If there’s one enduring memory I may carry from my kids’ childhood it will be that of a perennial cough. ‘The Coughing Years’, I may call them, a riff on the ‘The Wonder Years‘, a show I immensely enjoyed as a child. When my kids were younger it felt like one of them (and sometimes both) had a cough that never left. When they were in pre-school the doctors put it down to weaker immunity and constant exposure to germs. As my children grew older and their immunity developed, the incidence of these frequent bouts of illness seemed to reduce. The cough lingered however, an unwelcome guest. “It’s the air” explained our paediatrician, “All the dust and pollution.” I stared at him aghast. How was I to protect my kids from terrible air quality?
If you’re a parent to young kids, especially under 5 years of age, coughs and colds are probably your constant companions too. Small kids in daycare and pre-school suffer from frequent coughs and colds, and the germs spread easily. And if that wasn’t enough, us parents now how one more parameter to worry about: AQI. As the air quality in Mumbai dipped over the last week, my son started coughing. A dry, hacking cough that kept him (and me) up at night and miserable during the day. The doctor prescribed his usual rotation of medicines. An anti-allergen, a cough syrup for the dry cough, one for a phlegmy cough. “His chest and throat are clear” he informed me “It’s the air.”
So what is a parent to do?
I went home feeling miserable. The cough syrups would take care of the cough, but only for a bit. I was doing what I could to improve my children’s immunity through diet and exercise anyway. But how was I going to deal with the air? I realized that while I couldn’t control the quality of the outdoors air, I could definitely work on the quality of the air indoors. And I could take steps to ensure my kids stayed safe even when they were outdoors. If you’re a parent and like me, worried about the toxins your child is constantly exposed to, this article is for you.
Here are some measures you can take to protect your kids when the air quality is terrible:
1. Stay on top of the AQI
You can easily monitor the AQI on a daily basis using a weather app on your phone. The AQI tracks ozone and particle pollution and alerts you to days that are particularly bad. On days with a poor AQI, keep your kids indoors as much as possible. Young children’s lungs are still developing so toxins can have a much greater impact on their health. Plus, kids are more active and tend to inhale more of the polluted air when outdoors compared to adults. They are also more likely to breathe in air through their mouths, which bypasses filtering of air through the nose.
Keep your kids engaged in fun indoor activities or sign them up for some indoor sports like table tennis, squash or chess to keep boredom at bay. If you must step out on poor AQI days, don’t forget to mask up. N95 and KN95 masks offer the best protection from polluted air. Make sure your child masks up when outdoors, if the AQI is 150 or above. If your child has asthma or any other respiratory condition, he/she should mask up when the AQI is 100 or above. if your child commutes in a school bus without air conditioning, they should mask up in the bus too.
2. Keep your indoor air clean
Indoor air can contain several toxins such as pet dander, dust, mould spores, and tobacco smoke. Poor quality indoor air can have a serious impact on your health. Young children and kids with respiratory conditions are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of polluted indoor air. Luckily there’s a lot you can do to keep your indoor air as clean as possible:
- When it comes to indoor air, a cleaner house is definitely a healthier house. Reduce dust in your home by vacuuming regularly and dusting with a microfibre or damp cloth. Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter.
- Try and minimize the number of carpets and rugs in your home. If you do have carpets or rugs, vacuum them at least once a week
- Regularly clean all bedding linens and drapes, especially if you have pets
- Minimize clutter regularly because it tends to attract and trap dust
- Avoid using too many indoor plants. While some indoor plants are touted as having air purifying qualities, they can collect and foster mould. Experts say that the disadvantages of indoor plants can outweigh the benefits when it comes to impacting air quality. So to stay on the safe side minimize the use of too many indoor plants especially in areas like your children’s bedrooms.
- Use exhaust fans in the kitchen to remove cooking fumes. Minimize the use of air fresheners, agarbattis, and candles. Be careful with using strong perfumes and deodorants as well, especially around your kids.
- Minimize mould and mildew buildup in your home by reducing humidity and changing appliance filters regularly. You can consider using a dehumidifier in areas that are prone to dampness.
- Ensure that your bathrooms are well ventilated. Scrub your bathrooms at least once a week to prevent mould build up in the shower and on walls and fixtures
- You can also consider investing in an air purifier. Ionic purifiers are especially good at capturing many common indoor irritants. Using air purifiers at night is a good way to keep your children protected from poor quality air for an extended period of time. This is especially true because children also tend to breathe more deeply at night.
- Apart from the air inside your home, you can also manage the air quality in your car. Several cars nowadays come with in-built HEPA filters. You can also consider replacing the regular filters in your car with HEPA filters.
3. Stay hydrated
Make sure that your children are well hydrated through the day. This ensures that any toxins are flushed out of their bodies. You can give your kids home made lemonade and soothing kadhas, in addition to plenty of water. Adding flavour enhancers like mint leaves or tulsi leaves, and a wedge of lemon to water can also help increase your kids’ fluid intake.
4. Focus on a nutritious diet
If your child has a cough induced by poor air quality, completely cut out junk food and highly processed food. Focus instead on a high quality, nutritious diet. Eating a nutritious diet builds immunity and helps the body combat air pollution. Make sure your diet is rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains and healthy fats. Research suggests that the harmful effects of air pollution may be reduced by the intake of some essential micronutrients such as vitamins B,C and E, omega-3 fatty acids, cruciferous and apiaceous vegetables and following a Mediterranean diet.
5. Good old home remedies to protect your kids when air quality is terrible
Sometimes it makes sense to just go back to age-old ancestral wisdom, especially when it is tried and tested. What’s more, several doctors reinforce these home remedies as well. Many doctors recommend salt water gargling and steam inhalation to cope with the harmful effects of air pollution. Ayurvedic remedies can be especially useful for warding off coughs and colds caused by poor quality air. You can try these in the form of kadhas, teas, hot drinks or simply by combining some of them together. Recent research has shown that jaggery is a fantastic food to naturally combat the effects of pollution on the lungs. You can eat jaggery as is, add it to teas, hot drinks or baked products, or enjoy it in the form of laddoos.
In addition to the above you can also encourage your children to practise deep breathing on a regular basis. Deep breathing helps to strengthen children’s lungs and also helps them calm down.
So take a deep breath, stay calm and carry on
I’ve incorporated all of the above measures and have seen a definite improvement in that nagging cough my kids had. I also regularly talk to my kids about working with air quality and practising ways to stay healthy. I find this has helped them be more mindful as well, and they are less likely to resist wearing a mask or staying indoors on a poor AQI day.
Are there any measures you follow to protect your kids when the air quality is terrible? Do share with us in the comments below, we would love to hear from our wonderful Wellthinest community!