Your child's immune system plays an important role in keeping her healthy. The immune system is a group of organs, tissues and cells that fight off germs, bacteria and other microscopic organisms that have the power to make you sick, explains KidsHealth.org, an online health and parenting information resource maintained by the Nemours Foundation. When your child has a healthy immune system, she's less likely to get sick and more likely to recover quickly when she does catch something.
Step 1
Breastfeed if you can because your breast milk contains antibodies that give your child's early immune system a boost, according to KidsHealth.org.
Step 2
Include fruit and vegetables in all your child's meals, recommends pediatrician William Sears in "Parenting" magazine. Sears says fruit and vegetables high in vitamin C and antioxidants--such as strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, papaya, blueberries and sweet potatoes--can improve immune system function.
Step 3
Let your child get dirty sometimes, recommends Mary Ruebush, a microbiology and immunology instructor and author of the book "Why Dirt Is Good," in the "New York Times." According to Ruebush, hypervigilance about hygiene can prevent your child from being exposed to the germs necessary for developing a strong immune system.
Step 4
Reduce the amount of sugar in your child's diet. According to Sears, consuming the sugar contained in two cans of soda can reduce your child's immune system function by as much as 40 percent.
Step 5
Encourage your child to maintain a healthy weight by helping him make exercise and a healthy diet part of his everyday routine, recommends Sears, who explains that obesity has a negative impact on the immune system, so kids who stay at a healthy weight are likely to have healthier immune systems, too.
