Back to school with Eimear Naughton, Pharmacist, Meaghers Glenview
As little ones go back to school, a big concern for parents is the risk of head lice. These unwanted lice are tiny and can spread quickly in a school environment but by taking a few proactive steps, you can help avoid your child picking them up:
- Educate your child: Talk to your child about the importance of not sharing personal items such as hats, hairbrushes, hair ties and headphones. Lice can easily spread from one person to another through these items.
- Keep hair tied up: this is a simple yet effective step. Keeping long hair tied back can help to prevent the transfer of lice among children.
- Repellent products: Consider using lice repellent products such as shampoos and sprays. Our top recommendation to help protect your little one is NitNot Eco HeadLice Treatment, which works on all life cycle stages of the nits, even preventing the eggs from developing
- Regular hair checks: Regularly check your child’s hair and scalp for lice and eggs. Early detection makes it easier to treat and reduces the risk of spreading to others.
Immune Busters
One way to start preparing your kids for their return to the classroom is by supporting their immune systems.
Multivitamins are a great way to enhance the vitamins and minerals kids get from their food.
These are beneficial for all children but especially those who are fussy eaters.
This will help to ensure vitamins or minerals levels are boosted in the body if they are low or even missing from their diet.
Ensure your child is getting all the nutrients they need by using a super supplement like Revive Active Junior. Revive Junior is for 4-12 years and is packed with ingredients to support a growing child’s needs. It contains a range of vitamins and minerals as well as the Wellmune complex. This is a complex that helps to stimulate the immune system so that it is primed to act should the body come into contact with bacteria or viruses. Sambucol for kids is a liquid immune booster which contains elderberry and vitamin C. It is suitable from one year of age. Sambucol also has a forte liquid which has both zinc and vitamin C for the immune system which is suitable from 3 years of age.
These are great products to help boost your child’s immune system.
Here’s to a great school year ahead!
We hope the return to school is an easy transition as we look forward to an exciting year ahead! Don’t forget that our team of experts at Meaghers are here to help with any advice and support you may need when it comes to health and wellness. Pop into us in Meaghers Glenview and Meaghers Castletymon or visit us online at Meaghers.
Gut Health
The microbiome is the collection of all bacteria, fungi and viruses in the body and 95% of it resides in the gut.
The microbiome is key in supporting a healthy immune system, preventing infections and aiding digestion.
Gut microbes play an important role in your immunity and inflammation by controlling what is passed into the body and what is excreted.
Improving our gut health and balancing the microbiome will have many benefits for kids including improved digestive health, improvement in inflammatory conditions and in cognitive function.
Diet, the environment, stress and antibiotics can all disrupt the balance of bacteria in the gut, undermining the diversity of your gut microbiome.
The gut bacteria are important as they break down food and toxins, make vitamins and interact with our immune system.
Introducing a supplement is a great way to feed the gut microbiome with good bacteria and enable the gut to thrive and to help support the immune system.
Symprove is a water based gut health supplement that will help rebalance the microbiome and restore a healthy gut. Symprove is suitable for children, simply adjust the dose to 1ml per 1kg of weight for kids.
Symprove should be taken each morning on an empty stomach, at least 10 minutes before any food or drink.
Vitamin D supplements are very beneficial for healthy bones and teeth, most of the vitamin D in our bodies is produced from sunlight on our skin which can be in short supply in Ireland! A supplement is a great way to top up our levels.
Vitamin D sprays are ideal for kids particularly if they are fussy about taking liquids or gummies.
The BetterYou DLux Junior 400IU (10micrograms) is suitable for 3 years plus and provides the recommended level for children.
It is a peppermint flavour which is generally well received by children.
If your child prefers a tablet Bioactive D-Pearls Junior are a good vitamin D supplement containing 5 micrograms of vitamin.
This supplement is suitable from 2 years plus provided they are comfortable swallowing the small oil filled capsules. Pharma Nord BioActive D-Pearls Junior (80)Omega 3s.
Omega-3 fatty acids is our number one recommendation for school age children.
They are a great supplement to support brain function which is perfect for getting those little minds back in school mode again!
Eskimo-3 Kids food supplement which contains omega 3,6, and 9 plus vitamin D and vitamin E comes in orange or tutti fruity flavour and is suitable from 1 year.
All omega 3 comes from sustainable sources and this is a great supplement if you want a mixture of omegas with the vitamins and minerals. Eskimo Kids Omega 3 6 Vit A D.
Drop in to Eimear and the staff in Meaghers Pharmacy, Glenview