Beyond the Flu Shot: 5 Ways to Prepare Your Child for Winter Wellness

This time of year, plenty of kids find themselves getting sick a lot more often; it seems there’s always something going around at school. While it’s important to get an annual flu shot to protect your child from this contagious respiratory virus, there are other steps you and your family can take to prevent illness, too.

Here, our team at Nevada Pediatric Specialists reviews five simple ways you can help your child prepare for winter wellness — habits that can help them stay healthy now and all year.

1. Make handwashing a habit

Handwashing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to prevent illness, and the best way to get the most benefits is to help your child make it a regular habit. Teach your child to wash their hands with warm water and soap, working up a lather while counting slowly to 20 before rinsing. 

Encourage them to wash before meals, after using the bathroom, and when they return home from school or play. Send a small bottle of hand sanitizer in their backpack so they can clean their hands at school when sinks aren’t available.

2. Disinfect frequently used items

Even if your child washes their hands frequently, it’s guaranteed that not everyone else does the same. Germs on hands can easily be transferred to other surfaces, increasing the risk of contamination when your child touches them.

Using antiseptic sprays and wipes helps keep germs at bay. For the biggest impact, focus on frequently touched items like phones and other keyboards, remote controls and videogame controllers, toys, light switches, and door handles. Keeping antiseptic wipes in your child’s backpack helps them keep their desk and other items free from germs at school, too.

3. Prioritize quality sleep

Most parents know getting enough rest is important for helping your child grow and keeping them alert and engaged at school and during other activities. But what you might not know is that ample rest also supports a healthy and responsive immune system.

Make sure your child gets at least eight hours of quality sleep every night. Set a regular bedtime routine that’s appropriate for their age group, and limit screen time in the hour before bed, instead encouraging reading, listening to music, or quiet play. A warm bath or shower before bed can help them relax, too.

4. Focus on good nutrition

Kids need a healthy, balanced diet to grow, thrive, and succeed in every aspect of development. A healthy, varied diet also supports a strong immune system — just another reason why you need to pay special attention to what your child is eating and drinking.

To support wellness, aim for a diet rich in colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy, and lean proteins, paying special attention to disease-fighting antioxidant vitamins and minerals like vitamin C and zinc. Choose whole foods and whole ingredients and bypass processed and convenience foods that tend to be high in empty calories and low in nutrients.

Make sure your child drinks plenty of water, natural fruit juices, and milk to counteract dehydration caused by winter’s especially dry air. Skip sugary drinks and energy drinks, and add in oranges, melon, and soups, each of which contains plenty of healthy fluids.

5. Keep them active

During the school year, kids may not spend as much time playing outdoors as they do in the summer, but that doesn’t mean their need for exercise declines. Keep your child active with alternatives to videogames and computer time by encouraging them to join a sports team at school or adopt an active hobby, like dance or indoor volleyball.

Make activity easy at home, too, by helping your child find ways to be active during breaks in homework and chores. Take walks or bike rides as a family or play a game of pickup on the weekends — simple ways to increase physical activity, build a strong immune system, and improve family bonding time, as well.

Seek care for symptoms

If your child is showing any signs of illness, early intervention can help them feel better while reducing the risk of more serious problems. At Nevada Pediatric Specialists, we offer sick visits through regular appointments, our walk-in clinic, and via telehealth to help families get the care they need when and how they need it.

To schedule a visit — or a flu shot — book an appointment online or over the phone today with our team in Henderson and Las Vegas, Nevada.