Every year we parents face a combined sense of relief and dread as we send our kids back to school. And this year comes with an extra helping of anxiety.
After all, back to school also means back to being surrounded by other people’s germs. As soon as school starts up, so do sniffles, coughs, and stomachaches.
Luckily, there’s an easy and effective way to support your child’s immune system. All it takes is getting and keeping their guts in healthy balance.
Your Child’s Gut Drives Their Immunity
From the day they’re born, your child’s healthy immune response depends on having a healthy gut microbiome (the trillions of bacteria in their gut.) Those bacteria guide, shape, and direct how their immune system functions and responds to potential threats.
In a well-balanced gut microbiome, beneficial bacteria (probiotics) greatly outnumber harmful bacteria (pathogens). Probiotic bacteria offer tons of support to your child’s immune system and overall lifelong health, including:
✔️ Producing essential B vitamins and other nutrients
✔️ Boosting healthy brain function and development
✔️ Producing important brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) like serotonin and GABA
✔️ Keeping your child’s gut function healthy and regular
✔️ Letting your child experience deep, restorative sleep
✔️ Developing a robust immune system that functions and responds in a healthy way
All of these health benefits come from a well-balanced gut microbiome. But your child’s gut may not always stay in healthy balance.
What Causes Gut Imbalances in Kids?
Kids (and their gut microbiomes) are resilient, but nobody is bulletproof. Unfortunately, some very common things can throw a child’s gut bacteria out of balance:
💢 Antibiotics – even a single dose of antibiotics can kill off beneficial gut bacteria
💢 Fatty and sugary foods – lots of studies show that foods high in sugar and fat can encourage the growth of pathogens and lead to gut bacteria imbalances
💢 Pesticides – glyphosate and other pesticides, which are increasingly hard to avoid, can kill beneficial bacteria and promote pathogens
💢 Stress – the stress associated with going back to school (including things like test anxiety and social pressures) can change the balance of bacteria in your child’s gut
Any of the above can bring on dysbiosis, a condition where pathogens outnumber probiotics in the gut. When your child’s gut is out of balance, they may get sick more frequently and take longer to recover.
Gut Imbalances Linked to Illness
When your child’s gut microbiome is out of balance, they can be more vulnerable to infections and get sick more often.
Studies show that dysbiosis can play a role in:
💢 Recurrent respiratory infections
💢 Gastrointestinal upset, including diarrhea, gas, and constipation
That’s because harmful bacteria interfere with immune function in two very important ways. First, pathogens hold down populations of probiotic bacteria so they can’t support healthy immune system responses. Second, pathogens produce compounds that increase inflammation and confuse the immune system so it’s not always sure how to respond.
You can see why keeping your child’s gut microbiome in healthy balance is so important. And, luckily, there are simple things any parent can do to support their children’s gut health.
Two Steps to a Healthy Gut Microbiome
To make sure your child’s gut microbiome stays balanced and healthy, you need to give it support – even if you have to sneak that support in.
The following two simple steps can beef up beneficial gut bacteria and encourage them to flourish.
Step One: A Daily Helping of Probiotics
You can increase your kid’s beneficial gut bacteria and support their immune function with a daily serving of high quality spore probiotics. Because spore probiotics aren’t sensitive to heat or cold, it’s super easy to incorporate them into whatever you’re feeding your children.
That includes:
👉 Blending it in with their favorite smoothies
👉 Baking it into bread or brownies
👉 Stirring it into hot cereal
👉 Freezing it in juice pops
👉 Mixing it into ketchup, hummus, or anything else your kids uses for dipping
You don’t have to worry about trying to get your kid to swallow a pill or eat a “weird tasting” chewable. You can just open a capsule of spore probiotics and sprinkle them into anything your child will eat.
Once you get spore probiotics into your kid, they’ll go to work to keep harmful bacteria under control so beneficial bacteria can thrive.
Step Two: A Healthy Helping of Prebiotics
Prebiotics are special kinds of dietary fiber that skate past digestion and arrive in the gut microbiome. There, they nourish the beneficial bacteria without feeding the pathogens. But when probiotic bacteria don’t get enough prebiotics, their numbers can start to shrink, giving pathogens the space to take over.
Luckily, prebiotics are plentiful in many plant foods like asparagus, kale, and garlic. But as many parents can attest, it’s no easy task getting kids to eat enough of these prebiotic-rich foods.
If you can’t get your kids to eat enough prebiotic-packed fruits and veggies, try a targeted prebiotic supplement. Steer clear of prebiotic supplements that can cause gas and bloating, and look for a prebiotic formula that’s specifically formulated to avoid those potential problems. That way your child will get all of the benefits and none of the GI issues.
Supporting your child’s gut microbiome with beneficial spore probiotics and nourishing prebiotics can help keep their immune system right on track – and can be one of your best allies for protecting them against the many potential health challenges they’ll likely encounter.
Support Your Child’s Gut and Immune Health
You can help your child have a healthier, happier school year by keeping their gut microbiome in good balance.
Just Thrive Probiotic contains four clinically studied strains of spore probiotics… including strains that have been studied extensively in children. One serving of Just Thrive spore probiotics every day supports a healthy gut microbiome and a healthy immune system.
Just Thrive Precision PREbiotic selectively nourishes the beneficial bacteria in your child’s gut microbiome, and is safe for use in children over age 4. The specific prebiotics in Just Thrive Precision PREbiotic have been shown to not induce gastrointestinal distress, so you can give them to your child with confidence.
Replenish and nourish your child’s gut microbiome with Just Thrive today… because a healthy gut supports a healthy immune system!
