12 Days of Christmas Day 7- Children's Vitamins!

It's Day 7 of our 12 Days of Christmas specials already!! Time is flying by this month. do you feel that way too? Are you ready for Christmas yet? I am getting there but not quite yet…:)

Today I want to share some things that are a staple in my house -

Children's Vitamins!!!

Prevention is so important, especially this time of the year when there are so much sickness going around. And kids seem to pick up so much and share it with their family.

Kids can be so picky with their diet. Supplementation is a great way to fill in the gaps in their nutrition. Be sure to choose a good quality vitamin, without anything artificial and something that is not synthetic or gummy so you know the vitamins are getting into their body. Here are some good choices below.

Many of you know we have a 3 year old who was very sick when he was born 6 weeks early. The doctors predicted several trips to the ER and also that he would be asthmatic. We are so thankful that has not been the case! He is generally speaking, a healthy kid. Colds do hit him a bit harder then my other son but he is still able to battle them without it going to his lungs.

One of the reasons is that we keep his immune system very strong with good supplementation. I want to share these products with you and your kids today to keep them healthier too!

On the 7th day of Christmas, Waterways gave to me, a Free Stomach Soothing complex ($11 value!) when you order the following from Shaklee:

Order Shaklee's Increditives chewable multivitamin

Shaklee Chewable Vitamin C

AND any 2 of the following:

Mighty Smarts DHA

Optiflora Probiotic

Shaklee Meal Shaklee for kids (vanilla or cocoa)

Alfalfa

Your free gift of Stomach Soothing complex is great, especially this time of the year for stomach aches and indigestion. Both my young kids and my husband and myself take this when we have upset stomachs and it works really well! Love this product! 

Our Incredivites chewables are a staple in my kids diet. They love the taste and I love how complete they are with extra immune boosters and no artificial flavors, sweeteners or colors! I was surprised that the popular children's vitamins on the market have aspartame in them, which is linked to several health issues. 

Our chewable vita C is also a staple. I grew up with these too and my kids love the citrus flavor. Each chewable C has the vitamin equivalency in 1.5 organic oranges!

After you have put the Incredivites and Chewable C in your cart, you can choose from two of these to get your free Stomach Soothing Complex!

Mighty Smart Choice is our DHA or fish oil product that tastes so good! These are great for brain function and attention. My kids love the flavor of these chews.

Probiotics are so important for your gut health and disease and immune issues begin in the gut! My kids and I take Optiflora every day. It is very tiny and easy to swallow. When my boys were younger I put it in applesauce or a banana. 

The patented SMART delivery of the Optiflora guarantees millions of live microflora to get to your gut before breaking down. I do not know of any other company that can claim that. So you know it is getting to where it needs to be for the optimal benefits.

Probiotics are smart to take during and especially after antibiotics because antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria. Optiflora will guarantee you keep that good bacteria to prevent other illness.

Shaklee meal shakes for kids are a great supplement to their diet to make sure the gaps are filled in. This comes in vanilla or bavarian cocoa (makes the best hot chocolate!). I make this for my son daily and he loves it. It is packed with nutrients that his growing body needs.

Shaklee's alfalfa is good for kids and adults to take. It is like an organic leafy salad in a supplement form. You get so much goodness from this and for my kids it helps to keep their immune systems healthy. And it stops a runny nose in its tracks! It really does! and my kids chew these but you can crush them and put them into food if they like that better.

So when you order Shaklee's Incredivites multivitamin, our Chewable vita-C and any 2 of these: Mighty Smarts DHA, Optiflora probiotic, Shaklee meal shake, or Alfalfa, (total of 4 products ordered for your kids) you will get a FREE Stomach Soothing complex! ($11 value)

Contact me to take advantage of this great deal to help your kids stay healthy this winter.

Offer good for existing Waterways customers, members and distributors. And new people to Shaklee. Contact your distributor about matching this deal. And refer a friend to get a thank you gift from me! To take advantage of this great deal, start HERE.

Offer ends Dec. 20, 2013!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day and visit me on Facebook soon! 

~Rebecca~

Back to School and Healthy!

It's that time of year again! Back to school with cold and flu season following closely behind. Have your kids started school yet? My oldest will start his second year of preschool this week. I can hardly believe how fast the summer has gone! The kids in my area have already started and my husband's university is in full swing too!

Germs, germs and more germs!! They are everywhere of course, but especially in school classrooms! Kids are continually sneezing, coughing, not washing hands properly (or at all!) and sharing their germs with their neighbor, who shares it with his neighbor, family, etc. So how can we help with this?

PREVENTION!!! 

Here are a few tips to help prevent illness...

1. Proper Hand Washing. It's our first defense against infection and disease and can prevent illness and the spread of illness. It is important to teach our kids the proper way to do this and to make sure they do it regularly. At the very least after using the bathroom and before eating. My kids and I sing the ABCs while we wash to make sure we are scrubbing long enough.

 from the Center for Disease Control website:

When should you wash your hands?

• Before, during, and after preparing food
• Before eating food
• Before and after caring for someone who is sick
• Before and after treating a cut or wound
• After using the toilet
• After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet
• After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
• After touching an animal or animal waste
• After handling pet food or pet treats
• After touching garbage

 

What is the right way to wash your hands?

• Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold) and apply soap.
• Rub your hands together to make a lather and scrub them well; be sure to scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
• Continue rubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the "Happy Birthday" song from beginning to end twice.
• Rinse your hands well under running water.
• Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.

The CDC said that washing with soap and clean water is best. However, if you do not have that as an option, hand sanitizer with 60% or more of alcohol is the next best thing to kill many germs.

Germs are so easily passed - door handles, sharing a pencil or pen, shaking hands, etc and then you touch your nose, mouth or eyes! There you go! You may have just passed whatever germs were on your hands to your body. Is your body ready to battle the germs? 

It is argued that it is good for kids to be exposed to germs. I agree with this. But I also feel that it is important to have our defenses up when we are exposed so we won't be hit too hard and take down the entire family in the process.

2. Teach your kids to keep a distance from another child who is hacking or sneezing. Kids aren't the most sanitary, so many don't cover their cough or sneeze, putting the germ particles into the air for the next child to breathe in. Teach your child how to properly cover their cough or sneeze into their sleeve instead of their hand.

3. Supplement with good quality vitamins - they will fill in the gaps in nutrition and also build your child's immune system.

Not all vitamins are created equal. It's important to research your vitamins to make sure they are actually doing your and your kid's body good!

My kids love their Incredivites chewables. They are made from the #1 natural nutrition company in the US - Shaklee. Incredivites is the most complete kids multivitamin on the market AND it contains Lactoferrin, the immune booster found in breastmilk!! No other vitamin has that. 

I also give my children chewable vitamin C. Vitamin C is known to help the immune system and fight infection. My kids love these too! This is what my mom gave me when I was young! The vitamins in one of Shaklee's Vitamin C chewable is the equivalent to 1.5 organic oranges and since it is water soluble, you cannot get too much.

At the first sign of sickness, my entire family takes Defend and Resist Complex. This is fantastic at keeping sickness at bay.

My kids have generally been very healthy and have never had an ear infection:)

Thanks for reading! I hope this info was useful to you. How do you keep your kids healthy as they head back to school?

Have a healthy day!:)

Rebecca

Children's health

As you probably can understand, children's health, particularly MY 14 month old's health has been on my mind a lot lately. He got pretty sick recently and you can read all about it if you click on "Benjamin" on the right side of my blog. I am thankful to say that he is doing better and took his last dose of meds tonight to counter the drug withdrawl he experienced in the hospital. He is getting stronger each day and we are very thankful.


So because this topic is on my mind, I thought I would get back into my regular blogging on health topics by sharing a few wonderful and natural products that I use with my own kids. As parents, we truly want the best for our kids. I never fully understood that until I actually became a mom 3 years ago. We are constantly worrying about our children's well being and health and doing our best to keep them well and healthy.


One thing that our pediatrician suggested when my boys were infants was to supplement their diet with a good vitamin formulated specifically for children. Something to "fill in the gaps" in their sometimes (or lately with my 3 year old, ALL the time picky eating habits:). Up until very recently, both of my boys have been very healthy. Even when Benjamin developed his sudden cough last month, the doctor thought that he aspirated something into his lung rather then it be the bad pneumonia that he had, because he didn't have any other symptoms. No fever, no runny nose, etc. His body was fighting it hard, which is why the doctors, including the specialists at Riley, didn't think pneumonia until they went in to find the aspirated object but instead found the mucus.

Hind sight is 20/20 as they say. Before last month, my 14 month old took a whole food natural powder vitamin Shakleebaby Multivitamin and Multimineral.

Both of my kids took this early on every day. It is easy to mix into their oatmeal or most liquids that they drink. I am sorry to say that last month I had forgotten to order it with my monthly Shaklee order and we ran out. I didn't think too much of it because we had another powder vitamin in the house called Citriboost. This is another great whole food multivitamin that Shaklee makes that is complete and safe for many people including adults and kids over the age of 1. My son was able to take half a scoop of this a day mixed into his oatmeal or drink. This is a great alternative for people who have a hard time swallowing vitamins and since my son was over a year old, I knew that he could have this so I didn't worry about ordering more of his children's vitamins right away. What I realized now however, is that the Citriboost was not as complete for his young needs as the Multivitamin and Multimineral powder is. Like I said, hindsight is definitely 20/20 and if I could do it over again....



Once my 3 year old was able to chew well, we switched him to Shaklee's Incredivites.

These are chewable and are an assortment of berry flavors that my son loves. Because he is under the age of 4, he only takes one a day which makes the bottle last for 4 months! This also has lactoferrin in it, which is the immune booster found in breast milk. My son still gets colds once in awhile, and a few more since starting preschool this year, but they usually come and go fairly quickly. And neither boy has ever had an ear infection!

When either of my boys are fighting something, we also give them chewable Vitamin C.


There is some research out there supporting vitamin C helping with immune function. One of Shaklee's chewable vitamin C is equivalent to eating 1.5 organic oranges. My older son can chew these and we crush them and put them into food or drink for my 14 month old. One of the doctors at Riley childrens hospital was talking to me about the research supporting vitamin C as an immune booster and infection fighter when Benjamin was there. They were supportive of us bringing our Shaklee supplements and protein powder in to give him in the hospital, which we were very thankful for.



One of my other favorite products that we use with our kids is Shakleebaby Gentle wash.
All of Shaklee's products are completely safe, natural and work really well. Shaklee uses pharmaceutical standards and third party testing on all of their products to make sure they are the highest quality and purest ingredients. So I never worry about the safety of products like the baby wash on my kids young skin. I was surprised to learn that the leading brand of baby wash (that we used to use!) actually has formaldehyde in it that is a bi-product of some of its ingredients. It is a small amount and not enough for them to legally have to put it on the label apparently, but Hel-LO-o! Do I really want my kids bathing in that chemical no matter how small of an amount?? Nope and I am thinking you may feel the same. One thing I love about Shaklee's wash is that it is so concentrated (like most of their products) so a little goes a long way. Very gentle, natural and safe. We really love it in my house.

One last thing I should mention is Laundry products. This is one area that it seems some parents overlook when thinking about their kids health, esp. young kids. Kids, especially babies, spend a lot of time sleeping.

They are breathing in anything coming off of the bedding and a lot of detergents with dyes and perfumes that make them smell nice, also leach chemicals. Not too good for young lungs and skin. I really love all of Shaklee's laundry products for my entire family, including sensitive-skin ME! lol


Shaklee's detergents are great for all skin types and they are very concentrated so a little goes a very long way. We switched to cloth diapers earlier this year (I wish I would have started with them with my oldest son - they are so great) I have heard so many conflicting reports on what detergent to use with cloth diapers. The only one that I have ever used is Shaklee (both liquid and powder) and both work great at cleaning my son's diapers. I will never use anything else.

As parents, we only want the best for our kids no matter how old they are. I truly feel that using the products I mentioned above are good choices for my kid's health.

Thank you again for reading. If you enjoy reading my blog, you can subscribe to it above so you will always know when I put a new post up. Have a great and healthy weekend! :)

Rebecca

Back to School Health

With school starting, I thought it was a good time to talk children's health. It's that time of year again where kids are sharing many things at school including lots and lots of germs! Yuck!

From a health care stand point through my music therapy training, the best thing that we can teach our kids is the importance of good hand washing and hope they listen:) I sing the ABCs with my kids while washing hands to make sure they are washing long enough. It makes it more fun for everyone.


But even with that, kids still pick up lots of germs from school. One thing that we do in my family to help prevent illness is supplement with good quality vitamins.


Neither of my boys have ever had an ear infection! We do catch colds from time to time, but they usually come and go within a couple of days or so. That says a lot considering my preemie who just turned one, was predicted to catch a lot of colds that could turn into RSV this year. But he didn't! Both of my kids have been very healthy and I am so thankful!

My almost 3 year old takes Shaklee's Incredivites Chewables which he loves. I love them too because all of Shaklee's supplements come from natural sources and they help to fill in the gap in his nutrition with his sometimes picky eating habits.


The Incredivites contain lactoferrin, the immune booster found in breast milk. No other children's vitamin does. It also has 23 nutrients in it including 600IU of vitamin D which help with strong bones and teeth. And he loves the berry flavors so it is easy for him to chew and take. Because he is under the age of 4, he only needs one a day, which makes the bottle last for 4 months! Good stuff!

My other son, who just turned 1 takes Shakleebaby Multivitamin and Multimineral Powder every day. He gets 1 tsp. in his morning oatmeal.
I like it because it is a powder and mixes easily into most liquids and baby food and it doesn't have any taste to it. It also has 23 essential nutrients in it, which help to fill in the gaps in his nutrition. It also has prebiotics in it, helping with digestion and immune support, along with 400 IU of vitamin D. Again I say, good stuff! :)

During cold and flu season, or when my son is fighting a bug, I give him a little extra boost in his immune system with Shaklee's Chewable Vitamin C. My toddler loves the citrus taste and it helps the bug to go away quickly.

I grew up with these, so they bring back memories for me too! Each one is equivalent to 1.5 organic oranges!



I also give my toddler Shaklee's Alfalfa when he is fighting a cold. It stops a runny nose right in it's tracks! (and is great for his seasonal allergies too!)

My toddler chews these, but if the flavor is too strong for you child, they can be easily crushed and added to food. I also take alfalfa for my allergies and when I am feeling like a cold is coming on. It works great!

A word about DHA:

The last thing that I should mention is Shaklee's Mighty Smart Chews.

These are 100% natural ultra-pure DHA, the most abundant omega 3 fatty acid in the brain and eyes. These taste kind of like an orange citrus starburst and my son LOVES them! (I do too!) They do not have any artificial colors, sweeteners or preservatives. Science shows the importance of DHA for kids (adults too!) for their growing and developing brain. I may be a little biased, but my little guy is pretty darn smart which could be in part because of the Mighty Smarts....just sayin' :)
Thanks again for reading! I thought it was pretty important to write this post with school starting. If you just want to start with one supplement for your child, I would definitely suggest one of the first two multivitamins I mentioned at the top (Incredivites chewables or the Shakleebaby multivitamin and multimineral powder). Great first defense against all of those school germs!

Have a good and healthy day!

Rebecca

Fill in the gaps in your kids nutrition! Here's how I do it:

I mentioned last week that March is National Nutrition Month! Since becoming a mom over 2 years ago, I have gotten more in tune to nutrition and wellness. It's funny that we tend to not care about these things for ourselves as much as we do once we become parents. At least that is true for me.

I started pureeing vegetables and fruit for my toddler when he started solids and am now doing it for my 7 mo. old. I found that it isn't difficult and takes only a little extra time each week. I freeze the purees in ice cube trays. This not only saves us money on baby food, but also gives us peace of mind knowing exactly what is in the food and what nutrients our kids are getting.

My toddler is a pretty good eater, but he has his picky moments too. I have found Jessica Seinfeld's book "Deceptively Delicious" to be helpful with those moments.


She has some great ideas and recipes where you add pureed fruits and veggies into meals. Since I have been pureeing foods for my 7 month old, I am able to add those to Jessica's recipes or to recipes of my own. My 2 year old loves pasta, esp. mac and cheese. One of the ways to make this a little healthier is to make my own, using whole wheat pasta. But another way is to add some pureed sweet potatoes. He doesn't seem to notice or mind and sweet potatoes are packed with vitamins and nutrients. Jessica has some mac and cheese recipes too using pureed cauliflower, butternut squash or white beans. Not a bad way to sneak in some good stuff!

Although I do my best to give my toddler good nutritious foods, the truth is, he doesn't always eat them. In order to "fill in the gaps" in our kid's nutrition, both of my kids take good quality vitamin supplements for children.


These really help to take the guess work out of their nutrition. They are also a great drug-free approach for prevention of illness. We are happy to put our money into the vitamins for our family, rather then into the doctor visits, antibiotics, etc. I should also mention that good hand washing is another excellent preventative measure.

I am very happy to say that my kids have never had an ear infection and only a few mild colds and hardly ever a runny nose. After seeing post after post on my facebook from my friends about ear infections and colds with their kids, I am realizing that this isn't the norm with young kids. Our 7 mo. was 6 weeks premature, had pneumonia in the NICU, was on a ventilator to breathe and the doctors told us that he would have a lot of respiratory issues early on. The only thing he has had was a little cold when he was 2 mo. and it came and went within 2 days! We are so thankful for that! I nurse him, so I am comfortable knowing he has also been getting the vitamins and nutrients that I take through my breastmilk which includes protein powder. Dr. Shaklee used to say that if you are only able to take one supplement, choose the protein as it is the building block of all cells. It is essential for kids as they have intense tissue development during this time, it builds antibodies and is necessary for brain development. It has been an easy addition to my 2 year old's yogurt or oatmeal. I am truly very thankful for these supplements that help to keep my entire family healthy!

When talking about children's health, I should mention the importance of keeping a healthy home. I have written a few blog posts about the non-toxic natural cleaners that I use.

I wrote about how I went from 20+ toxic cleaners to only 3 non-toxic ones here. Many illnesses such as asthma and allergies are on the rise with kids. One theory is that this is because of the toxins that they are exposed to at home through household cleaners and laundry products. I really believe that one of the reasons why my 7 mo. old preemie has not had the respiratory issues that the NICU doctors predicted for him, is because he is not exposed to the harsh chemicals at home. My very favorite cleaner, Basic H2 has been a lifesaver when it comes to cleaning. I love it because it has SO many uses, is so concentrated so it saves us money (one bottle lasts forever!), and is completely safe for my entire family and for the environment too, AND it works really well! For example, only 1-2 drops of Basic H2 with 16 oz of water will give you a terrific window/glass cleaner! I love it so much and wish that every family, esp. ones with young children, would use Basic H2 to clean their home. If you are interested in trying it I will send you a sample. Switching brands to Shaklee's Get Clean products will help to keep your family healthy and save you money at the same time. You can't beat that! :)

Whew! Another post packed with info. I hope you enjoyed reading it and gained some ideas as to how to keep the kids in your life healthier. Thanks for reading and have a healthy week!

Rebecca