and enhance resistance.
2/ HMOs act as decoy receptors to prevent pathogens from adhering to mucosal cells in the intestine and respiratory system.
3/ A part of HMO is absorbed into the blood, has the effect of strengthening the whole body’s resistance.
With these 5 easy-to-follow ways, you can protect your baby’s gut microbiome, which is also protecting the immune system, helping your baby avoid many infections to be healthier and have a better chance to learn.