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The art of preventing flu



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 10th 03, 05:12 PM
Parker T.
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Default The art of preventing flu

Hello,

Our 3-year old daughter brings heavy-duty flu germs from the
kindergarten on a regular basis and everyone in the house gets it,
including her 2-months old little brother.

We'd like our daughter to start an echinacea program in order to
strenghten her immune system. Little Flintstones vitamins with
aspartame flavoring do no good... yes sweetie, take the red pill...

What's the best way to give echinacea to a 3-year old ? As for
myself, I take echinacea in liquid form added to orange juice, but the
taste is a bit weird and I doubt I'll convince Little One to drink it.

Thanks.

P.
  #2  
Old November 10th 03, 08:17 PM
JG
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Posts: n/a
Default The art of preventing flu

"Parker T." wrote in message
om...
Hello,


Our 3-year old daughter brings heavy-duty flu germs from the
kindergarten on a regular basis and everyone in the house gets it,
including her 2-months old little brother.


Sounds more like run-of-the-mill, "common" *colds*. (This--about now
through next spring--would be your son's first flu season; the first
confirmed case was just reported in our area last week.) You really do
want to prevent him from contracting "true" flu (influenza); it's bad
enough in healthy adults and older children.

We'd like our daughter to start an echinacea program in order to
strenghten her immune system. Little Flintstones vitamins with
aspartame flavoring do no good... yes sweetie, take the red pill...


Actually, a good supplemental multivitamin/mineral tablet probably does
as much, if not more, to support the immune system than does echinacea.
Make sure, of course, that your daughter is getting a balanced diet and
plenty of rest/sleep, and institute and rigorously enforce, if you
haven't already, a policy of washing hands (*everyone* in the household)
EVERY time you enter the house.

If your daughter is repeatedly bringing home viruses, I'd start playing
hardball with the kindergarten personnel. Tell them the rate of illness
within their facility is appalling and unacceptable, and ask them to
strictly enforce their health policies. (Every school/daycare center
with which I'm familiar has such policies; e.g., no school until a
feverish child has had a normal temperature for 24 continuous hours; no
school if there's been diarrhea/vomiting in the last 24 hours.) No
doubt they'll tell you they're doing what they can ("We're trying"), but
obviously they AREN'T doing enough. Ask them if they've noticed
repeated policy violators and how they've dealt with them. Ask them if
they'd like *you* (you might be able to recruit other
****ed-off-at-the-rate-of-illness parents to help) to confront the
repeated offenders. But I digress...:-)

What's the best way to give echinacea to a 3-year old ? As for
myself, I take echinacea in liquid form added to orange juice, but the
taste is a bit weird and I doubt I'll convince Little One to drink it.


When my daughter was younger, we gave her supplements made by Herbs for
Kids. The company, based in MT, has a variety of formulas intended to
support kids' immune systems (go to
http://www.herbsforkids.com/products.asp?pcid=9). We used to add drops
of their "Sweet Echinacea" to a peppermint/chamomile tea blend. (She
drank it, so I guess it wasn't TOO nasty!) There's a "store locator"
feature on the Herbs for Kids site; it doesn't appear to have info for
every state, though. (I'm in CO and have found their products in
various store here, yet no retailers are listed for CO.)

Good luck!

JG ...I have no affiliation whatsoever with Herbs for Kids (aside from
being a previous consumer of their products), and I can't testify to
their products' effectiveness. I don't know which measure, or
combination of measures, kept my daughter (relatively) healthy. I do
believe, however, that Herbs for Kids products are safe when taken as
recommended.





  #3  
Old November 10th 03, 11:14 PM
HCN
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default The art of preventing flu


"Parker T." wrote in message
om...
Hello,

Our 3-year old daughter brings heavy-duty flu germs from the
kindergarten on a regular basis and everyone in the house gets it,
including her 2-months old little brother.

....

The best way to prevent flu is to wash hands... teach the little ones to
wash their hands.


  #4  
Old November 10th 03, 11:15 PM
Elizabeth Reid
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default The art of preventing flu

"JG" wrote in message t...

If your daughter is repeatedly bringing home viruses, I'd start playing
hardball with the kindergarten personnel. Tell them the rate of illness
within their facility is appalling and unacceptable, and ask them to
strictly enforce their health policies. (Every school/daycare center
with which I'm familiar has such policies; e.g., no school until a
feverish child has had a normal temperature for 24 continuous hours; no
school if there's been diarrhea/vomiting in the last 24 hours.) No
doubt they'll tell you they're doing what they can ("We're trying"), but
obviously they AREN'T doing enough. Ask them if they've noticed
repeated policy violators and how they've dealt with them. Ask them if
they'd like *you* (you might be able to recruit other
****ed-off-at-the-rate-of-illness parents to help) to confront the
repeated offenders. But I digress...:-)


I generally agree with your post, but if the kinds of illnesses
being brought home are cold-type viruses, I'm not sure that the
kinds of policies you mention will prevent spread. It's my
understanding that these viruses are frequently contagious before
there are symptoms, and different children can display symptoms
of different levels of severity, so one kid may not get too sick
and thus be well within the guidelines but may transmit a cold
to five kids who all get sicker than that first kid. My child's
day care has the policies you mention, and they're very strict
(I've taken my child to the doctor twice this week to rule
out possible contagious illnesses even though nobody involved
REALLY thought he had anything contagious) and colds are still
ubiquitous there.

If the OP is using 'flu' in the stomach bug sense (boy, I wish
English didn't have that conflation, it just confuses the heck
out of people) I agree that they're not trying hard enough at
her school.

FWIW, there seems to be a general feeling that this is a worse-than-
average year for viruses so far, but every year may seem that
way in a sort of reverse Lake Woebegon effect so I'm not sure
how much weight it has.

Beth
  #5  
Old November 11th 03, 12:41 AM
HCN
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default The art of preventing flu


"Parker T." wrote in message
om...
Hello,

Our 3-year old daughter brings heavy-duty flu germs from the
kindergarten on a regular basis and everyone in the house gets it,
including her 2-months old little brother.

....

The best way to prevent flu is to wash hands... teach the little ones to
wash their hands.


  #8  
Old November 11th 03, 07:21 AM
PF Riley
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default The art of preventing flu

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 18:46:25 -0700, Tsu Dho Nimh
wrote:

(Parker T.) wrote:

We'd like our daughter to start an echinacea program in order to
strenghten her immune system.


What part of the immune system are you hoping to strengthen? The
macrophages? IgG production? T-cell count? Mast cells?


Now, be nice...

PF
  #9  
Old November 11th 03, 04:56 PM
Parker T.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default The art of preventing flu

"JG" wrote in message t...
"Parker T." wrote in message
om...
Hello,


Our 3-year old daughter brings heavy-duty flu germs from the
kindergarten on a regular basis and everyone in the house gets it,
including her 2-months old little brother.


Sounds more like run-of-the-mill, "common" *colds*. (This--about now
through next spring--would be your son's first flu season; the first
confirmed case was just reported in our area last week.) You really do
want to prevent him from contracting "true" flu (influenza); it's bad
enough in healthy adults and older children.

We'd like our daughter to start an echinacea program in order to
strenghten her immune system. Little Flintstones vitamins with
aspartame flavoring do no good... yes sweetie, take the red pill...


Actually, a good supplemental multivitamin/mineral tablet probably does
as much, if not more, to support the immune system than does echinacea.
Make sure, of course, that your daughter is getting a balanced diet and
plenty of rest/sleep, and institute and rigorously enforce, if you
haven't already, a policy of washing hands (*everyone* in the household)
EVERY time you enter the house.

If your daughter is repeatedly bringing home viruses, I'd start playing
hardball with the kindergarten personnel. Tell them the rate of illness
within their facility is appalling and unacceptable, and ask them to
strictly enforce their health policies. (Every school/daycare center
with which I'm familiar has such policies; e.g., no school until a
feverish child has had a normal temperature for 24 continuous hours; no
school if there's been diarrhea/vomiting in the last 24 hours.) No
doubt they'll tell you they're doing what they can ("We're trying"), but
obviously they AREN'T doing enough. Ask them if they've noticed
repeated policy violators and how they've dealt with them. Ask them if
they'd like *you* (you might be able to recruit other
****ed-off-at-the-rate-of-illness parents to help) to confront the
repeated offenders. But I digress...:-)

What's the best way to give echinacea to a 3-year old ? As for
myself, I take echinacea in liquid form added to orange juice, but the
taste is a bit weird and I doubt I'll convince Little One to drink it.


When my daughter was younger, we gave her supplements made by Herbs for
Kids. The company, based in MT, has a variety of formulas intended to
support kids' immune systems (go to
http://www.herbsforkids.com/products.asp?pcid=9). We used to add drops
of their "Sweet Echinacea" to a peppermint/chamomile tea blend. (She
drank it, so I guess it wasn't TOO nasty!) There's a "store locator"
feature on the Herbs for Kids site; it doesn't appear to have info for
every state, though. (I'm in CO and have found their products in
various store here, yet no retailers are listed for CO.)

Good luck!

JG ...I have no affiliation whatsoever with Herbs for Kids (aside from
being a previous consumer of their products), and I can't testify to
their products' effectiveness. I don't know which measure, or
combination of measures, kept my daughter (relatively) healthy. I do
believe, however, that Herbs for Kids products are safe when taken as
recommended.


Thanks for all the information, it's appreciated. I found yesterday
some chewable orange-flavored echinacea tablets for kids, and Little
One does like them. Great marketing tool: they put in smiley on the
tablet, so kids perceive them as treats.

Also, I agree with previous postings and washing hands right after
kindergarten should be done on a very strict basis.

Thanks,

P.
 




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