While we were on our almost 3-week trip in Europe, both my boys were sick almost the entire time. My 3-year old got sick the day we arrived and never fully recovered. Then the 7-month old caught it too and had a runny nose and cough for almost 2 weeks. Poor kids!
Within a couple days of returning home, both were completely healthy again. Surely, this was in part due to time, but I also believe that our family’s lifestyle is so healthy that normally, neither of my children would have stayed sick for so long. Here are the things that I think made them so sick:
- lack of sleep. We all know the importance of sleep for immune function and when children are jet-lagged, they just don’t sleep well enough to stay healthy and fight off colds.
- poor nutrition. Obviously this did not affect my nursing baby, but my 3-year old ate so many sweets and white flour products! Eating sugar suppresses immune function, I have heard, and I totally believe it. Think about it–how healthy are your kids between Halloween and Christmas, when sweets are abundant??
- poor air quality. We spent about half of our trip in a crowded city with horrible pollution. My extended family members also smoke. You don’t have to be a scientist to know that cigarette smoke is not the best thing for a cough.
- lack of supplements. I did not bring any vitamins or supplements on our trip, and normally my 3-year old and I take them (which means the baby gets them via the breastmilk). I especially think our probiotic supplements (which I didn’t bring due to their need for refrigeration) would have been helpful.
This trip just confirmed to me how important our day to day lifestyle choices are. It’s important to eat well, sleep lots, and take care of our bodies. I’m so glad my family is back to eating organic food, whole grain products, fruit for dessert, and sleeping more. Now if only we could do that and spend our days at the beach as well… 
