Sick Kids

So, I guess it’s sick kid season. Facebook is full of posts and comments about sick kids. Every time I look, someone else is talking about their sick kid. They’re taking them to the doctor. They won’t take their medicine. They’re on their 50th round of antibiotics. It just seems endless.
If this describes you and your kids, please don’t misunderstand me, many of you are my friends and I’m not criticizing you or your posts and certainly not your children. My concern is that it seems like too many kids are too sick, too much of the time. I can’t help but wonder why this is.
I have 2 kids, ages 6 and 2, and my family’s experience with illness has been very different. Why? I can only guess. I don’t think my kids are genetically lucky, or that it’s just random chance. I also don’t think my kids are magically protected. They could become very ill at any time. But, I think that the biggest difference between most (not all) families around us and ourselves is that we have an enormous amount of faith in our body’s ability to self-regulate and to protect and heal itself. This idea appears to be foreign to a great many people.
Our immune system is a wondrous thing. When you think about it, we are surrounded by germs all the time. Why do we get sick sometimes, but not all the time? It’s because our immune system is at work protecting us from getting sick. This is not a foolproof system. It can be overwhelmed, but there are things we can do to help our immune systems help us. I believe that they can make the difference between healthy kids and chronically sick kids.
A number of things affect our immune systems such as what we eat, exposure to environmental toxins (other than food), how much sleep we get, getting enough exercise, our mental attitudes, and any stress-relieving activities that we might engage in. Let’s take these one at a time.
Nutrition: This might just be the biggest factor for kids. So many kids are addicted to junk! In today’s society it is nearly impossible to avoid junk altogether, I agree. But, for the sake of our kids, we must try really, really hard to help them eat right. If this isn’t done right from the start, it is much harder to correct later. You doom your children to early heart disease, diabetes, and much more including spending much of childhood sick if you don’t teach them to eat right. Candy, chips, soda, ice cream, cake, pie, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, energy drinks, and coffee drinks, should be rare exceptions to the diet, not the norm. When we allow our children to eat these foods regularly, we are teaching them how to eat and we are failing them, big time! Instead we must insist on healthier foods, no matter how difficult this is. The consequence of refusing the healthy food? Hunger. Deal with it, kid. And you may not be their best friend for a while (not exactly the job of a parent anyway). Do my kids eat salad all day? No. Do they eat perfectly? No. Am I a perfect parent? Definitely not. But, my kids are rarely sick, and when they are, it’s mild and brief. I believe that nutrition is one of the biggest factors contributing to their healthy lives. Bottom line, if you don’t know how to eat healthy or how to get your kids to do so, please research and learn fast – for their sake.
While on the topic of nutrition, I can’t leave out the importance of breastfeeding. For some, it’s too late to do much about this. Either you did it or you didn’t. It is impossible to overstate the importance of breastfeeding to your child’s current and future health. Children who have been breast fed are healthier by far. The advantages of breastfeeding are (just to name a few): Healthier babies, healthier moms, decreased cancer risk, fewer ear infections, fewer allergies, higher IQ, less diabetes, saves lots of money, improves bonding with mother, and much, much more (from WHO, UNICEF, & WABA statistics).
Environmental toxins: This topic can be very controversial so I’ll point out a few items that we try our best to limit or exclude from our children’s lives. Number one has to be vaccines. Did I say this topic can be controversial? Our kids have not been vaccinated – for anything! If you have been told that your child cannot go to public school without having been vaccinated, you have been lied to (at least in most states). My son goes to public school and there has not been a single problem caused by his non-vaccinated status. I believe this to be another of the biggest reasons why our children seem to be healthier than most. Another environmental toxin is fluoride. Again, there is much controversy about this. You must research and decide for yourself. Our kids use non-fluoride toothpaste and drink bottled water whenever possible. Also, no fluoride tablets from the dentist. Chlorine in drinking water is also to be avoided as much as possible. Artificial sweeteners (should this be under nutrition? oh well) are far worse than sugar. At least we know what sugar is and we know that it needs to be severely limited. Artificial sweeteners are not natural substances. There is mounting evidence that these products contribute to a large number of potential health problems, including cancer and autoimmune diseases. My kids don’t even chew gum with artificial sweetener in it.
Sleep: I don’t think this topic is much of a mystery, nor is it controversial. Therefore, there isn’t much to say about it. Our bodies heal and repair during sleep. Without it, we cannot continue to function. Without enough of it, we will get sick. Kids need more sleep than adults. Actually, there is a controversy to discuss here. This is the issue of co-sleeping. Neither of our children used a crib. Our son, now six, slept with us until he was almost four. He spent those years with a feeling of safety and security that all children deserve and cannot get by being isolated in a crib and left to cry themselves to sleep. We had virtually no difficulty switching him to his own bed when the time came. We were told we would never get him out of our bed, but this was not a problem. Those people were wrong. I believe strongly that children are affected, long-term, by their experiences in the first few years, and it can’t possibly be harmful to help your child feel safe, secure, and not abandoned by their parents.
Exercise: Again, not a lot of controversy about the fact that our bodies need to be active. Fit bodies are healthy bodies and are generally sick less often. Kids learn exercise habits just like they learn eating habits. Habits learned in childhood will serve them well in adulthood.
Mental Attitude: My kids are basically happy. I imagine most people will be able to say the same thing about their kids, but can you imagine the effect on health if the opposite is true? We all know sad, depressed, negative people. They are usually not the healthiest specimens.
Stress-relieving activities: I already mentioned exercise but it also fits here. Exercise, as long as it’s not excessive, is a stress-reliever. But how do children relieve stress? Is it different than for adults? When a baby cries it needs to be comforted. One of the best ways to do this is . . . you guessed it, breastfeeding! Babies do not need to “cry it out.” All this teaches them is that they can’t count on their parents. If you take this approach, prepare for bonding complications and long-term relationship problems. Children also relieve stress by playing. In addition, as chiropractors we have noticed that our pediatric patients get sick less often than most kids, just like our own children. We believe that chiropractic adjustments play a role in boosting the immune system so this makes complete sense. Children don’t usually need chiropractic care because of a specific injury or chronic back pain. They need it because it’s part of a healthy lifestyle that will contribute to their overall wellness! Incidentally, this is no different for adults. We need chiropractic care for this reason as well.
So, to sum it up, I would say the big four reasons my kids are healthier than average are: 1) Good nutrition 2) No vaccines 3) They were both breastfed past 1 year, and 4) Chiropractic care.
I hope this will help some people. I don’t profess to have all the answers and this blog post is not my attempt to judge parents of unhealthy kids. My kids could be stricken with something awful at any time and I thank God every day that they are not. All we can do is the best we know how and I think I have something to contribute in this area. Again, I hope it helps.
Remember, these are just my opinions, and if you don’t like them you can Kiss My Healthy Blank!
- Dr. Steve