Immune boosting help needed!

[LyndsayMW]

My poor DS! He has been sick, almost constantly, since September. It started with a series of horrible, horrible ear infections. He had tubes put in his ears about a month and a half ago... which helped his ears, but he has been sick with a cold twice since then. In between those two colds: a bout of diarrhea/vomiting. This morning: a croupy cough and runny nose.

What can I do for him? He is one, breastfed, and eats vegetarian/mostly vegan (what can I say? we like the cheese in our house). We are appropriately clean: I am no anti-germ fanatic, but we wash our hands regularly. I take probiotics/prenatal vitamins/fish oil capsules. I give him powdered probiotics or yogurt whenever I can. He isn't around other kids very often. I am starting to question my ability to keep him healthy - but maybe his immune system is just under assault?? What can I do to give him a little boost?

[EchoSoul]

Vitamin D and Vitamin C are the two most important vitamins to combat illnesses. I'm not sure what the winter is doing over where you live, but I'm assuming you can't really get much of any sunlight. Is there a way you can split a pill to give some fish oil, too? Cod Liver Oil I've read is supposed to be the highest-quality fish oil supplement you can get, instead of just plain old "fish oil". Perhaps the fish oil supplement you're taking just isn't enough? And for Vitamin C....I know strawberries and red bell peppers along with orange/yellow bell peppers have the highest concentration of Vitamin C in them, is he getting his daily fixings of either, or both of those? Those are my only suggestions! 

[tanyalynn]

For my kids, a variety of things have been involved in their susceptibility to illness....

--probiotics, but not just a supplement, really overall gut health, so for us, probiotic foods (we use fermented vegetables, kimchee truly is yummy), and I've seen it firm up DD's poop (which was too squishy before), also something to really consider given I assume there's a history of antibiotics to go along with the ear infections?

--food intolerances, for us gluten and dairy, again helps with gut health (saw that improve in DD) and for many kids, really investigating whether food intolerances could be involved (which I'd be highly suspicious of given he's had a history of many ear infections--it doesn't have to be dairy, though that's a biggie--my son's only EI was due to one of the other foods he's intolerant of)

--vitamin D, how much does your LO get?  And depending on where you live, consider whether the dosage is appropriate.

--for my son, vitamin A was involved, pre-formed vitamin A, not beta-carotene-- not every kid needs it, but you probably consume very little pre-formed vitamin A, and maybe, at some point, considering that could be helpful, I don't think my son or I do a great job converting beta-carotene into vitamin A, which can be impaired by several things, but poor gut balance is one

--vitamin C didn't reduce illnesses in us, but it sure helped with severity