When a child is sick

When you have a sick little one at home, there's a little tug in your heart, an unsettling feeling that something is just not right. A usually energetic child is sluggish and sleepy, the lightness in their step is replaced by dragging feet and a runny nose, peaceful slumber is displaced by coughing spells and waking cries.

Lucas had chicken pox at 6 months old in 2009. 

When a child is sick it's hard not to feel responsible as a parent, and more so as a mother. When your care is not enough to keep them healthy and thriving. Of course, it is ridiculous to expect that you can always protect your children from the bugs and viruses and illnesses that come their way, but that doesn't stop me from feeling like I could have done more...

After all, we decide what the kids wear - is it too cold for shorts? Too hot for a sweater? Should they wear socks to bed or not?

We decide what the kids eat - more juice, more water, less sugar, less sweets. More veggies, less pasta, vitamins or supplements, the options are endless and often what we do is never enough...

We decide what medicine the kids take - do they need inhalation? More antibiotics? Is their temperature high enough to warrant Tylenol or should I let the body fight the infection? When do we go to the clinic/doctor?

So many decisions made every day, often leave me feeling unequipped and unprepared, always feeling I could be doing something more...

This feels like a regular rotation every month or so...

We have had a rough spell of sickness between our two kids over the past few months, actually this whole year hasn't been the best for our whole family in terms of health and wellness. Counting infections and viruses, Elena and Lucas have taken 7 doses of antibiotics between them since March. And I am not one to rush into taking any more medicines than necessary. I feel the antibiotics just aren't cutting it anymore (might be making things worse?) and am looking into more natural ways of boosting their immune system.

Here are a few of my health goals for the next few weeks (mostly taken from this article here)
 - fresh orange juice and other home-made fruit and veggie juices
 - ground almonds onto their evening meal
 - cod liver oil (since we're not really a fish-eating family)
 - season steamed veggies with fresh garlic

Also found a great article with immune-boosting foods here - so we'll be trying to eat a lot more of those vegetables and foods.

How do you keep your kids healthy?

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