As winter arrives, we all want to stay healthy. Prevention is key, because nobody has time for a cold! We moms especially want to do all we can to help our family stay healthy as winter approaches. We know if we get a cold life goes on, if the kids get a cold life gets a bit harder, if our husbands get a cold all heck breaks loose! 🙂

Here are some easy tips to help your family stay healthy as the weather changes. 

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Who has had their first colds of the season?

Our family got them early this year. The weather in Minnesota last month switched back and forth from 80s to 50s too many times to count. It was crazy! Not to mention, school started and we were exposed to more germs.

Needless to say, we’ve been doing everything we can think of to prevent more colds from hitting as winter approaches.

As the school year starts and the weather changes, there are some very simple things you can add to your routine to help your family stay healthy. Here are some the things we do each day to stay healthy and keep colds at bay.

Easy Tips to Help Your Family Stay Healthy This Winter

Vitamin C

It never hurts to up the vitamin C around cold and flu season. It doesn’t directly cure or stop colds, but it does boost your immune system.

There are many ways to get a little bit of vitamin C beyond oranges and orange juice. Pineapples, asparagus, and broccoli are also great sources of vitamin C.

You’ve heard, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Apples actually contain so many phytonutrients that just one has the antioxident equivalent of 1000 mg of vitamin C.

Fruits and veggies may be our favorite way to get some vitamin C into the kids, but they have another favorite. With all the great gummies out there, our kiddos LOVE to take their vitamins. We were introduced to Solgar – U Cubes through Moms Meet and they love the Vitamin C gummies.

You can even make your own homemade gummies with real fruit or freeze some orange juice throat soothers in your gummy mold like we did.

Humidifiers and Diffusers

As the air changes, cold symptoms come with it. The cold air comes and dryness comes with it. Sore throats and runny noses are almost inevitable.

As soon as the weather starts to change, we make sure to have humidifiers running each night. We used to have huge, bulky humidifiers for the kids until we found smaller diffusers.

They fit right on our nightstands and they are much easier to use each night. The kids love that they have color-changing LED lights.

Even this gorgeous one from TruGardens, that I recently received for myself, has fun lights. Instead of being all white like our other diffusers, it has a wood-look base and a taller, narrower white top. Another great feature of this one is that there is another piece under the top that the others are missing. This means, when you take the top off to refill the basin water doesn’t drip everywhere. Great design!

Essential Oils

In addition to running the humidifiers, we love to use essential oils in our diffusers. We switch it up based on our needs for that night or just whatever the kids pick.

If the kiddos were getting a bit sick, I would put in a mix of eucalyptus, peppermint, and lavender. The eucalyptus and peppermint seem to help with the congestion and you can feel your nasal passages opening. Lavendar is always a go-to at bedtime because it’s so soothing.

When I got the TruGardens diffuser for myself, they also included an essential oil Immunity Blend. A blend is great because it takes all the guess-work out of it for you. The first ingredient is the Eucalyptus, so I know I’m doing something right. It also has Frankincense, Lemon, Orange, Rosemary, and Tea Tree.

Chest Rub

Although probably not a necessity, our kiddos love to have a bit of chest rub when they feel a cold coming on.

Sure, the ingredients in a chest rub often help with congestion and opening the sinuses. However, I think the real draw for them is having Mom spread a soothing rub over their chest. The closeness, the feel of it, and the properties inside all have a part in helping kiddos feel just a bit better.

Another Moms Meet find is Matys…. We have been using the Maty’s Baby Chest Rub since we were introduced to it at WOW Summit a couple years ago. We love it and we love Maty’s.

Once a cold does hit, we turn to another Maty’s product to soothe sore throats and stop cough symptoms. The Maty’s Cough Syrup is all drug-free and the ingredient list looks one you’d find on food. To be honest, I’m not a fan of the taste but the kids take it and never complain and it really helps coughing fits.

Lots of Sleep

As the school year starts and the weather starts changing, it’s important that kids – and adults – get a bit more sleep. More sleep seems to be the answer to everything.

I know this is an area where I am majorly lacking, and I’m sure many of you struggle with this as well…

However, we all know how important it is, and sleep should be a priority. When the weather is changing and the germs are flying, sleep can go a long way to keeping our immune system strong and will help us stay healthy longer.

Some tips to get more sleep

• Eliminate distractions. Keep distractions in your bedroom to a minimum and keep it dark.
• Turn off electronics well before bed. Who sits on their phone before bed? I’m guilty of this. The second I turn the computer off, I’m compelled to check the phone right before I turn in. The blue light from electronics really messes with our sleep. I have glasses like these to filter out the light, but it’s best to just turn them all off early and read a book.
• Drink some nighttime tea. As long as there is no caffeine, warm tea is a relaxing way to get ready for bed. Take some time to relax.
• Use an eye mask. If you have trouble tuning out all those thoughts and distractions, an eye mask can really help. When I find myself drawn to my phone late at night I pop one on to keep my eyes closed. That is, until my kids stole both of them….
• Take a melatonin supplement. This is something I heard about but never tried. I thought it was something like a sleeping pill and didn’t think this busy mom could afford to be drowsy. Well I tried this melatonin supplement, and let me tell you, it helps! I get tired quickly and sleep deeply. I wake up refreshed and I haven’t had a problem if the kids wake me up in the middle of the night, so it doesn’t completely conk you out. There are also special formulas specifically for kiddos that many moms swear by, but we haven’t tried them.
• Stop snacking long before bedtime. This is the hardest for me!! I have such a problem with nighttime snacking, and it’s usually carbs or sugar I crave. That means, not too long before bed, I’m giving my body a jolt of energy. Exactly what you don’t want!

Mind you, I don’t do any of these well! I’m working on it because I know how important sleep is to overall help. Do you have any other tips to add?

A Little Extra Love

This is the most important one.

As the seasons change and the weather gets colder, it’s not only important to take care of yourself a bit more, but give a little extra love to your family.

It can be difficult to be sympathetic to the “man cold” – and I am the worst at this – but everyone deserves a little simpathy and extra attention when sickness is coming on.

Give the kiddos a little extra mom or dad time. Cuddle in bed together. Read some books and put together a movie night. Taking that little extra care and time will go a long way.

 

 

I wish your family all the luck at avoiding germs and hope you all stay healthy through these changes in the weather!

What do you do to help yourself or your family stay healthy as winter approaches?

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