Root Cause

I knew about the terrible chemicals in them, but I did not know about this! One more link to the declining ability to conceive and carry to term in this generation.

Tampons sit against some of the most absorptive tissue on the body for hours at a time, and until mid-2024 almost nobody had tested what is actually in them beyond the cotton and rayon on the label. A team led by researchers at Columbia and Berkeley finally did. They bought 30 tampons across 14 brands and 18 product lines, sourced from stores in several countries, and tested each one for 16 metals.

Every single metal they tested for turned up in at least one tampon. Lead showed up in one hundred percent of the products tested. Arsenic, cadmium, mercury and a dozen others were present too, just at different levels brand to brand.

Here is the twist that should stop you before you reach for the clean looking box. Non-organic tampons carried more lead on average. Organic tampons carried more arsenic on average. Paying more for the organic label did not buy a metal free product, it bought a different metal. The researchers were careful to say they cannot yet tell you how much of this actually leaches out into the body during use, that research has not been done, and menstrual products are not required to disclose their full ingredient list the way food is.

That gap is the real story. A product classified as a medical device in most countries, used by roughly half the population for a huge chunk of their life, has never had to prove it is free of toxic metals, because nobody was required to test for them until independent researchers decided to check.

We are not telling you to panic or switch products off one study. We are telling you that unscented, cotton, hypoallergenic on a box was never a guarantee of what is actually inside, for this or most personal care products, and the only way that changes is if enough people know to ask.

Shop https://systemicformulas.com/ref/OHRU01/?s=Digestion&campaign=Digestive%20support%20ad

Need help? Set up a consultation with me at rootcausenrt.com! I’d love to help you sort it out!

What Every Parent Should Know About the Gut

Part A: Meet the Living Ecosystem Inside Your Child

When You Hear “Gut Health,” What Do You Think Of?

Constipation? Diarrhea? A tummy ache?

Maybe indigestion, gas or bloating?

Or perhaps your mind immediately goes to probiotics and yogurt.

For most of us, the “gut” is something we think about when digestion isn’t working quite right. Food goes in, our body takes what it needs, waste comes out—and unless something hurts somewhere in between, we don’t give the process much thought.

But your child’s gut is so much more than a digestive system.

Not only is it home to an enormous community of microorganisms, but it contains an important barrier between the outside world and the rest of the body. It interacts continually with the immune system. And it even carries on a two-way conversation with the brain.

So if we’re going to understand what to do when gut health goes wrong, we first need to understand what the gut actually is, and what is happening inside of it.

And the easiest way I know to explain that is for you to imagine your child’s digestive tract as one long, living tube running through the body.

Food enters at one end. It is broken down as it travels through, nutrients are absorbed across the wall of that tube, and what remains eventually leaves the other end.

Simple enough.

But here’s the part that surprises many people:

Just because something is inside that tube doesn’t mean it has entered the rest of the body.

The food your child eats, the bacteria living in the intestines, and anything else traveling through the digestive tract remain separated from the bloodstream and tissues by a carefully regulated intestinal lining.

For something your child needs—such as digested nutrients—to move from that tube into the body’s internal environment, it has to cross that boundary appropriately.

And that boundary is anything but a simple piece of plumbing.

The gut isn’t simply a tube carrying food.

It’s a living tube carrying an ecosystem.

And to understand how that ecosystem affects your child’s health, there are four parts parents need to understand:

🛡️ The intestinal barrier — the living wall of the tube
💧 The mucus layer — its protective inner coating
🌱 The microbiome — the ecosystem living within it
🧠 The gut-brain axis — the communication network connecting the gut with the brain and the rest of the body

Let’s start with the wall itself.

🛡️ The Gut Barrier — The Wall Between Two Worlds

So what is the gut barrier…really?

Imagine zooming way in on the surface of that long, living tube we were talking about.

The intestinal barrier isn’t a thick, solid wall. The inside surface facing the contents of the intestine is made primarily of a single layer of specialized cells called epithelial cells.

What looks like one continuous surface is actually made up of millions of these individual cells.

Think of them almost like the pixels that make up a picture on a screen. From a distance, you see one smooth, continuous image. But zoom in far enough and you discover that the picture is actually made up of countless individual units.

Your intestinal lining is similar.

Millions of tiny living cells sit side-by-side, forming a continuous boundary between what’s traveling through the intestine and the rest of the body.

But unlike pixels on a screen, these cells aren’t simply sitting next to one another.

They’re connected.

Neighboring cells are sealed together by specialized structures called tight junctions. You can think of these almost like tiny, adjustable seals between the pixels—helping regulate what is allowed to pass between one cell and the next.

And that’s where this “wall” becomes really interesting.

It isn’t a fortress wall designed to keep everything out. It has to protect while allowing passage at the same time.

Your child eats a meal, and that food is broken down into nutrients the body needs. Those nutrients have to be absorbed for the body to use them.

At the same time, the gut contains microbes, microbial products, food components and other substances that shouldn’t simply have unrestricted access across the intestinal lining.

So this isn’t an impermeable wall.

It’s a selective, living barrier.

The epithelial cells themselves transport many substances across, while tight junctions help regulate passage between neighboring cells. Together with the mucus layer, immune system and microbiome, they help maintain that carefully controlled boundary.

But what happens when that barrier becomes disrupted?

Its permeability can change.

You may have heard this described as “leaky gut.” The scientific term is increased intestinal permeability.

That doesn’t mean the intestine suddenly develops big holes or that everything you eat is “leaking into your bloodstream.” It means the normal regulation of the intestinal barrier has been altered, allowing increased passage across that boundary.

And that matters because just beyond this incredibly thin layer of cells is an immune system paying very close attention to what crosses it.

The intestinal wall may be only one cell layer thick—but what happens at that wall can affect far more than digestion.

And before anything even reaches those delicate epithelial cells, there’s another important part of the gut’s defense that we haven’t talked about yet…

💧 The Mucus Layer — Protecting the Wall

Remember those millions of tiny epithelial “pixels” that make up the intestinal barrier?

They aren’t sitting there completely exposed to everything traveling through the gut.

Covering and protecting that delicate surface is another remarkable part of the system:

The mucus layer.

You may think of mucus as simply that annoying stuff coming out of your child’s nose when they have a cold—but mucus is actually one of the body’s important protective tools.

Specialized cells in the intestinal lining, called goblet cells, continually produce mucus that coats the gut-facing surface.

Think of it as a protective, living buffer between the wall of the tube and much of what is traveling through it.

Mucus is largely made up of water, along with specialized proteins called mucins, electrolytes and other components. That hydrated mucus environment helps it perform its normal protective and lubricating functions.

Can you see why something as simple as keeping your child well hydrated matters?

Water isn’t just there to quench thirst. Adequate hydration helps support the normal fluids and secretions the body depends upon every day—including the protective mucus found throughout the body.

But lubrication is only part of its job!

The mucus layer in the gut helps protect the epithelial cells underneath from direct contact with digestive contents and helps limit how closely many microorganisms can approach the intestinal wall. It also contains immune and antimicrobial components that participate in the gut’s defenses.

And here’s something that’s really cool.

The mucus layer and the microbiome interact with one another.

Some microbes live within or associate with the outer mucus environment, and some can use components of mucus as nutrients. At the same time, substances produced by our gut microbes can influence mucus production and the health of the intestinal lining.

So these aren’t separate systems working independently.

The mucus protects the barrier.
The barrier interacts with the immune system.
And the microbial community interacts with both.

It’s another example of why gut health is less like a piece of plumbing and more like a living ecosystem.

And that brings us to the inhabitants of our tube—the community we began talking about in the last article:

🌱 The Microbiome — Meet the Neighborhood

So, who exactly are these “inhabitants” we keep talking about?

Your child’s digestive tract is home to an enormous community of microorganisms—including bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes.

Together, this community is called the gut microbiome.

These organisms aren’t simply unwanted germs that somehow found their way inside.

Many are normal residents of the gut, living together in an incredibly complex ecosystem.

Remember Horton Hears a Who!?

Horton discovers that what looks like nothing more than a tiny speck is actually home to an entire community—an unseen world filled with inhabitants whose presence had gone completely unnoticed.

I sometimes think of the microbiome a little like that.

For most of our lives, we go about eating, sleeping, working and raising our children without giving much thought to the enormous microscopic community living right there inside us.

But if those tiny inhabitants could suddenly make themselves heard, I imagine millions of little voices calling out:

“WE ARE HERE!”

And they aren’t just along for the ride.

They are eating.
They are competing.
They are producing substances.
They are interacting with the intestinal lining.
They are communicating with the immune system.

In other words, this microscopic neighborhood doesn’t just live there.

It does things.

Some of its residents help break down parts of food that our own digestive enzymes can’t completely digest. Some produce useful compounds. Some interact with the mucus layer and intestinal barrier. And, as we talked about in the last article, the microbial community is in continual communication with the immune system.

Some also help simply by occupying the terrain—competing with potentially harmful organisms for nutrients and places to live.

This is why something as ordinary as what you put on your child’s plate becomes really important.

Your child isn’t the only one eating dinner!

Many gut microbes depend upon substances in the foods we eat—especially different types of fibers and complex carbohydrates that make it through the upper digestive tract without being completely broken down.

Certain microbes ferment those carbohydrates and produce compounds called short-chain fatty acids. One you may have heard of is butyrate, an important fuel source for cells lining the colon that also participates in normal barrier and immune function.

So when we feed our children, in a very real sense, we are also feeding their microbial ecosystem.

And different microbes prefer different foods.

Have you ever heard, “Variety is the spice of life”?

Well, variety matters to the microbial world, too!

Vegetables. Fruits. Beans and legumes. Nuts and seeds. Whole grains where appropriate. Herbs and other plant foods all contain different fibers and plant compounds that interact with the gut ecosystem in different ways.

This doesn’t mean every child needs to eat every food, or that there is one perfect “microbiome diet.”

But it does give us a wonderfully simple principle:

Don’t just think about feeding your child. Think about feeding the neighborhood that lives inside.

A diverse ecosystem needs nourishment.

And the more we understand about that neighborhood, the more obvious something else becomes:

The gut isn’t operating by itself.

The barrier is communicating.
The mucus is interacting.
The microbes are producing signals and metabolites.
The immune system is paying attention.

And some of those messages travel much farther than the intestine.

All the way to the brain.

🧠 The Gut-Brain Axis — A Two-Way Conversation

We’ve followed our living tube from its protective wall, through the mucus layer, and into the microscopic neighborhood living inside it.

But there is one more piece every parent should understand.

The gut is talking to the brain. And the brain is talking back.

Have you ever had “butterflies” in your stomach before doing something that made you nervous?

Or watched your child suddenly complain that his stomach hurts on the morning of a big test, performance or first day of school?

That isn’t imaginary.

It’s a simple, everyday example of something scientists call the gut-brain axis—the two-way communication network between the digestive system and the brain.

And this conversation is happening all the time.

The gut and brain communicate through several pathways, and the nervous system is one of them. The vagus nerve, which travels between the brain and many internal organs, is an important part of that communication.

But nerves aren’t the only messengers.

The immune system participates. Hormones participate. And remember those tiny inhabitants of the microbiome yelling, “WE ARE HERE!”?

They participate, too.

The substances produced by gut microbes can interact with intestinal, immune, metabolic and nervous-system pathways, adding yet another layer to the conversation between the gut and brain.

This is one reason scientists are so interested in studying the relationships between the gut microbiome and things we once thought had very little to do with digestion—such as stress responses, mood, behavior, sleep and brain development.

While this does NOT mean that every anxious, moody, distracted or poor-sleeping child has a gut problem, it certainly bears consideration.

And while it doesn’t mean that fixing the gut will automatically fix every behavioral or neurological concern, the gut can play a role in these cases.

Remember: the communication goes both ways.

Stress can change what happens in the digestive tract—affecting things like motility, digestive function and the intestinal environment.

And changes occurring within the gut can send signals in the other direction.

There is wisdom in the old advice our grandparents often followed at the dinner table: no politics and no religion during the meal.

Polite society understood that some subjects were too emotionally charged for the table. The goal was to create a calmer atmosphere for eating, conversation and connection—not to turn every meal into a debate or a source of tension.

And when someone was sad, upset or deeply stressed, they often waited to eat until they had settled down. They may not have had the language of the gut-brain axis, but they recognized something important: strong emotions can affect the way we eat and digest.

So what can Mom do with that information?

Sometimes supporting your child’s gut doesn’t begin in the kitchen or the supplement cabinet.

Sometimes it means looking at the whole child.

Are they sleeping enough?
Are they constantly rushing?
Are they carrying stress or anxiety?
Do they have time to play, move their bodies and unwind?

Those things matter, too.

Because supporting the gut-brain axis isn’t simply about sending the right messages from the gut to the brain.

It’s also about considering the messages being sent from the brain back to the gut.

And now our picture of that long, living tube is much more complete:

🛡️ The barrier regulates the boundary.
💧 The mucus layer helps protect it.
🌱 The microbiome inhabits and interacts with it.
🧠 The gut-brain axis keeps it connected and communicating.

None of these systems operates alone.

They are parts of one interconnected, living ecosystem.

🔗 Putting the Whole Picture Together

Let’s zoom back out.

What began as a simple “tube” carrying food is actually a living ecosystem: microbes inhabit it, mucus protects its surface, the intestinal barrier regulates what passes through, the immune system responds, and messages travel between the gut and brain.

Everything is connected.

Changes in the microbial community, barrier, immune system, stress signals, or food supply can influence the rest of the ecosystem. That’s why “gut health” is about more than tummy aches—or remembering a probiotic.

We have to look at the whole ecosystem.

And when that ecosystem is repeatedly challenged, the effects may not stay in the gut. They may show up as changes in digestion, appetite, immunity, mood, sleep, skin, or behavior—clues that something underneath may need attention.

So the next question is: “What can disrupt a child’s gut health?”

An ecosystem can be remarkably resilient. But when enough pressures accumulate—or when a child’s system is especially vulnerable—the balance can begin to shift. And the first signs may appear in places we would never think to look.

Coming next in Part B:

🔎 What disrupts the gut?
🔎 What clues should parents be watching for?
🔎 And most importantly—what can we do to help restore balance?

Stay tuned. We’re going to put the pieces together.

🌿 Root Cause Holistic Wellness
Get Healthy, Stay Healthy
rootcausenrt.com

🌿 THE IMMUNE SYSTEM YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOUR CHILD HAD

And it’s in the gut.

Different kids. Different personalities. Different immune responses.

Most moms with more than one child know exactly what I’m talking about.

One child comes home sick on Tuesday. His brother has been sitting beside him at the supper table, riding in the same car and sharing the same bathroom—but doesn’t show symptoms until Friday.

And when he does, it may not even look like the same illness.

One runs a fever and coughs. Another has a headache, feels nauseated and sleeps all day. One bounces back quickly, while another takes much longer to feel like himself again.

And sometimes there’s that one child who barely seems affected at all.

Same family.
Similar exposure.
Very different responses.

WHY?

We might say one has a weaker immune system, had closer contact or simply received a larger exposure. And those things can certainly matter.

But exposure is only one side of the equation.

The virus may be the same, but the child it encounters is not.

Each child brings his or her own immune history, genetics, nutritional status, sleep and stress patterns, previous exposures—and his or her own unique microbiome.

So when a child encounters a pathogen, the immune system isn’t starting from a blank slate. There is already an entire biological environment influencing how that child responds.

This is the part of “flu season” that is often missed.

We spend so much time asking:

❓ “What bug is going around?”

When perhaps we should also be asking:

❓ “What is different about the child the bug encountered?”

We can’t eliminate every exposure. Our children are going to go to school, church, birthday parties and sleepovers. They’re going to share pencils, touch doorknobs and sit beside coughing classmates.

The goal isn’t to create a child who never encounters germs.

The goal is to support a child who is as resilient as possible when that exposure happens.

And one important piece of that resilience begins in a place many parents would never think to look when their child comes home with a runny nose, cough or sore throat…

🌿 THE GUT.

🔬 A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE GUT–IMMUNE CONNECTION

The gut–immune connection isn’t actually new.

Scientists described organized immune tissue in the intestine more than 300 years ago. What is relatively new is our ability to study the enormous microbial community living alongside that immune system.

Modern DNA sequencing changed that dramatically.

In 2007, the National Institutes of Health launched the Human Microbiome Project to investigate the microorganisms that share our bodies and their relationships with human health and disease.

Suddenly, the question wasn’t simply:

“Which germs make us sick?”

It also became:

“What are all these microbes doing when we’re healthy?”

And that’s where things get really interesting.

The intestinal lining isn’t just a wall. It’s an active interface between the digestive tract and the rest of the body.

Right there in the gut, the immune system performs an extraordinary balancing act—encountering food and enormous numbers of harmless or beneficial microbes without attacking everything it sees, while remaining capable of responding to potential threats.

Specialized immune structures and cells help participate in that process.

Think about that for a moment.

Every day, your child’s gut and immune system are continually working through a fundamental question:

👉 FRIEND, FOOD—or THREAT?

👧👦 BUT THEY’RE SIBLINGS. SHOULDN’T THEIR MICROBIOMES BE THE SAME?

Let’s bring this back to those two children sitting at the same supper table.

Same parents.
Same house.
Often the same meals, school, church and exposures.

But they don’t necessarily have the same microbiome.

God doesn’t clone His creation! Each child’s microbial ecosystem has its own history.

That history begins very early in life and continues to change as the child grows.

Factors surrounding birth and infant feeding can influence the developing microbiome. So can age, diet, environment, illnesses, antibiotics, contact with other people and animals, and countless everyday exposures.

Think about two children in the same family:

One may have needed several courses of antibiotics for recurring ear infections. His sibling may have rarely needed them.

One eats almost anything you put in front of him. The other would happily survive on five favorite foods.

One sleeps deeply and wakes ready to go. The other may be going through a season of poor sleep or stress.

They live under the same roof—but biologically, they haven’t lived the same story.

And their microbiomes haven’t either.

That doesn’t mean we can examine two children’s gut bacteria and predict which one will catch the next classroom virus or exactly how sick each will become.

Infection doesn’t work that simply.

Genetics, previous immunity, exposure, sleep, nutrition, age and many other factors influence the outcome.

But the microbiome and immune system are in continual communication. That microbial ecosystem is one part of the biological environment in which the immune system is working.

So the question isn’t only:

❓ “What did my child catch?”

We should also be asking:

❓ “What has shaped the child who caught it?”

🌱 SO WHAT IS A HEALTHY MICROBIOME ACTUALLY DOING?

When we hear the word “bacteria,” many of us still instinctively think:

GERMS. GET RID OF THEM.

But that’s only one small part of the picture!

A healthy gut isn’t supposed to be sterile. It is home to an enormous community of microorganisms, many of which perform functions that benefit us.

Think of it less like an empty digestive tube and more like a busy, living ecosystem.

After all, were we not created from the dust of the earth?

When we look at creation, we see ecosystems made up of countless organisms interacting with one another. When that ecosystem is healthy, balance matters.

The ecosystem within us is no different in that respect.

When it is functioning well, several important things are happening:

🏡 IT HELPS OCCUPY THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

Beneficial and harmless microbes compete for space and nutrients. Scientists call this “colonization resistance.”

An established microbial community can make it more difficult for certain potentially harmful organisms to gain a foothold.

Again, as we see in nature, balance matters.

🛡️ IT HELPS MAINTAIN THE GUT BARRIER.

The intestinal lining helps regulate what passes between the digestive tract and the rest of the body.

Gut microbes and the compounds they produce interact with the cells that help maintain that barrier.

🎓 IT HELPS EDUCATE AND REGULATE THE IMMUNE SYSTEM.

Communication between microbes and immune cells helps shape how the immune system responds—when tolerance is appropriate and when a defensive response is needed.

So when I talk about supporting a child’s microbiome, I’m not simply talking about “having good bacteria.”

I’m talking about supporting a BALANCED ECOSYSTEM.

🌱 An ecosystem with diversity.
🌱 An ecosystem that interacts with the intestinal barrier.
🌱 An ecosystem that communicates with the immune system.
🌱 An ecosystem that is fed by what we feed our children.

And this is why the conversation about children’s resilience needs to go deeper than simply asking which herbal remedy we should reach for when the first sniffle appears.

We aren’t just supporting an immune system.

We’re supporting the environment in which that immune system has been developing, learning and working.

🌿 NEED HELP KNOWING WHERE TO START?

Every child is different, and sometimes figuring out what support fits your child can feel overwhelming.

I’m available for individual consultations to help families develop a personalized wellness plan and navigate nutritional and supplement options.

🌿 Root Cause Holistic Wellness
Get Healthy, Stay Healthy
rootcausenrt.com

This post is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat or prevent illness or replace individualized medical care.

🍎 BACK TO SCHOOL: Why Your Child’s Gut Health Matters More Than You Think

Every year we hear it.

That familiar—and dreaded—phrase, repeated with almost weary resignation by parents, teachers, and even doctors:

“It’s that season again!”

I hear it in my clinic, too.

Parents whom I haven’t seen all summer start coming in after the second or third week of school:

“The whole family is down for the count.”

“We were doing so well all summer, but now we can’t seem to kick this bug.”

“We just keep passing this thing around!”

Different families. Different symptoms. Same frustrating story.

Back-to-school sickness has arrived.

And I get it. When one child gets sick and then it begins working its way through the household, the struggle is real, and it is frustrating.

We’re told it’s because the weather is changing and temperatures are dropping. There’s less sunlight and more time indoors. Or maybe it’s simply because the kids have gone back to school—five days a week in classrooms filled with other children and plenty of opportunities to share germs.

Certainly, those things affect us,But didn’t our children spend the summer around people, too? Theme parks and restaurants. Malls, cookouts and pools. Sleepovers and friends. Church, Sunday school and VBS.

They weren’t exactly living in bubbles all summer.

And then there are always those few children who seem to weather everything going around. When half the class is home sick, maybe they have a sniffle for a day and are back to normal the next.

What makes them different?

Before I answer that question, though, let’s deal with the immediate problem Mom is looking at: that sick little face looking right back at her.

“What can I do to help my child NOW?”

Start before illness hits.

There are three basic things I pay attention to during seasons when I know my children will be exposed to more illness.

1. Nutrition.
I want their bodies well nourished. If I have a picky eater and know there are nutritional gaps, I look for ways to fill those gaps with nutrient-dense foods and, when appropriate, a good whole-food nutritional supplement.

2. Fresh air and movement.
I want my children outside and moving their bodies. Physical activity supports circulation and normal lymphatic function—and it doesn’t have to be complicated. Jump on the trampoline. Run around the house. Take a walk with Mom. Play outside.

3. Simple herbal support.
I also have herbs on hand that have earned a permanent place in my home over the years.

Echinacea, astragalus, yarrow, elderberry, garlic, black seed oil and chamomile are some of my favorites. I also make sure we’re getting plenty of vitamin C.

Thankfully, I don’t have to spend my days gathering, drying and tincturing herbs to use them! Most of these herbs are available in carefully prepared herbal blends and complexes.

At the first sign - the runny nose, unusual tiredness, sore throat, aches, or that unmistakable “Mom, I don’t feel good” look—I pay attention.

I encourage rest, fluids and nourishing foods, and I reach for the simple nutritional and herbal supports I’ve learned work well in our household.

But I don’t want this to be the story of our lives. Sick again. Well again. Sick again. A never-ending carousel of reacting to the next acute illness or flare-up.

I would much rather build resilience before the exposure ever happens!

Ultimately, Nobody wants their children’s resilience to depend upon how many bottles of supplements they have in the cabinet. The goal is to support a body so that its own defenses kick in and do the job quickly and efficiently.

That’s why my attention shifts from the obvious to the underlying cause.

While everyone is usually looking at the nose, sinuses, throat, lungs and immune system, I’m looking somewhere else.

I’m looking at the gut.

Because the gut isn’t simply a digestive tube. It contains an enormous microbial ecosystem that communicates with the intestinal barrier and immune system. The health and balance of that ecosystem determines how our bodies respond to the world around us.

And that is the clue to answering the question we started with:

Why do some children seem to catch everything that comes through the classroom, while others seem remarkably resilient?

Exposure is certainly part of the answer, but it is only one part. The answer may also involve the gut, its microbiome, and many other factors that influence immune resilience.

In my next post, I will tell you a little bit more about that microbiome and share more practical tips for supporting your children’s health through the school year.

⸻

🌿 Helpful products I Keep on Hand

Several readers have asked which nutritional and herbal products I use in my own home. I have put together a short list. These are some of my favorite herbal preparations and complexes to support my kids during cold and flu season.

These products are not intended to replace nourishing food, rest, hydration, movement or appropriate medical care. They are simply some of the tools I use for my family based on individual needs.

Nutritional support

* Tuff Play — Tuff Play is a great blend of some of my favorite immune boosting herbs. Systemic Formulas never disappoints!
https://systemicformulas.com/product/tuff-play/ref/OHRU01/?campaign=Back to school
* Happy Play — Happy play is a great and easy way to fill in the nutritional gaps. Like a multivitamin in liquid form. https://systemicformulas.com/product/fun-play/ref/OHRU01/?campaign=Back%20to%20school

Herbal support

* Sambucol Homeopathic Lozenges for cold and flu — Sometimes you just need to be able to drop by a store and get something for now. These little lozenges have carried our family through many flu seasons. Be sure to use them as indicated on the package. They are very effective!
https://a.co/d/03WwQIdx
* Dr. Christopher’s Garlic Immune Syrup — A great blend of garlic and herbs. I use this as a booster for the immune system. We take the suggested dose daily for 10 days, or up to 2 weeks, then take a break for 3 or 4 weeks.
https://drchristophersherbshop.com/products/super-garlic-imm-syr-4oz

Disclaimer: Please read product labels carefully and follow age-specific directions. Children may respond differently to herbs and supplements, and some products may not be appropriate for children who take medications or have allergies, chronic health conditions or other individual considerations. When in doubt, consult your child’s pediatrician or another qualified healthcare professional.

🌿 Root Cause Holistic Wellness

This post is for educational purposes and describes approaches I use in my own home. It isn’t intended to diagnose or treat illness or replace appropriate medical care. Herbal products and supplements may not be appropriate for every child; age, medications, allergies and individual health circumstances matter. Some links may be practitioner or affiliate links, which means my practice may receive credit from qualifying purchases.