Winter Health – Top tips for children and babies

It can sometimes be a little harder to keep your children healthy during Winter, so here are our top tips to help make the season easier:

• The easiest tip of all, but I can tell you that my children rarely do this correctly – hand washing! Putting your hands under the water for a second and not using soap, does NOT count as washing your hands!
• Cough etiquette – my children learnt this at school and I quickly found out that I had been telling them to do the wrong thing when I said cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze or cough. Germs on your hands are VERY easy to pass along to another child. Instead, they shouldturn their heads and cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue or the inside of their elbow if they don't have a tissue.

• Try to make sure that your child takes a water bottle to school instead of using the school water fountains, these can sometimes become contaminated with germs!
• Dry skin and Eczema can flare up with the lack of humidity in the Winter. Make sure that you use a mild soap or soap substitute and moisturise well throughout the day.
• You still need to use sunscreen in the Winter. Don’t get caught out by the colder weather, the sun’s rays can still cause damage at this time of year.
• Sneak immunity-boosting phytonutrients such as vitamin C into their diet whenever possible!
• When you pull out your heater as we really get into the single figure nights, make sure that you check that it is safe to use. The same goes if you use an electric blanket. It always pays to double check!
• Hot water bottles – do not use boiling water and examine for leaks. Replace it if it gets worn or cracked. We change ours every 2 years.

• When your little one gets a cold and their nose becomes stuffy, we find that adiffuser is a great way to provide natural relief. A lot of families use one all through the winter as a way to put safe, clean moisture back into the air.
• Most diffusers these days allow you to add essential oils to provide added health benefits. Please make sure that you follow the instructions when using and adding essential oils.
• It’s important to remember to choose 100% pure essential oils in recommended doses and applications. We like to use 1 drop of the oil in 200ml of water for the first week, then build up to 2 and 3 drops in the following weeks. If your baby is under 3 months check with a GP before using.
• Essential oils that we love include:
• Lavender Oil
• Peppermint Oil
• Eucalyptus Oil
• Tea Tree Oil
• Lemon Oil
• Cedarwood

Hopefully you’ve found our winter health tips useful and you come through this cold and flu season unscathed.

We’d love to hear if you have any tips of your own to avoid the dreaded lurgy!