Can anyone recommend a probiotic for kids.

it's upsetting to watch your child with preventable ailments...I remember my child missing roughly 4 weeks between september and december that first yr of preschool....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this his first year in a school type setting? Meaning, did you SAH or was he in daycare prior to this? When my son started daycare he was sick ALL THE TIME.

As for why parents send sick kids to school, I agree it is terribly frustrating. But unfortunately many employers are not sympathetic to a sick child and sometimes parents have to send a sick child because there are no other options. Not fair for anyone, really.

Yes, this is his first year in a school type setting. And I agree with your comments. I'm just trying to get past the frustration, and your post has helped me to put things in perspective. Thanks

I know it is frustrating, but many of us have been through this when our first DC started to preschool. If you could see how the children cough and sneeze on one another, and how many have their fingers in their mouths and noses, you would be shocked that all of them are not sick constantly. All you can do is try to make sure they get plenty of rest, eat well, etc. and keep your child home if they seem to be coming down with something rather than risk them going to preschool and catching something worse while their immune system is already fighting.

I think part of that is age (especially in group childcare), but I bet you can reduce some of the incidence.

RE the immune system, fwiw, my kids take:

Multivitamin
Vitamin D
Vitamin C
Fish Oil
Probiotics

Probiotics have been proven, by mainstream medicine, to help:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/124/2/e172

"RESULTS: Relative to the placebo group, single and combination probiotics reduced fever incidence by 53.0% (P = .0085) and 72.7% (P = .0009), coughing incidence by 41.4% (P = .027) and 62.1% (P = .005), and rhinorrhea incidence by 28.2% (P = .68) and 58.8% (P = .03), respectively. Fever, coughing, and rhinorrhea duration was decreased significantly, relative to placebo, by 32% (single strain; P = .0023) and 48% (strain combination; P < .001). Antibiotic use incidence was reduced, relative to placebo, by 68.4% (single strain; P = .0002) and 84.2% (strain combination; P < .0001). Subjects receiving probiotic products had significant reductions in days absent from group child care, by 31.8% (single strain; P = .002) and 27.7% (strain combination; P < .001), compared with subjects receiving placebo treatment.
CONCLUSION: Daily dietary probiotic supplementation for 6 months was a safe effective way to reduce fever, rhinorrhea, and cough incidence and duration and antibiotic prescription incidence, as well as the number of missed school days attributable to illness, for children 3 to 5 years of age."
Apparently probiotics are helpful in colicky infants too:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/119/1/e124

http://www.naturalnews.com/030620_colic_probiotics.html

It also helps to cut back on white flour-based products and sugar, and to get plenty of fresh air and sunshine, because all of that will help with boosting the function of the immune system.