Compared to adults, children have their own specific nutritional needs and face different health conditions and challenges. Below are a number of tips to help you understand and support your kids’ immune health, their nutritional needs, and their ability to learn and concentrate.
The need-to-know info about your children’s…
Immune health: A healthy immune system is crucial to a child’s overall health and wellbeing, and it also helps to protect them from any bugs and viruses that they’re exposed to. In fact, your child’s ability to fight and recover from illness is largely dependent on how well their immune system is functioning.
That said, it’s important to understand that a child’s immune system is still developing and isn’t fully ‘mature’ until adolescence. As a result, while adults usually get between two and four colds a year, children can get as many as 10 over a 12-month period.
Unfortunately, as well as being more susceptible to the common cold, many children will also suffer from a recurrent infection at some point – among the most common are ear infections, along with chest, gut and skin infections. Recurrent infections are often a sign of an under-functioning immune system. Fortunately, there are many ways you can help to support your children’s immune system, including using immune-stimulating herbal medicines and nutrients, along with dietary changes.
Nutritional needs: Children’s diets can be a source of concern for parents. As many as eight out of 10 Australian parents worry about their children’s eating habits and a third of parents worry that their children aren’t eating enough, or are not eating enough of the right thing.
A good thing to bear in mind is that young children will never voluntarily starve themselves, and fussy eating is quite normal. Establishing healthy eating early will help your child remain strong and well.
Learning and concentration: Children’s brains continue to develop throughout their childhood, with some areas not being fully developed until the mid-teens, and some not finished developing until adulthood.
Concentration and learning are separate brain processes, but they are related, and one is needed by the other. Nutrition has an important influence on brain development – it can affect the physical structure of the brain , and the amount and type of neurotransmitters that are produced, which influences how it functions.
Here’s what you can do…
The good news is that, not only are there a lot of steps you can take to support your children’s immune health, their nutritional needs, and how well they’re able to learn and concentrate, many of the same strategies can help with all three areas.
Here are four ways you can help your kids.
1. Encourage a healthy diet. For good health, encourage your children to eat a balanced diet based on fresh, whole foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. In practical terms, try to:
- Include a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, and wholegrains
- Ensure your children are eating adequate amounts of protein, ideally from lean meats, dairy products, chicken, fish (especially oily fish such as salmon and tuna), nuts, seeds and eggs. Protein is necessary for tissue growth and repair, and is also needed for healthy immune function
- Include yoghurt and bitter foods (usually well hidden!), like coriander, rocket, watercress and broccoli, in the diet
- Avoid fried and processed foods
- Avoid sugary foods and drinks such as lollies and chocolate, soft drinks, cakes, sweet biscuits and sports drinks. Even fruit juice should be enjoyed only occasionally due to its sugar content. Sugar acts as an immune suppressant and can also have a negative effect on children’s concentration, behaviour and weight.
A few special tips for fussy eaters:
- Be persistent.Research has shown that you may need to offer a new food to your children up to 10 times before they will try it
- Set a good example.Children learn a lot by watching their parents, so eat a wide variety of healthy foods yourself and make the effort to eat with your kids
- A mealtime routine.Try to eat meals at the same time each day
- Stay calm. Try not to worry that your child might not be eating enough – kids will not starve themselves
- Make meals fun! Try cutting foods into fun shapes with cookie cutters. Serve vegetables with a favourite dip or sauce. Present a range of brightly coloured foods attractively on a plate, and let your little one choose what order to eat them in
- Be creative. If your child refuses to eat vegetables, be sneaky and hide them in things like spaghetti sauce, meatballs, casseroles and soups
- Try not to yell, nag or threaten children around foods and eating. Make mealtimes enjoyable and include the whole family
- Don’t use dessert, lollies, chocolates or the promise of other treats as bribes to eat. If you do need to resort to bribery, always use non-food rewards
2. Help them stay active. An increase in sedentary activities such as watching TV and streaming services and playing on computers, tablets and mobile phones is linked to a greater risk of children being overweight.
This is partially due to the fact that increased sedentary time takes away from the time children could be physically active. But children who watch more than two hours of TV per day are also more likely to have an unhealthy diet , snacking on foods that are high in sugar, salt and fat while watching TV. Encouraging your children to be active every day and providing a balanced diet, with healthy snack options, will have a positive impact on your kids’ health and wellbeing.
Regular physical activity is also necessary for healthy growth, development and wellbeing.
As a guide:
- Aim to help your children be active for a minimum of 30-60 minutes every day
- Incorporate a variety of moderate and vigorous exercise into your kids’ week. Moderate exercise includes activities like brisk walking, bike riding, skateboarding and dancing, while vigorous exercise is things like playing football and netball
- Get involved by regularly participating in physical activity yourself. Not only will this be good for your health, research has found that parental involvement in physical activity can increase children’s participation
- Get the whole family involved, too. Go swimming, bike riding and for walks together; play sports like football, soccer and cricket together in the backyard; and take the dog for a walk together
- Encourage your kids to play outdoors in natural environments such as parks, beaches and the countryside as much as possible. Playing outdoors in natural environments may improve children’s learning, behaviour and concentration
- Take your child to a kids’ yoga class. Yoga can be beneficial for children’s concentration, behaviour and attention.
3. Help them get enough sleep. Adequate sleep and rest is essential to children’s health and wellbeing. Sleep repairs the body and refreshes the mind, while a lack of sleep can cause tiredness and have a negative effect on concentration, memory and physical coordination.
As a general rule, in a 24-hour period, children aged:
- One to two years need 11-14 hours sleep (including naps)
- Three to five years need 10-13 hours sleep (including naps)
- Six to 12 years need nine to 11 hours sleep .
4. Ensure they get enough vitamins and minerals.There are a number of vitamins and minerals that support children’s health. Below are a few of the most important to include:
- Omega-3 essential fatty acids. Omega-3s are important for the normal function of parts of the brain used for memory, learning and reasoning.
- Zinc. It’s essential for healthy growth and development and healthy immune system function.
- Iron. Iron is important for a healthy immune system, and for transporting oxygen around the body. Low iron levels have been linked to problems with attention.
- Vitamin C. Can help to support healthy immune system function.