How to Keep Your Kids Healthy This Winter?

Team AckoFeb 8, 2024

Wondering how to keep your kids healthy this winter?

The season of Winter has knocked everyone’s door by now, so it is high time to protect your child from this chilled weather. Most of the kids tend to fall sick during winter due to the common cold virus. It is always alarming for parents when temperatures drop, and kids need extra attention to stay warm, safe and healthy. Taking care of kids during winters could be the most tedious task as they always want to roam and play outside to enjoy their winter vacation. But as parents, we should make some small changes in their daily routine during winter to protect them from various diseases.

Tips to keep your child healthy this winter season:

These easy hacks will help you to protect your kid during the winter.

Layered clothing

A proper warm covering is essential to protect your kid from harmful winter winds. Your child needs adequate number of clothing to maintain her body temperature. Make sure that apart from her chest, your kid’s hands, neck, and ears should be covered completely. Also, layered clothing will definitely help them adjust to the surrounding temperature, for e.g. If they are sweating while playing, they can remove the topmost layer of clothing. You can typically divide clothing into three layers, 1st layer (innermost) can be of thermal wear or a woolen t-shirt, the 2nd layer can be thick woolen sweater, while the last outer layer could be a pullover or a waterproof woolen jacket, all these should be paired with woolen socks, muffler, and a woolen cap.

Check the Diet

A healthy and correct diet during winter will surely help your little baby to develop immunity in the body, which ultimately protects and gives them strength to fight against germs and infection. Green leafy vegetables and colorful fruits should be included in your child’s regular diet; also we should include carrots, green beans, oranges and strawberries in their plate as they contain immunity-boosting phytonutrients, vitamin C, and carotenoids, which increase the production of white blood cells and helps in fighting infections.

Keep your child hydrated

Due to dry harsh winter winds, kids tend to lose more body water by breathing itself. You should always try to keep them hydrated by giving different warm drinks and soups. Proper hydration will improve the immune power in the season of cold and flu. Also, lack of water in the body can lead to dehydration. A proper water intake also helps in regulating body temperature; Not having enough fluids can cause your core temperature to drop. In fact, one of the biggest reasons people suffer from hypothermia is that they become dehydrated while staying outside for an extended period of time. You should also avoid giving cold drinks to kids during winters.

Massage regularly with body oil

Baby skin needs utmost care during winter, most of the kids encounter dry and chapped skin in winter due to lack of skin care, some may even face skin infections. To prevent this, a regular body massage, possibly with warm oil, will leave the baby’s skin happy and healthy. Coconut or olive oil are the best oils to use during winters. Also try not to give your baby a bath immediately after the massage, wait for some time and allow the oil to penetrate inside the skin to keep the skin moist and soft. Your baby’s hair too needs same nourishment and care like skin, so try to give a good head massage to your baby before and after a bath.

Bathing

Most pediatrics suggests that during winter, giving two to three times bath in a week to a baby is more than enough. As giving bath daily can take away moisture from baby’s skin and this leads to a dry and unhealthy skin. It will be the best option, if milk is used for bathing, just apply milk all over the body rub it for a few seconds and then wash the milk completely by warm water, as milk helps in retaining the skin moisture, the skin will appear even softer. The most important thing to keep in mind during winter is the temperature of water used for bath, as it should be moderate, not too hot or too cold.

Moisturizing the skin

Moisturizing is the most important and essential step, in the journey of taking care of your little one’s skin during winter. An adequate amount of moisture should be applied all over the body at least two to three times a day. But make sure the hands and feet are properly cleaned before applying moisturizer, for e.g. ask her to clean her hands and feet with lukewarm water after every playing session, the water should be wiped properly with a clean towel, after that you can moisturize your baby’s skin. Please make a serious note that applying moisturizer on a skin with dust and dirt, can cause skin irritation.

Apply sunscreen

Applying good sunscreen is essential for kids in winters too, as most of the parents don’t know that we need to protect our children from the harsh ultraviolet rays that are beaming down on us around the year.

Engage your child in indoor activities during more colder days

Some days are too cold to allow your kid to play outside. For that period it is always a better idea to engage your kiddo in some indoor activity and this could be the best way to protect your kid from winter. You can encourage your baby to gather some of her unused toys and clothes to donate it, also motivating them for craft can be another good option, last but not the least you can enjoy cooking with your child with some dish that doesn’t include the stove in it. For e.g. bunny face sandwiches or salad, etc.

Make sure not to overheat the child in winter

This is the most alarming aspect of winters that many parents ignore. Please make sure that your baby is not overheated due to many unwanted layers of clothing. As this can lead to suffocation, mainly for small babies.

Some common winter problems and its solutions

Frostbite can be termed as numbness in fingers; ears and nose, which eventually leads to redness and pain. While hypothermia is the decrease in body temperature, which can affect the brain and muscle functioning. If you encounter any of these issues with your kid, do consult your doctor as soon as you can, meanwhile, you should remove the wet clothes and cover your kid loosely with a dry blanket, also this time, never expose your kid directly to heat or hot water it can harm the tissues. Most kids encounter ear pain in this weather. To prevent it, you can put cotton buds into your little one’s ear and then cover the ears with a woolen cap, but make sure the buds should be big enough so that it won’t penetrate inside the ear and harm your kid.

There is a good saying, “Prevention is better than cure”, so just try these super easy hacks, which will surely help in preventing some common winter flu and infections. So as of now just enjoy the weather and ensure that your kid is healthy and happy this winter.

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only, based on industry experience and secondary sources. It is not a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a qualified expert for health or insurance-related decisions. Content is subject to change, refer to current policy wordings for specific ACKO details.