As a mom of a 4 year old, one of the biggest worries I have is my daughter’s eating and her illness. Eating- because she is very picky and meal times tend to stretch a lot. I have always been extra cautious about her getting the right nutrition through her diet. The second worry has been her health. From the time she started schooling, she has had more bouts of cold, mild fever, cough as compared to the days prior to her schooling.
While I take utmost care when it comes to her nutrition, cleanliness of the environment in which she lives, there are things over which I have little control. Schools are breeding grounds for infections; many kids tend to not miss school despite being ill. Children have a higher chance of contracting diseases such as flu as their immune systems are not as developed as adults.
Influenza, which we commonly recognise as the flu, a contagious respiratory illness can be quite a nightmare for a child as well as the parent.
Every year, millions of people get the flu. The good news is that the seasonal flu vaccine can lower the risk of getting the flu by about half. Getting the yearly flu vaccine is the best way to protect yourself from the flu.
Its symptoms are sore throat, cough, running nose, fever, body aches, fatigue. It may also result in death of the patient. Pregnant women and young kids, especially those below the age of 5 are at higher risk of contracting influenza. As parents, we are usually under the impression that a one-time vaccination helps in preventing our kids from contracting illnesses. However in the case of influenza, as I learnt, it’s a different story.
The virus causing influenza are continually changing over time, and this enables the virus to invade the immune system of the child who has been vaccinated or caught the illness in the past, thus making him/her susceptible to the illness at any time again during their life. Hence its absolutely essential to take the influenza vaccination every year as new variants of the vaccine are developed to combat the virus. When a kid is vaccinated, the immune system produces antibodies to protect him/her from the viruses included in the vaccine. Also antibody levels may decline over time, hence another reason to get a flu shot every year.
Here are a few pointers which I always follow as a Mom when it comes to protecting my child from flu:
- Ensure my kid gets the right nutrition through food, she eats balanced meals and gets good sleep. It’s important to be healthy and combat illnesses naturally.
- In case my daughter is ill, I do not send her to school or out to play. Many of the illnesses that young kids contract are contagious and by letting our sick kids come in contact with other kids who have not been infected, we are putting them at risk.
- Get my daughter vaccinated for influenza every year.
- In case she is infected (as no vaccine can guarantee 100% immunity against flu), make sure she gets complete rest, drinks lots of fluids, eats light food that can be easily digested and takes the medication as prescribed by her paediatrician.
When we were young, I recall how we would be infected by bouts of chicken pox, measles, flu and my mother would spend many sleepless nights in tending to us. Thankfully our situation as parents is far better with the availability of vaccines. So let’s make the most of it and do our bit in keeping our kids healthy and happy.
#IPromiseToStopFlu for my child. You?
You can take the #IPromiseToStopFlu pledge here.
Information sources used- https://www.vaccines.gov/diseases/flu
Image courtesy- TheHindu.com
www.akswrites.com 
That’s a really informative post, Akshata. Many parents get confused between cold & flu and not many know about the availability of flu vaccination. It is always good to ask the pediatrician a lot of questions regarding an illness. The pointers you mentioned will be helpful for other parents too.
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True Neha I too felt parents lack this information
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Brilliant post! I completely agree that schools are a breeding ground for illnesses and I too believe that the only option is to ensure that my own child’s immunity is strong. Thank you for writing this informative piece. The pointers were very helpful.
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Thx a lot Mayura for stopping by
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Making my daughters immunity stronger is my goal too.We took the flu vaccine as a family to keep flu at bay.
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Thats awesome to hear Dr, better safe than sorry
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Good to see you’ve done your research well when it comes to the health of your child. Sadly so many parents fall prey to blind beliefs and anecdotes. We get to see these patients in the hospital only when it is really late.
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very true Doc
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That is a handy list of things to do if and when our kids get infected with influenza. I agree that the influenza vaccine is a great way to ensure better protection.
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True Neha thx for stopping by
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Being a mom we all keep kids health on top priority and yes I too feel that Influenza vaccine is so important now a days …I really loved your tips !!
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Indeed kids health is top priority
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That’s myth buster post about influenza. Especially in India parents are not much about proper approach towards influenza and it’s vaccination. This is very informative read
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Thanks Bushra
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keeping our children away from illness is a job in itself. giving flu vaccination keeps the child protected from flu. it’s very important.
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True that Richa
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Many parents don’t realize that influenza vaccine needs to be given every year due to the constantly changing strain of virus. This is a very informative post.
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Thanks Mahek!
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I can completely relate to your post. As a mom, we always worry about our kids health and vaccinations at the right time are very important to keep our kids safe.
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so true Deepa
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getting kids vaccinated properly is so important. I get the vaccines for my son too. Influenza can strike any time, good to take precaution.
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True that Tina
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A very balanced perspective Akshata. Now that I’ve started working too I cannot emphasize enough how much I wish for my son to be healthy and infection free. I also bring home more germs from work which he is exposed to. I’m so glad a vaccine exists
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That’s so true, even my son started getting sick the day he joined the school. Your post reminded me it’s time for his annual flu shot. 🙂
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