Mom Hack: How to Boost Your Kid’s Immune System Everyday

We do everything we can do to keep them healthy.

Who among us hasn’t tried to sneak a morsel of broccoli into a fussy toddler, crossing your fingers that a few vitamins might be somehow absorbed into your small food critic before they spit back out the mushy green. We go to great bubble gum-flavoured lengths to make tooth brushing as fun as humanely possible, and if we had a loonie every time we extolled the virtues of hand-washing, we’d be wealthy indeed. We help cover sneezes, we wash unwilling little hands, and we make sure they get enough sleep and physical activity. It’s never-ending, but it’s all honestly part of the best job in the world—and we never give any of it a second thought.

Just like probiotics—something we’d never given much of a second thought to, either. We had a sort of vague idea they were good for us, having something to do with good digestive health and keeping one’s stomach and um, lower intestine, moving, but that was about it.

We definitely had no idea that 80% of the immune system comes from the intestines. 80%! We’ve recently learned from Bio-Kidz (a new probiotic for children from Bio-K+) that the good bacteria in our intestines works to preserve the intestinal flora—which is where all that cold and flu-fighting magic is made. When the intestinal flora is unbalanced, the ‘bad’ bacteria takes over, which can lead to illness, digestive issues, fatigue and more.

So bring on the good bacteria, (file that under things we never thought we’d say…) aka probiotics. Probiotics are good bacteria that, when ingested in sufficient quantities, power-up the disease and illness-fighting capabilities of our digestive and immune systems. In addition to being preventative, they’ve also proven to significantly aid in managing inflammatory diseases (including allergies), digestive illnesses, side effects from a course of antibiotics, various infections, diarrhea, constipation and more.

Colour us impressed: probiotics are the superheroes of the germ world, in our humble opinion. So it’s a no-brainer that we’d love to get some into our kids, and stat, to bulk up their often-fragile little immune systems. We asked Desiree Nielsen, a Registered Dietitian and mom, and were surprised to learn that even yogurt contained relatively few live, active bacteria. So how to get the good stuff into kids?

Enter Bio-K+, our new favourite mom hack. They make little liquid shots of 100% probiotics that aren’t yogurt—they’re better. It’s a unique fermented milk formula that contains three different kinds of special bacteria. And now they’ve come out with a new line that’s made especially for kids, called Bio-Kidz, which has all of the benefits of the adult Bio-K+ but is also fortified with calcium and vitamin D, comes in kid-friendly strawberry and vanilla flavours, and has a more liquid texture than the adult version, so kids can enjoy it as they would a small drink. Plus with 12.5 billion 100% probiotic bacteria per 98 gram bottle, we like to think of it as a power shot for their health. Take that, flu season.

Desiree Nielsen also told us that these superhero-like immune boosting shots can be a regular part of our kids’ lives for maximum germ-fighting potential. Bio-K+ Probiotics are a daily part of my family’s self-care.’ Says Nielsen. ‘When looking for a probiotic for your children, both quantity and quality count so go beyond a basic yogurt, which has relatively few live active bacteria. With Bio-Kidz, it’s the delicious drinkable format your child will love too.’

We now hand these out to our kids as we would a children’s vitamin (and like a vitamin, they’re available at the grocery store, pharmacy, or health food store.) It’s small, it’s flavoured (so they’re none the wiser about how good for them it is) and it’s a no brainer.

Now that we’ve seen the probiotic light, we’ve incorporated it into our everyday routine. And we don’t give it a second thought.

This article was paid for by our partners at BioK+