What to do when your child is sick
Now when we are getting closer and closer to winter, this subject is getting more popular everywhere we go. Parents are either panicking, some are used to it and have medicines ready every year 3 months before the winter or few are not bothered at all(yes, you do find these kind as well).
First, I’m going to talk about why children get sick.
Children, when they are young the immunity has not fully developed yet as well. This is the first reason of course. This comes with time, but it does not mean you have to keep your child in a glass cabinet when the cold comes? No, let them discover the world by themselves a bit. I'm not saying show them the pile of dirt, but just relax!
I know few kids, whose parents let them crawl around the house and outside most of the time and now you would not even believe when I say that they are healthier than the ones who were kept away from every little bacteria (not all of course, as this would be almost impossible).
And the second reason is that there are 3 different times in humans lifetime. 0-16 years is Kapha time, 18-50 years is Pitta time and from there onward Vata time. Kapha time is a physical growth time, children are growing and gaining their immunity. Pitta time is work work work. In this society, we need to work very hard to survive. Pitta time the body is mature and stable. Vata time is aging. Your body starts to deteriorate. This is when you start getting wrinkles and your bodily systems get slower.
Kapha people love sweets and fatty food. I also like to say whatever is white, is what kapha loves..hehe. Which may be bread, potato, butter, fat, milk etc. Kapha illnesses are related to mucus and congestion.
For some reason lots of parents give their children, even when they have stopped breastfeeding, milk products. I know that this goes almost against everything you have heard before, but children do not need to drink so much cows milk. Milk has kapha properties which is causing cough with mucus, sinus problems etc. The same goes with sweets/sugar when abused.
So here’s what you can do when you child gets sick:
Stop with kapha type of foods and dry food until the child is better(milk products, anything which is cold)
Do not force your child to eat. Sometimes the best recovery comes with fasting from food (as digestion takes lots of energy)
Let the child rest. Rest restores the body quicker (the same goes for adults as well)
Do not overload your child with pharmaceuticals (we all have some home remedies from our grandparents which actually worked very well! ). Use ginger, honey and lime instead.
As soon as your child starts to complain, you need to react to it, do not wait until it goes worse.
In general it’s better to minimize cold food during the winter months as this is the time for colds.
Here’s just some foods that you should be avoiding when sick:
Raw and not completely cooked food (including medium cooked meats and salads)
Milk products (milk, cheese, cream etc)
Bananas, avocados and sour fruits (like pineapple, lemon)
Wheat bread with yeast
Dry and cold foods like nuts and seeds, salads
What to eat:
Add warming and digestion helping spices to your food such as cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, black pepper, cumin, garlic
Drink warm fluids like herbal teas
Cooked foods like green vegetables, little bit of basmati rice, well cooked simple protein like beans, fish
And stay warm!