Cold & Flu Season: What Moms Can Do at Home + Questions to Ask the Clinic ~Education Only~ (Presented by Joseph) [S1, E4]

Transcript

Speaker: Hi, welcome to Skills for Moms, practical tools for confident, calm family care. Today, going to share Grace's guide to cold and flu season and how to navigate it with three stages, before, during, and after.

Speaker: This episode pulls from Grace's six-page handout to give you just an easy overview of what it contains. This is just an overview. So by way of introduction, i just want to set a goal that we want to have practical evidence-informed strategies for prevention, care during an illness, and recovery.

Speaker: So we want to give you easy, simple, doable steps and things that you can do ahead of the time, ahead of sickness, to make sure you're ready.

Speaker: Obviously, a lot of people are trying to sell you things, but sleep, drinking water, And good nutrition, it really starts with your choice. Obviously supportive tools can come later like nasal saline and taking care of yourself, being gentle, but you really have to make a choice to prioritize those things that you can do and that people can't make money off of you.

Speaker: We're also going to talk about the viral viral curve and how to reduce stress and also improve decision making. coming up here in the next slides.

Speaker: We often get the order wrong, right? We're kind of stressed, doing a lot of things, and then we want to buy something to make our problems go away. So we want to advocate for starting with the basics. You need seven to nine hours of sleep.

Speaker: You need to have good hydration, which I know I struggle with, but but I'm still trying. We want to eat real food, fruits, veggies, and nuts. We want to try to minimize any pesticides and things that our body can't process. Then good, gentle, natural movement all day, ideally. Not just intense, but you want to break it out every day.

Speaker: Hopefully your kids are going to play outside every day, even when it's cold. I know that's tough, but but we're trying.

Speaker: found These are just foundational habits that you can build in sleep, hydration, diet, and consistent movement to help your body already be strong and be able to bounce back after sickness.

Speaker: Hey, I'm floating over here now, bottom left. So Grace has a soapbox and that is nasal saline. If you don't know what that is, it's a spray that you can use to clear your nose. It removes viral particles from out of your um nose and respiratory system, helps you breathe. We do it in the morning, right when we wake up, but also before bed. It helps you sleep better too. it reduces nighttime congestion and dry indoor air. I'm recording this during the winter right now and our heater's going a lot. So you need that saline to to help your nose not stay too dry.

Speaker: Then obviously the fresh air and sunlight is good for your home. We want to also finally clean your home with soap based cleaners. Grace advocates avoiding heavy chemical disinfectants. I know we're kind of trained to think that's what clean smells like is if it smells like a chemical, but ideally just basic soap from Branch Basics or other suppliers is really good for your health.

Speaker: Even with all these steps, chances are we're still going to experience some sickness symptoms. So let's not get overwhelmed. Let's stick to the basics and take care of what matters most.

Speaker: Here are the core care strategies during sickness that Grace recommends. Sleep and naps. This will get you better faster than anything else.

Speaker: It's just so good to rest. A tip Grace shares is also changing your pillowcases at least every night, just so that you're not reintroducing viral load back to your respiratory system.

Speaker: Water. Consider alkaline water because bacteria prefer an acidic environment. Healing foods like warm soups, bone broth, easy to digest. Avoid rough food like salad or any sugary drinks.

Speaker: And then light movement only, no strenuous workouts are needed when you're sick. But it is good to maintain movement to help your body and your nervous system circulate.

Speaker: Now we'll talk about the viral load and the viral curve, which peaks about two to four days into sickness, but then it improves.

Speaker: A lot of people actually get and antibiotics when their viral load when they're they're on the downslope. They don't realize it, but they feel like, oh, man, I just got to do something. And you're already on the mend.

Speaker: so So think about the viral curve. and And there's more research out there that you can look up about maybe what you're experiencing and how long it could take.

Speaker: Again, sinus rinsing, that is a ah whole next step. I showed a picture of the NealMed sinus rinse bottle. We love that. It's actually an amazing feeling to to rinse your nose and see all these boogers come out that your body was holding inside. You've got to make sure you use distilled or boiled water only, not tap water.

Speaker: There's other gentle options like Ocelococonium pictured here. It's used a lot in Europe. Vitamin C, zinc, elderberry and NAC.

Speaker: Make sure you ask for guidance from ah medical professional about these and and make sure they're okay for you to take in your situation. Then finally, for cough and chest congestion, a nebulizer with sterile saline is safe even for infants. It loosens mucus without the side effects of medication.

Speaker: We used it just recently with our baby when he was having trouble coughing and Obviously we can't do a sinus rinse on a little baby, but that nebulizer really helps.

Speaker: um We have a link on our store shop on Linktree for nebulizers as well that you can check out. starting to If you're starting to feel better, recovery the recovery matters as well.

Speaker: He's back into it thoughtfully.

Speaker: You see a boy here with a little nebulizer. mask looks like he's on the mend it's still good to to do that occasionally if if you have a persistent cough ear fluid can persist for up to three months grace says so this could affect your hearing and your balance especially in kids habitual mouth breathing is common after congestion it can lead to dental and jaw issues so you need to gently retrain

Speaker: nasal breathing during quiet activities. We give our kids a Mayo Munchie while they're watching a show to help them breathe through their mouth and strengthen their jaws.

Speaker: Then you need to gradually reintroduce activity and monitor energy, restoring balance and correct habits that have shifted.

Speaker: So we don't want to do everything at once. We need to start with the basics, understand the viral curve, support yourself with rest, hydration, and gentle care.

Speaker: We do have an online shop where we can share a few of our favorite products for use in battling cold and flu season, like saline, nebulizers, and other supplements.

Speaker: I hope these takeaways are helpful for you. Foundational health habits is something Grace is really passionate about. All this content was derived from her and this document that's available also on our Linktree site.

Speaker: Remember, you can support yourself and your kids during illness. Recovery and rehabilitation needs to be taken gently. And remember, don't panic in that right at the beginning of that viral curve. right You can take care of yourself and help your body fight the illnesses.

Speaker: And of course, reach out for help to to your community, to trusted medical provider.

Speaker: We wanted to be clear that this information is for general educational purposes only, and it's not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified health care provider regarding any medical condition or treatment plan.

Speaker: Skills for moms may receive a small commission from purchases through our shop. Use this information for personal guidance and to ask questions of people in your community.

Speaker: Thanks for your patience with us. We're just trying this out for the first time, so I hope it was helpful for you. Feel free to share it with others if you think it was helpful or message us with any feedback you might have.

Speaker: Thanks. Have a good one.