Q&A with Dr.Koe
After taking medication for more than 2 months, I have decided to stop the boys medication. I decided to let their body to take over and heal naturally. However until today my twin boys are still coughing, lightly with some sign of phlegm. So I emailed to Dr Koe to ask for some advice and the below is reply from her. (Decided to post it here so that it can be useful to other mummies out there too).
Q: How come my twins are getting sick too frequently although they are 100% on breast milk?
A: It could due to the older children who go to school/ kindergarten who pass the infections to the twin infants. It should be better during the school holidays when the older ones are not infected in school. Apart from breast milk, there are no supplements the twins and the older siblings can take to boost their immune system. To make the older children stronger, pump extra milk and give each of them about 3 oz of breastmilk a day. This may help.
Q: Since I am breastfeeding exclusively, can it be due to something in my diet that makes them so weak?
A: If you have a family history of Asthma, Eczema and Nose allergy, it is best that you avoid all dairy products [milk, chocs, yoghurt ice cream etc] and peanuts and tree nuts [ cashew , hazel walnut, almond and coconut!] The babies may have symptoms of lung allergy to account for the cough and phlegm.
Q: Can you tell me if there is anyway I can boost their immune system (any good supplement you think a breastfeeding mother should be taking)?
A: There are no effective supplements that the breastfeeding mother can take to boost the babies immune system. The best is to BF exclusively foe 6 months and thereafter, BF is continued with solid foods to 2 years and beyond.
I gave Philip Appleton supplement before 1 yrs old. Now after 1yrs,i m giving the scotts emulsion.
usually if flu and not so serious cough, i will just let them take over naturally.
Nowadays most of medicine come from India, quality is poor. If the symptom is not so serious i won’t give my son any medicine, i will let him to built up his own immunity and cure himself.
my boy who was seldom get sick before he attended kindergarten suddenly fell sick very often, cough and flu, get well not more than 2 weeks then come back again, and his case really serious, you can see yellow / greenish discharge at his cheek quite often, he took quite a lot of antibiotics and his teachers always commented about it.
I tried to follow what people suggested me, gave him scott emulsion, cow colustrum, vitamin C, yakult, etc all couldn’t help to boost his immune system until few months ago, when my spore friend introduced the Golden Kiwi to us, my kids love it very much and since then I always buy it for them (Jusco sells it at RM5.99 for 4pcs). They take it almost everyday and you know it has been more than 2 months my boy free from that virus.
I am not sure whether the Golden Kiwi helps to boost his immune system or not, but was told that it has higher vit C content. Maybe you can try to give it to qiqi.
so the paedi is saying that apart from breast milk, there are no supplements that can boost their immune system?
mhmmm…. scott emulsion? fruits?
according to Paed, breast milk is the best supplement as it contains natural antibody..but hor…kor-kor (with bad phlegm) still cannot heal until today
Brandon also got phlegm from Day 1 till today. Some more I more jia lat, not breastfeeding. I saw Eu Yan Sang selling some medicine to reduce phlegm in babies (Bo Ying compound) but I’m not the sort who will give babies chinese medicine lor. If you don’t mind, you can try.
Breast milkis the best! Phlegm may be cause by bb allergy to something. Dairy product (milk, cheese, yokult, etc.), dust, yeast, anythings. But if the phlegm, flu, caughnot interupting bb sleeping time just leave it. Let the baby build the immune systemby themself. I know, we the adult just can’t tahan with their “ki ki kok kok” sound when the breath. But learn how to let go. Ask the elder kids not to go to before taking bath after school. reduce the chances transfer the virus to the twins.
Hi Chinee, do you mind give me Dr. Koe’s email address? I have some Q to ask her also. Thanks.
What Dr Koe said is true. “It should be better during the school holidays when the older ones are not infected in school.”
I had the same experience and Dr gave antibiotic to my girl (7 mths at that time)
Throughout the years, my daughter often every month see the doctor and she’s prone of getting cough, cold and sometimes high fever too. Having hard time giving her medicines everyday and she sweats alot of taking them. Then later the next time when she gets sick again I switched to chinese medicine that is Eu Yan Sang. I’m not sure whether she’s hot or cold cough so I tried it out and about a week she recovered! Then I ask Eu Yan Sang what’s the recommendation for boosting her immune system? My daughter always gets sick every month and not nice for her to take medicine. So they recommended me Salus Kindervital, I know it is very expensive a bottle cost RM81.00 so I tried it out after her recovery. Then after a month past I didn’t hear her coughing nor having flu nor fever anymore. My daughter usually gets sick often when she’s in childcare or babysitter. So from August till coming November this year marvellously never hear her coughing nor flu. Thanks to Salus Kindervital it is made of fruits and vegetables and herbs. Take it everyday to maximum boost the immunity. Another thing is Bo Ying Compound which is good too! But you must immediately let your kid takes it when he or she begins to have symptoms of coughing and cold. Not after a few days past then take Bo Ying Compound which doesn’t works well. You must take it immediately and that’s why parents always keep in stock.