Our Attempt to Stay Healthy During Flu Season

Flu season was never something that I was too concerned about. We would try our best to not get sick obviously, but it wasn’t a daunting task. Fast forward to being a first time mom with a six month old and a particularly scary strand and “hello flu”, you have my full attention. While we’re not completely out of the woods, we’ve officially made it to Spring with just a runny nose in our wake. While I attribute a lot of this to luck, I wanted to share my protocol and tips for warding off this nasty virus. I’d love to hear what your protocol is as well!

• Flu-Shot. I decided at her six month checkup to go ahead and let her get the flu shot. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have mixed feelings about it as my husband and I are not annual flu shot-getters. However, my goal was to keep her healthy and I wanted to pull any available resources. Full disclosure, my husband and I still opted out of the shot.

• Less Germ Exposure. I realize this isn’t an option for many, but staying at home definitely limits the access to outside germs for Lyla and myself. She will eventually be in pre-school and I know we’ll do the whole sick every month song and dance, but I was grateful to not have to go through this while she’s still so young.
• Eat lots of Whole Foods & Drink Water. Food that comes from the ground has so many benefits. Most importantly for the purposes of this post: vitamins and antioxidants. Fill your body with as many healthy whole options as possible and keep the processed crap to a minimum. Also, keep that cute water bottle full at all times. Chug, chug, chug!!!

• Essential Oils. Oils are a go-to around our house for many different things. When it comes to warding off germs, we rub On Guard on the soles of our feet at least once per day and diffuse it pretty constantly.  On Guard is an oil blend that supports a healthy immune system and it is very popular among the doTERRA community. I had a scratchy throat a couple of weeks ago. I would drip one drop of On Guard on my tongue and the scratchiness would go away. Please note you should only ingest 100% pure grade therapeutic oils. When using oils on babies or kids, you’ll want to dilute it with a carrier oil such as fractionated coconut oil. I also use Frankincense and DDR on my feet twice a day and take the LLV Vitamins. I elaborate more on those in this post. If you’re interested in trying any of the oils, you can learn about how to order here.
  • Update: Tim and I take an On Guard Softgel each morning and I roll the On Guard Touch on the girls’ spines. We use almost the entire On Guard arsenal as swap-outs for our every day household items as well.

• Self-Care. Sometimes this is the hardest step, but listening to your body is so important. If you’re tired, try to rest. I almost always get sick after getting run-down so I made it a point to get enough sleep (when baby would allow it, of course).

• Other random tips:
  • We drink tons of water and I have a cup of organic green tea each afternoon for the antioxidants.
  • I used one of these Boppy shopping cart/highchair covers and highly recommend them. They limit the contact between baby and these high germ zones and are so easy to throw into the washing machine.
  • Disposable hand towels in the bathroom are a must if you have company or even just guests coming over. They’re not eco-friendly so I don’t use them all year, but they definitely help keep the germ count down.
  • I learned that a lot of germs actually get in through your eyes because while you may think twice before putting your fingers in your mouth, you’re not as likely to think about the eyes. Make sure to clean your hands before touching your face.

Top photo by Dave Carpenter

This post does contain affiliate links, but I am only recommending products that I truly use and have been beneficial for my family. Read more here.