Building Natural Immunity - Even Before Birth

Becoming pregnant changed my world! Yes it changes everyone's world but it sent me off on a tangent from everything I thought I knew.

Having been a nurse for many years before getting pregnant, I had experienced many facets of health and the system that we all allow to make us better. But being pregnant made me question everything I had experienced and believed in until this point. Deep down maybe I knew that it was not the best way. Not what was needed for my growing family.

So the question for me was, how do I make sure that my child does not have to experience the western medical system?

And the answer, by not needing it at all. Not by never getting sick, but by having a strong immunity, meaning that they would recover fast and that they would not have long lasting side effects.

So how do we build a strong immunity for our children?

Firstly, it all starts in utero.
Nutrition and health of every mother is vital to developing a strong immunity for the child. If you consider that everything that a mother eats, ingests and absorbs through her skin is all being picked up by bub in utero, you can see how important it is for the mother to look after herself.

So here are a few things to consider to build a strong immunity:

1. Nutrition - Eat unprocessed, organic, fresh food as much as possible. Stay away from the highly processed, high sugary foods. Remember, anything that you eat, your baby will be tasting too.

2. Consider what you put on your skin - Our skin is the largest organ in our body so everything we rub into it, put on it, come into contact with it is all absorbed through our skin and into our blood stream, then heads to baby. If we want a strong immunity for our bub, we need to consider all the toxins that we put into our bodies through our skin. Even the washing powders we use for our clothes, our cosmetics, our skin care, our shampoos etc etc. When you stop and look at everything that comes into contact with your skin, you may be surprised.

3. Our Environment- so many pollutants enter our bodies through the air we breathe. It is not something we can control everywhere we go, but we can look closely at the purity of the air in our homes. A good way to clean up the air we breathe at home is to get some indoor plants. Look at the type of heating and cooling you are using too as this can affect the quality of the air. Think about any chemicals and toxins you may spray around the house and opt for more natural versions if you still need to use them.

4. Our sense of wellbeing - babies pick up on every little emotion that their mother experiences. If a mother is stressed, a baby will pick up on this instantly and respond accordingly. It is so important for expecting and all mothers to have a way to destress. A stressed baby will have a lower immunity and will get sick more often. I completely understand that it is not possible to avoid stress and in fact some stress can be good for you, but it is having a system to manage stress, before it gets overwhelming. For me, I found meditation to be very useful, getting outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine as much as possible and deep breathing exercises. There are many ways you can choose to destress, just find one that works for you.

5. Breast Feed your baby - I know that this is not possible for every mother and sometimes not through lack of trying, but for those that can, I would recommend breastfeeding for as long as is viable for both baby and mother, at least for the first year. The first milk, the Colostrum, lines the mucous membranes in the nose, throat and gut and carries immune fighters from the mother. The gut is where 75% of the immune system lives so by helping the flora of the gut to develop in this way, you are helping the infant to develop a strong immunity over time.

6. Don't be in a rush to introduce solids - As a babies gut flora takes time to develop, introducing solids too early can hinder the development of the gut flora and thus the child's immunity. Waiting at least 6 months before introducing solids is great, and longer is better. When you start to introduce solids, don't be in a rush to introduce them to all foods at once either. The gut of infants can tolerate only certain foods at certain stages and even some foods can be introduced for the first time at two or three years of age when the child's gut flora is more developed. This will then mean less of an autoimmune response and will lead to less food allergies. I know it is often recommended to start feeding solids at 4 months, but please don't feel pressured or rushed to do so by anyone, after all, it is the health of your child that is the most important thing.

7. Let your child(ren) play in the dirt - don't be afraid to let your children get dirty. It is really important that children get exposed to dirt and germs. This actually helps to boost their immunity. It helps to reduce allergies and sensitivities and auto immune diseases such as hay fever and asthma as the child gets older.

8. Stay clear of antibiotics, other pharmaceuticals and vaccines - as much as they advertise pharmaceuticals heavily for infants, from wind drops, to baby panadol and nurofen, stay away from pharmaceuticals as much as possible. They will destroy your child's immune system. I know it is not nice to see your child ill, but as long as it is not life threatening, it will actually help to boost your child's immunity. There are many natural and herbal products available that will work just as if not more effectively than the pharmaceuticals and if you are doing all of the other things I have mentioned above, they will work really well to make your child better, faster. Antibiotics will kill off not only the bad but also the good cells too, so they actually work against immunity. By not introducing pharmaceuticals and vaccines to your child's system, you are giving them the time and help they need to develop a strong and supportive immune system that will be able to fight of disease fast.

So there you have it, just a few of things that I have learnt about immunity and children over the past few years. I hope that it is useful to some and thanks for reading!