School has been back for a few weeks, and in plenty of houses the first runny nose of the year has already come home in a backpack. If it feels like your kid just got over one thing and is already starting the next, you're not imagining it. Young children get sick a lot, and the start of the school year is when it shows.
This is our practical take on kids immune support for the school year. Most of what helps costs nothing, so that comes first, followed by the supplements worth considering and how much of each one kids actually need at each age. If you'd rather go straight to the shelf, everything mentioned here is in our kids' immune health collection.
Is this much sickness normal?
Usually, yes. The American Academy of Pediatrics says most young kids get six to eight colds a year, and children under two often get eight to ten. Kids in child care, or with school-age brothers and sisters at home, tend to sit at the high end. Older kids and adults average about four.
The usual reason is exposure. A classroom puts twenty-some kids who touch everything and wipe their noses on their sleeves in one room for most of the day, and a lot of what's going around is new to them. Each bug they get through is one their body recognizes the next time, which is why the pace usually eases off in the later grade-school years.
Call your pediatrician instead of waiting it out if your child:
- is under 3 months old and has a temperature of 100.4°F or higher
- is breathing fast, working hard to breathe, or wheezing
- isn't drinking, or is making far fewer wet diapers or bathroom trips than usual
- has symptoms that last longer than 10 days, or starts getting better and then gets worse
- has ear pain, or a fever that hangs on for more than two or three days
- has a fever with a rash
What helps most is free
None of this is exciting. It's also what pediatricians bring up first, and it matters more than anything you can buy.
Sleep
Tired kids get run down. These are the nightly targets the American Academy of Pediatrics backs, counting naps for the youngest:
| Age | Sleep per 24 hours |
|---|---|
| 1 to 2 years | 11 to 14 hours |
| 3 to 5 years | 10 to 13 hours |
| 6 to 12 years | 9 to 12 hours |
| 13 to 18 years | 8 to 10 hours |
Bedtimes tend to slide in the first weeks of school. Pulling bedtime back by even half an hour is one of the easiest changes on this list.
Handwashing, done properly
Soap and water for 20 seconds, including the backs of the hands and between the fingers, before eating and after the bathroom and recess. Twenty seconds is about two rounds of "Happy Birthday." Hand sanitizer is fine when there's no sink, but it doesn't do much on hands that are visibly dirty. Coughing and sneezing into an elbow helps everyone else in the room.
Real food
Kids' immune systems run on the same nutrients as everyone else's: protein, vitamin C from fruits and vegetables, zinc from meat, beans, and dairy, and vitamin D from fortified milk and fish. The child who lives on crackers and buttered noodles for a month is the one most likely to come up short, and that's the child a multivitamin makes the most sense for.
Keeping them home when they're sick
It's hard with work schedules, but it helps the whole class. The CDC's guidance for respiratory illness is that kids can go back once their symptoms are improving overall and they've gone 24 hours without a fever, without fever-reducing medicine. Your school or daycare may have its own rules, so check those too.
A word on measles in Wisconsin
Measles has been in the Wisconsin news all month. When we published this in September 2026, the state had confirmed more than 150 cases this year, most of them in an outbreak in Grant, Iowa, and Lafayette counties, with separate cases in Marathon and Vernon counties. Nearly every case has been in someone who wasn't vaccinated.
No supplement protects a child from measles. The MMR vaccine does, and the CDC puts two doses at about 97% effective. If you're not sure where your child stands, ask your pediatrician, and check the Wisconsin DHS measles page for current case counts and exposure locations.
You may have seen vitamin A come up alongside measles. Doctors sometimes give it to children who already have measles, at doses they choose and monitor. It isn't something to give at home ahead of time. Vitamin A builds up in the body, and too much of it is toxic, especially for small children.
Where supplements fit
Supplements fill gaps. It helps to think of them in two groups: a few daily basics that make sense for a lot of kids, and a couple of seasonal add-ons some families use from fall through spring.
The daily basics
What our wellness team reaches for:
- For Wisconsin kids, we'd start with vitamin D. From about November through February the sun here sits too low for skin to make much vitamin D, and most kids don't drink enough fortified milk to make up the difference. Vitamin D helps the immune system do its normal job.* Nordic Naturals Vitamin D3 Gummies for Kids give 400 IU in one gummy for ages 4 and up. Llama Naturals Real Fruit Vitamin D3 Gummies are made from fruit with no added sugar, one gummy a day for kids 4 and up and two for adults, so one bottle covers the family. Our guide to vitamin D deficiency in kids goes deeper.
- A multivitamin is worth it for picky eaters. A child who eats a decent range of foods may not need one, but if dinner is a negotiation every night, a multi covers the gaps. Llama Naturals Kids Plant-Based Multivitamin Gummies start at age 2: two gummies for ages 2 to 3, three from age 4. NaturesPlus Animal Parade Gold is a chewable with 500 IU of vitamin D3 already in it, so you can usually skip a separate D gummy. MegaFood Kids One Daily Soft Chews are one chew a day for ages 4 and up.
- Omega-3s make sense if fish isn't on the menu, and for most kids it isn't, at least not twice a week. Nordic Naturals Omega-3 Fishies are chewables for ages 2 and up with 300 mg of omega-3s in each one. Barlean's Seriously Delicious Omega-3 tastes like a smoothie rather than fish, and it's a tablespoon a day for ages 4 and up. Stir it into yogurt if a spoonful is a hard sell.
- A probiotic is an easy daily habit, and a large part of the immune system lives in the gut. Llama Naturals Kids Prebiotic & Probiotic Gummies have 2 billion CFU plus prebiotic fiber, one gummy for ages 2 to 3 and two from age 4. There are more options on our kids' probiotics shelf.
Seasonal add-ons
These are what parents tend to reach for when the weather turns. They're optional, and none of them makes up for short nights or a diet of crackers.
- Elderberry is the most popular thing on our kids' immune shelf. Lively Vitamin Co. Elderberry Burst Gummies are the best seller, with vitamin C and zinc alongside the black elderberry, two gummies a day. Llama Naturals Kids Elderberry Immunity Gummies are a no-added-sugar option labeled for age 2 and up. Stick to elderberry products made to be eaten. Raw or unripe elderberries, and the leaves and stems, can make people sick. Many elderberry syrups also contain honey, which isn't safe for babies under 12 months.
- Most kids get enough vitamin C from food. If yours doesn't eat much fruit, Nordic Naturals Vitamin C Gummies give 250 mg in two gummies for ages 4 and up, well under the upper limit for that age. To be straight about it, research shows vitamin C supplements don't lower the odds of catching colds for most people. It's a gap-filler.
- Zinc supports normal immune function,* and many kids already get enough from meat, beans, and dairy. It's also the easiest nutrient to overdo when you stack products, which is covered below. Our post on zinc for kids goes through who might need more. Skip adult zinc lozenges for young kids. They're dosed for grown-ups, and hard lozenges are a choking risk for little ones.
How much do kids need? Daily amounts by age
These are the daily targets and upper limits from the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements. The upper limit is the most a child should get per day from food and supplements combined.
| Nutrient | Ages 1 to 3 | Ages 4 to 8 | Ages 9 to 13 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vitamin D, daily target | 600 IU | 600 IU | 600 IU |
| Vitamin D, upper limit | 2,500 IU | 3,000 IU | 4,000 IU |
| Vitamin C, daily target | 15 mg | 25 mg | 45 mg |
| Vitamin C, upper limit | 400 mg | 650 mg | 1,200 mg |
| Zinc, daily target | 3 mg | 5 mg | 8 mg |
| Zinc, upper limit | 7 mg | 12 mg | 23 mg |
Babies under 12 months need 400 IU of vitamin D a day. Ask your pediatrician about drops.
Add it up before you stack
This is where parents get caught out. A multivitamin has zinc and vitamin D. An elderberry gummy may have zinc and vitamin C. Add a separate zinc product and a 6-year-old can pass the 12 mg zinc upper limit without anyone noticing. Too much zinc can upset a child's stomach and, over time, lower their copper levels.
Before you add a second or third product, line up the labels and total the vitamin D, vitamin C, and zinc per day. If the totals come in under the upper limits in the table, you're fine. If you're not sure, bring the bottles to your pediatrician or into one of our stores, and we'll add them up with you.
What supplements can't do
We sell these products, so it's worth being clear about the limits. No supplement stops a child from catching what's going around a classroom. None of them replaces vaccines, and none of them is a reason to send a sick kid to school. What they can do is cover the gaps: the picky eater, or the kid who barely sees the sun between November and February, doesn't also have to run short on the nutrients the immune system relies on.*
The short version
- Six to eight colds a year is normal for young kids, and it usually eases off with age.
- Sleep, handwashing, real food, and keeping sick kids home do the most.
- No supplement protects against measles. The MMR vaccine is what does.
- For Wisconsin kids, vitamin D is the first supplement to think about from fall through spring.
- A multivitamin, omega-3, or probiotic makes sense when your kid's diet has gaps.
- Elderberry and vitamin C are optional seasonal add-ons.
- Total up zinc and vitamin D across every label before you stack products.
Everything above is on our kids' immune health shelf, and our Wellness Consultants in Madison are happy to help you narrow it down.
Reviewed by our Wellness Consultants at The Healthy Place in Madison, Wisconsin. Free shipping on qualified orders.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
