Natural immunity boosters?

[Folkloremom]

Okay, ladies. I am officially tired of cold and flu season. It never ends! And with two kids, it seems like it's worse than last year. Do you have any suggestions or tips to boost kids' immunity? I don't know if there are any good natural multi-vitamins out there or other things that do the trick.

Any ideas?

[sexysisam]

We haven't got sick yet this season [knock on wood]. But I got fully stocked up with all the things I like before the season kicked-off.

For the adults. Netti pot. Netti pot. Netti pot. My husband who has the most contact with the outside world has not been sick yet. He does his Netti pot every day after work. Our salt is 1/2 non-iodized salt and 1/2 baking soda with some essential oils mixed in (tto and rosemary to be exact).

We also diffuse therapeutic grade essential oils in our home when ever anyone comes over who might have "new germs." Check out diffuser world and ebay for ultrasonic diffusers that can run off 20 drops of oil all day. We usually diffuse Young Living Thieves oil or their Purification. Both smell delicious!

For the drugs we take I bought a ton of Occilococcinum (I'm sure I spelled it wrong) which I read is kind of like a homeopathic version of Tamiflu. We also use echinacea (angustifolia is stronger than purprea) whenever I remember it. B&T makes an EXCELLENT cough syrup (it's honey based so not for babies under 1) called Cough & Bronchial Syrup. It's short lived, about 4 hours for my kids, so we usually have to re-dose in the middle of the night. For stuffy nose we really just use the saline drops and the bulb syringe and we always use a humidifier.

Also, the not so natural. Whenever we go to the store we wipe the cart down with those sanitizing wipes. As soon as we get in the car we have everybody slather on the Germ-X hand sanitizer that we keep in the car. And the second we walk in the door we all wash hands. Also make sure you sanitize the stuff in your house often (We use Merlin's Magic homemade Lysol) - phone, switches, doorknobs, kitchen/bath cabinet handles, remotes, toys, etc.

[Folkloremom]

Thanks!

Thank you for the thoughtful reply! Lots of good ideas. I've never heard of using essential oils like that. I'll definitely look into it. And the neti pots. I've heard so many good things about those and just haven't gotten one yet.

Thanks again!

[sexysisam]

You're welcome!

My hubby used a neti pot for a whole year before I even dared to try it. I was so scared of choking. When I finally tried it I couldn't believe how easy it was. Yes, sometimes water would run down my throat, but not enough to choke on. I would just spit it out and re-position my head and try again. I got over a head cold in 3 days.

[JMJ]

Vitamin D - Very important for staying healthy, and in the winter time, we don't get enough. There is strong support for the theory that the reason why flu season is in the winter is because we're all Vitamin D deficient from not having enough sunlight. It'll also help your bones. One of the best ways to get it is through cod liver oil. If you don't like the taste, you can get it in capsules. I eat it on my salads and put some on all the vegetables that DD gets. We got bad about taking our cod liver oil, and that was the first time we got sick all winter.

Garlic - preferably fresh cloves, but any will help. Put some in everything you cook.

Zinc and Vitamin C - I love the Zand lozenges. I down several a day when I'm feeling like something is coming on.