How to Protect Your Child Against Illness:

Childhood illnesses can be extremely worrying for any parent, especially if you have a newborn baby or if the illness is serious. However, there are many ways in which you can protect your child against illness and ensure that they live in a healthy environment. Here are some top tips on how you can take action to protect your child against illness.

• Breastfeeding and Formula Milk

It has been proven that breastfeeding is often the best way to protect your child against disease as it provides them with the exact minerals and vitamins that they need to have a strong immune system. It is also full of hormones which can help your child to develop. It includes crucial vitamins such as vitamin A, B, C, D and K and minerals including calcium and zinc. This makes children who breastfeed have a much lower rate of contracting illness than children who have been bottle fed, including a lessened rate of children dying from sudden infant death syndrome.

However, if this is not possible for you and your child, you should consider investing in high-quality formula milk which contains all the necessary minerals that a child needs. Being bottle fed does not need to put your child at a disadvantage, and Bubbahood’s S-26 formulas are specially adapted to meet your child’s needs as they grow. Not only this but they have been scientifically tested and proven to provide your children with the minerals that they need to grow healthy and strong, including those which they could typically obtain from breastfeeding.

• Vaccinations

Vaccinating your child is an excellent and highly necessary way to ensure that your children are protected from dangerous and potentially fatal diseases such as meningitis. You should make an appointment with your doctor as early as possible to discuss the vaccination schedule that your child will need and what the best time for having these is. However, small babies can contract illnesses from other unvaccinated children, and so you should not delay in making sure that your child is vaccinated when they are old enough.

Vaccinations for babies start when they are eight weeks old, and there are more shots at 12 weeks, 16 weeks and one year old, some of which are boosters. These vaccines protect against several serious conditions such as rotavirus and measles, mumps and rubella, while the 6-in-1 injection covers an extensive series of childhood illnesses which can be potentially life-threatening such as whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B, polio and diphtheria. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that your child has the vaccinations that they need and that they are protected as early as possible to ensure that they do not contract these diseases or pass them on to others.

• Good Hygiene

Practising good hygiene is also vital to protect your child against many airborne and bacterial diseases such as colds and flu. You should ensure that you bath your child often and that you teach them how to wash themselves with soap and other products as soon as possible. You can show your child proper hygiene by ensuring that they perform activities such as washing their hands before meals, if they have been playing in an area where disease can be transmitted, or if they have an illness themselves. You should teach them how to do this properly and supervise them until they are able to wash their hands by themselves.

• A Sleep Routine

We all know how important sleep is for adults, and it is no less important for children who need even more sleep than adults. By establishing a sleep routine for your children such as nap time and stable bedtime at the same time every evening, you will ensure that their bodies can recover from their daily activities and allow their immune systems to be healthy and resistant to disease.

• Education

However, to ensure that your child looks after their own health in later life, you should make sure that they know how to protect themselves from disease efficiently. For instance, you should teach them how illnesses are spread and how to avoid contact with those that have bacterial diseases such as colds. You should also teach them the importance of using a tissue and washing their hands regularly when they themselves are ill.

Although childhood illness is unavoidable, with children regularly contracting 6-8 illnesses a year, it is important that you take steps to minimise infection for your child. By vaccinating your child and ensuring that they get the right nutrients, you will ensure that they remain healthy as much as possible.