How to Boost Your Child's Immunity This Cold and Flu Season
In this informative and empowering podcast, Dr. Jasmin Makar talks about how parents can boost their family's immunity, how to tell the difference between cold and flu symptoms and COVID, and what to do if their child comes down with a virus.
Featured Speaker:
Learn more about Jasmin Makar, M.D
Jasmin Makar, MD
Jasmin Makar, MD, was inspired to become a doctor after spending summers working with her father, also a physician. She received her bachelor’s degree from Duke University and her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. After finishing her residency at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Makar moved to the Bay Area, where she lives with her husband, their two children, and their dog, Pickles. She enjoys running at Crissy Field in San Francisco and hanging out at the Clement Street Farmer’s Market.Learn more about Jasmin Makar, M.D
Transcription:
How to Boost Your Child's Immunity This Cold and Flu Season
Scott Webb: With most of our kids back in school this year during the pandemic, it has never been more important that our kids eat right, take their vitamins and get their flu and COVID vaccinations. And joining me today to emphasize these points is Dr. Jasmin Makar. She's a pediatrician with Stanford Children's Health.
This is health talks from Stanford children's health I'm Scott Webb,
so Dr. Makar, it's a pleasure to have you on. This time of year cold and flu season, especially during the pandemic, parents have lots of questions about how do we take care of our kids, how do we help them, how do we boost their immune systems and so on. So a great time to have you on. And as we get rolling here, what can we parents do to strengthen our kids' immune systems as we head into the nasty cold and flu season?
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Yeah, this is definitely our busy season as pediatricians and COVID doesn't make it any easier for us for sure. The things that parents can do is a very often asked question. Unfortunately, there's no magic bullet to boosting your immune system. A lot of it is just the basics, right? Nutrition does play a huge part in immunity, but there's no, you know, quick shortcut to having a healthy nutrition. It's really just eating a good variety of foods, right? Lots of fruits and vegetables help and minimizing the amounts of processed foods can boost our immunity. We don't recommend any specific vitamin supplements for most kids who eat a varied diet. So we don't recommend huge doses of vitamin C or D or anything like that. But talk to your pediatrician if you have any specific concerns.
Scott Webb: Yeah, that's great advice. It is interesting, I think about, you know, during this time of COVID with masks and better hand hygiene and so on, what will the cold and flu season be like? And I guess as an adult too, I'm wondering, you know, a little free medical advice for the adults, do you give the same advice to adults and families as you do the kids?
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Because it is the basics, it works for all of us. And we did notice that last year especially with limited interactions and social distancing and masking that we saw a lot fewer, you know, of the regular cold viruses and flu. This year is starting out a little different because kids are back to school, back to daycare, back to regular activities. And so we are seeing a lot of our regular viruses out there.
And, you know, we can't prevent everything. Inevitably, kids are going to get sick with typical colds and flus. So it's learning to manage those. And then, obviously kind of, at first, when they do come home with a little cough or a sniffle, to take it seriously, get them tested, isolate until you know for sure it's not COVID and then just kind of manage the symptoms and let their bodies heal.
Scott Webb: Yeah, that's such great advice. And during this time, as we're still in the pandemic, is it more important than ever that we all try to stay as healthy as possible? Is it more important that we really try to avoid those colds and flus that would be so typical during any other time?
Dr. Jasmin Makar: It's helpful in the sense that it makes it easier or less confusing for parents, right? So every time your child gets sick right now, you have to first rule out COVID. So it makes life complicated especially for working families, right? Working parents. It's hard. It's hard to take that time off of work. It's hard for your kid to be out of school. For that reason alone, it'd be nice to prevent a lot of things.
But as I said before, it's hard to avoid everything. So kids are going to get sick. And they're going to handle most of those viruses very easily. And actually, they're much more resilient with those things than most adults are.
Things that we can do, you know, to kind of make it less confusing this winter are to make sure that everybody's up to date on their current flu vaccine. So, kind of taking flu out of the equation will help a lot. You know, many of the kids are already eligible for the COVID vaccine, so 12 and up. Hopefully, they're already vaccinated. And now that the 5 to 11 year olds are eligible for the vaccine, that's great.
Scott Webb: It is great. My daughter was vaccinated over the summer and that was a huge relief. She was the last one of the four, you know, in my family. My son's a little bit older, so he was in that first group of kids 16 and older. There is that comfort zone of just knowing that we're all vaccinated and my wife and I may get the boosters soon. But as you say, it's confusing, right? And so when my daughter holds our cat and she gets a stuffy nose, we're like, "Uh-oh, you know, do we need to have her tested?" And I know this is a loaded question, but can you give us some tips at least how we can tell the difference between cold, flu and COVID? And I preface that by saying I know this is a difficult question to answer.
Dr. Jasmin Makar: It is difficult and COVID makes it really difficult because COVID symptoms, especially in the younger kids, can look exactly like a lot of our other viruses, right? It can be minimal runny nose. It can be one day of a low-grade fever or, you know, a little bit of a cough or sore throat. So COVID makes it really hard to tell the difference. I would say that, you know, if the symptoms are baseline, so you mentioned allergies, you know, if the symptoms seem that they're at their baseline, then you might go ahead and assume that it is allergies. But for any increase in symptoms or certainly for any new or different symptoms, you know, you should first rule out COVID.
Scott Webb: Yeah. That still seems to be the rule of thumb. I think you've covered this really, but if our child does get sick, what should be our first course of action? Is it really just, "Okay. Lock it down. Let's rule out COVID," and then we'll figure out, you know, how to treat whatever else it might be?
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Yeah. I always say isolate first, right? And then, testing. Thankfully, there's a lot more testing available in most communities. There's lots of at-home testing as well, which can be useful in some circumstances. And then treating the symptoms. For most viruses, really all we have to offer kids is to really treat their symptoms. We call that supportive care, and that usually means, you know, reducing fever. So using things like acetaminophen or ibuprofen to treat the fever. Often just, you know, hot steamy showers and, you know, old-fashioned chicken soup are kind of the things that we can offer to minimize the symptoms.
Scott Webb: Yeah, definitely. And I think all of us parents have been here. You know, when our kids were sick, we used to sort of root for things that could be treated, right? So when one of my kids said they had a sore throat and didn't feel well, I was like, "Oh, come on." You know, "Please..."
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Let it be strep, right?
Scott Webb: Doctor, it has been so great to have your time today. And as we head in, you know, to cold and flu season, still in the middle of a pandemic, it's a lot to think about and it can be confusing. And so it's great to have an expert on to kind of sort through all of this. As we wrap up here, what are your takeaways? What do you most want parents to know as we head into cold and flu season in light of the pandemic? What are your best takeaway?
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Really that your kids are going to come down with something this winter. Be prepared. Take it seriously in terms of checking for COVID first and then treat them symptomatically, supportively, and try to make sure that everybody in the house is getting, you know, good rest and eating well and washing hands. And that's all you can do to kind of minimize the risk of contracting a lot of these childhood illnesses.
Scott Webb: Well, that sounds great doctor. And, you know, we all need to follow your advice, right? The advice of an expert. So, you know, when in doubt, default to COVID. Of course, make sure it's not COVID. And do our part, wear our masks, wash our hands, eat right, treat the symptoms when we can, supportive care, all that good stuff. So thanks so much for your time today and you stay well.
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Thanks for having me.
Scott Webb: For more information, go to stanfordchildrens.org. And we hope you found this podcast to be helpful and informative. If you did, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the full podcast library for additional topics of interest. This is health Oxford, Stanford, children's health. I'm Scott Webb stay well, and we'll talk again next time.
How to Boost Your Child's Immunity This Cold and Flu Season
Scott Webb: With most of our kids back in school this year during the pandemic, it has never been more important that our kids eat right, take their vitamins and get their flu and COVID vaccinations. And joining me today to emphasize these points is Dr. Jasmin Makar. She's a pediatrician with Stanford Children's Health.
This is health talks from Stanford children's health I'm Scott Webb,
so Dr. Makar, it's a pleasure to have you on. This time of year cold and flu season, especially during the pandemic, parents have lots of questions about how do we take care of our kids, how do we help them, how do we boost their immune systems and so on. So a great time to have you on. And as we get rolling here, what can we parents do to strengthen our kids' immune systems as we head into the nasty cold and flu season?
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Yeah, this is definitely our busy season as pediatricians and COVID doesn't make it any easier for us for sure. The things that parents can do is a very often asked question. Unfortunately, there's no magic bullet to boosting your immune system. A lot of it is just the basics, right? Nutrition does play a huge part in immunity, but there's no, you know, quick shortcut to having a healthy nutrition. It's really just eating a good variety of foods, right? Lots of fruits and vegetables help and minimizing the amounts of processed foods can boost our immunity. We don't recommend any specific vitamin supplements for most kids who eat a varied diet. So we don't recommend huge doses of vitamin C or D or anything like that. But talk to your pediatrician if you have any specific concerns.
Scott Webb: Yeah, that's great advice. It is interesting, I think about, you know, during this time of COVID with masks and better hand hygiene and so on, what will the cold and flu season be like? And I guess as an adult too, I'm wondering, you know, a little free medical advice for the adults, do you give the same advice to adults and families as you do the kids?
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Because it is the basics, it works for all of us. And we did notice that last year especially with limited interactions and social distancing and masking that we saw a lot fewer, you know, of the regular cold viruses and flu. This year is starting out a little different because kids are back to school, back to daycare, back to regular activities. And so we are seeing a lot of our regular viruses out there.
And, you know, we can't prevent everything. Inevitably, kids are going to get sick with typical colds and flus. So it's learning to manage those. And then, obviously kind of, at first, when they do come home with a little cough or a sniffle, to take it seriously, get them tested, isolate until you know for sure it's not COVID and then just kind of manage the symptoms and let their bodies heal.
Scott Webb: Yeah, that's such great advice. And during this time, as we're still in the pandemic, is it more important than ever that we all try to stay as healthy as possible? Is it more important that we really try to avoid those colds and flus that would be so typical during any other time?
Dr. Jasmin Makar: It's helpful in the sense that it makes it easier or less confusing for parents, right? So every time your child gets sick right now, you have to first rule out COVID. So it makes life complicated especially for working families, right? Working parents. It's hard. It's hard to take that time off of work. It's hard for your kid to be out of school. For that reason alone, it'd be nice to prevent a lot of things.
But as I said before, it's hard to avoid everything. So kids are going to get sick. And they're going to handle most of those viruses very easily. And actually, they're much more resilient with those things than most adults are.
Things that we can do, you know, to kind of make it less confusing this winter are to make sure that everybody's up to date on their current flu vaccine. So, kind of taking flu out of the equation will help a lot. You know, many of the kids are already eligible for the COVID vaccine, so 12 and up. Hopefully, they're already vaccinated. And now that the 5 to 11 year olds are eligible for the vaccine, that's great.
Scott Webb: It is great. My daughter was vaccinated over the summer and that was a huge relief. She was the last one of the four, you know, in my family. My son's a little bit older, so he was in that first group of kids 16 and older. There is that comfort zone of just knowing that we're all vaccinated and my wife and I may get the boosters soon. But as you say, it's confusing, right? And so when my daughter holds our cat and she gets a stuffy nose, we're like, "Uh-oh, you know, do we need to have her tested?" And I know this is a loaded question, but can you give us some tips at least how we can tell the difference between cold, flu and COVID? And I preface that by saying I know this is a difficult question to answer.
Dr. Jasmin Makar: It is difficult and COVID makes it really difficult because COVID symptoms, especially in the younger kids, can look exactly like a lot of our other viruses, right? It can be minimal runny nose. It can be one day of a low-grade fever or, you know, a little bit of a cough or sore throat. So COVID makes it really hard to tell the difference. I would say that, you know, if the symptoms are baseline, so you mentioned allergies, you know, if the symptoms seem that they're at their baseline, then you might go ahead and assume that it is allergies. But for any increase in symptoms or certainly for any new or different symptoms, you know, you should first rule out COVID.
Scott Webb: Yeah. That still seems to be the rule of thumb. I think you've covered this really, but if our child does get sick, what should be our first course of action? Is it really just, "Okay. Lock it down. Let's rule out COVID," and then we'll figure out, you know, how to treat whatever else it might be?
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Yeah. I always say isolate first, right? And then, testing. Thankfully, there's a lot more testing available in most communities. There's lots of at-home testing as well, which can be useful in some circumstances. And then treating the symptoms. For most viruses, really all we have to offer kids is to really treat their symptoms. We call that supportive care, and that usually means, you know, reducing fever. So using things like acetaminophen or ibuprofen to treat the fever. Often just, you know, hot steamy showers and, you know, old-fashioned chicken soup are kind of the things that we can offer to minimize the symptoms.
Scott Webb: Yeah, definitely. And I think all of us parents have been here. You know, when our kids were sick, we used to sort of root for things that could be treated, right? So when one of my kids said they had a sore throat and didn't feel well, I was like, "Oh, come on." You know, "Please..."
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Let it be strep, right?
Scott Webb: Doctor, it has been so great to have your time today. And as we head in, you know, to cold and flu season, still in the middle of a pandemic, it's a lot to think about and it can be confusing. And so it's great to have an expert on to kind of sort through all of this. As we wrap up here, what are your takeaways? What do you most want parents to know as we head into cold and flu season in light of the pandemic? What are your best takeaway?
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Really that your kids are going to come down with something this winter. Be prepared. Take it seriously in terms of checking for COVID first and then treat them symptomatically, supportively, and try to make sure that everybody in the house is getting, you know, good rest and eating well and washing hands. And that's all you can do to kind of minimize the risk of contracting a lot of these childhood illnesses.
Scott Webb: Well, that sounds great doctor. And, you know, we all need to follow your advice, right? The advice of an expert. So, you know, when in doubt, default to COVID. Of course, make sure it's not COVID. And do our part, wear our masks, wash our hands, eat right, treat the symptoms when we can, supportive care, all that good stuff. So thanks so much for your time today and you stay well.
Dr. Jasmin Makar: Thanks for having me.
Scott Webb: For more information, go to stanfordchildrens.org. And we hope you found this podcast to be helpful and informative. If you did, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the full podcast library for additional topics of interest. This is health Oxford, Stanford, children's health. I'm Scott Webb stay well, and we'll talk again next time.