Your kid is sick. Now what?
Your kid is sick. Now what?
Over and over again I read posts like “My kid has a fever of 102.6 (give or take) and is miserable. He/she won’t eat. It’s been 24 hours (give or take) and they haven’t eaten anything! They slept all day. How can I make them eat?!”
What if I told you, at times, the body is pretty clever by reducing the desire to eat when you don’t feel well? What if I told you that it’s totally normal and healthy for your child to naturally fast during times of dis-ease. Not only children, but adults, and even animals alike. If you truly paid attention during your next illness, you might notice a decrease in appetite and a desire to stay in bed.
We notice it more in children and animals because most of them actually pay attention to their body’s needs and have a pure desire to follow instinct to feel better. Adults, not so much. Adults have a hard time slowing down to rest, listening to their body’s needs, and allow their body to do its job in repairing itself. The indoctrination of “you can’t afford to rest,” “you have too much to get done to spend the day in bed” or “you must eat 3 meals a day, every day to be healthy” has been drilled into our heads. If we don’t eat for a day or so, it’s not healthy.
The truth is our body instinctively chooses the priority to heal. Whatever is causing us the most dis-stress at a given time is what the body wants to focus on. It throws all its energy trying to repair the dis-ease – whatever it may be.
When our body is battling illness, it often wants to focus fully on batting the invaders, the “bugs” so to speak. Some researchers claim intermittent fasting also lowers the inflammation response and forces the body to burn fat for energy during dis-ease. When we make ourselves eat during these times, our body is forced to retreat from battling those “bug” invaders because now it has to digest and break down the food(s) you just ate. In turn, also increasing the inflammation which allows the cycle to continue longer.
I’m not saying every illness will cause a lack of appetite. There is an old saying “feed a cold, starve a fever.” Bacteria loads and Viral loads act differently with glucose levels. My biggest advice is to follow instinct. Bottom line, if you are hungry, eat foods that will boost your immune system, feed the good bacteria in your gut, and help you recover. If you lost your appetite, don’t force it. Even if it’s been a full day or two, that’s okay. Listen to the body!
Eventually your kid will come to you and ask for food. This is when nutrition becomes extremely important. Feed easy to digest, high in antioxidants, nutritionally dense food, and foods that rebalance the microbiome during these times. Let your child, or yourself, eat as much or as little as they want of these items or alike. Don’t force a full meal if they aren’t ready.
Fantastic choices:
- Wild blueberries
- All berries really
- Mango (and other foods high in vit c)
- Oranges
- Pineapple
- Raw milk
- Yogurt with live cultures
- Smoothies
- Soup – preferably homemade (chicken noodle is my daughters go-to)
- Bone broth – preferably homemade
- Fresh lemon (aid) water with honey and a pinch of Himalayan salt (electrolyte boost)
- Garlic
- Etc
Okay, now that we’ve talked about the food aspect, let’s spend time on sleep/resting. Why is it so important to allow your child, or yourself, to sleep the day away?
Like natural fasting, our body naturally wants to rest/sleep during times of dis-ease. While we sleep, our body is able to use all of its energy to aid in recovery. Cytokines, a type of protein that targets infections, are produced and released during our sleep cycles. Sleeping actually helps boost the immune response to illness. Less sleep = less energy our body has to aid in repair. As long as your child, or yourself, remember to drink fluids when you wake throughout the day, and if feeling up to it eat something small, sleeping the entire day or several days is completely normal. If, however, there is no improvement after several days to a full week, you need to figure out why.
If you would like to figure out a personalized nutritional protocol to aid in recovery, support the body’s specific needs, and help rebuild nutrition during times of dis-ease, give us a call to schedule a nutritional consultation and or scan. We want to help our members during these difficult times. If you physically cannot make it out of bed, we can schedule a remote session through zoom so you can still get the support you need.
Additional Resources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24434759/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/fasting-while-sick#different-illnesses
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33076307/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7362776/
https://www.healthline.com/health/sleeping-when-sick#how-much-is-too-much
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2839418/
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-health/how-sleep-affects-immunity