natural remedy to build immunity in 3yo (and family)?

[COgirl19]

We are approaching fall again, this time with a 3 week old newborn. DD1 is already sick with the first cold of the season! It's not too bad, but last year I think someone in our family was sick from November until April - YUCK. I really want to try and avoid so much sickness this year. So, besides good hygiene and healthy eating, are there any good natural remedies (such as a supplement, homeopathic, herbs) that my family and I can take daily to keep our immune systems strong?

[tanyalynn]

Here are a few things that have helped us at various times:

-getting to good vitamin D levels, I think 2 illnesses could've been pretty bad last fall and instead were very manageable, I give the kids Carlson D drops 2000 IU/day and as adults, DH and I take more

-kimchee, I make it at home, a lot less spicy than any authentic recipe, but it's tasty and good for balancing gut flora--lots of unexpected (to me) interactions between the immune system and the digestive tract

-vitamin C taken to bowel tolerance when we're sick, made my son's colds much milder and shorter

-cell salts, there's a long thread in this forum, bioplasma (the 12-in-1 cell salt) every day and then ferr phos when they're sick--I think that helped a lot during a recent illness, made it much shorter and easier for DD

-we need extra zinc, and giving it during an illness is unlikely to hurt and may help quite a bit

[MountainMamaGC]

Each Day: Vitamin C (250 mg) and D (1000 IU), Fish Oil, and probiotics. We also do probiotic food like homemade saurkraut.

When Sick: Elderberry syrup 3x day, Cod liver oil 1 tsp/day, Extra Vitamin C and D, Goldenseal. We also do bone broth chicken soup. Lots of garlic, ginger, pepper and turmeric.

I take twice as much vitamin C and 4x as much vitamin D as I give her.

[sbgrace]

Echoing:
Healthy vitamin D levels are the best thing you can do for her immune system. Kids her age can safely take 2000 IU of D3 per day.

Probiotics (food or high quality supplements or both) have immune boosting effects. Particularly, florastor and epicore both have proven ability to raise the immune system.

Colostrum helps my son's immunity I believe.

Handwashing....

Also think about quality sleep, healthy diet, etc.

[Juvysen]

we like this stuff: http://www.mothernature.com/p/Echina...oz/104547.html along with CLO and vit C and garlic tea if I can talk them into it...