Kids constantly coming down with sick bugs

Get a high dosage vitamin C. I buy ones off Amazon. Mine are never sick apart from rare time someone gets vomiting bug but that’s it, barely get a sniffle. By any chance are you getting them yearly flu jabs? Might sound stupid but I find a lot of ppl getting those for kids they’re always coming down with something. It’s like their immune systems are shattered. I haven’t had any vax for my kids since they were a year old. 5 of the school age kids are preschool to 15. My 21 year old saw the dr for the first time in 15 years few months back, she was shocked when a 6ft man walk in lol Anyway good high dose vitamin C helps fight off illnesses and build up their immune system.

Yes all the time to colds etc especially my younger two, but sickness bugs much more infrequently. That said, I have family in other parts of the UK whereby it sounds like they regularly get stomach flu. I have wondered what it is about the schools or local environment that may contribute in circulating those particular viruses more readily but who knows. If it was just one child regularly being sick with other unusual symptoms I would take to GP, but it does sound as though it’s just a byproduct and will pass as they get older.

please could you find out which ones she uses?

Obviously you'd keep kids off with a sickness bug, but if you kept a child off for every cold they caught they'd never be in.

Son is Y4 and at nursery he was permanently unwell with soemthing. Since school he has the immune system of an Ox. He’s been unwell once, to a noticeable amount requiring time off, in the 5 years at school. That was proper flu and he ended up in hospital. A week and a half off but it merged with half term.

Apart from that he hasn’t had any sick days.

He has had sniffles but minor. He was bottle fed as a baby. I think because he was so poorly constantly the first year of nursery he just built up his immune system.

Looks like too clean a culture. Immune systems need to be challenged constantly. Get all the bugs as early as possible.

Yeah pretty normal. No advice other than it will get better! Mine is primary 7 and is rarely ill now. I’d say it got better from p3 onwards. But then my LG was also in nursery from 10 months so probably went the worst of it before she even started school.

I make sure they do hands as soon as they come in the door too (im not ocd about germs but clean and don’t want dirty, germy hands all over my home) 😂 I tell them dont touch anything till hands are done 😂 Hardly ever ill so must be helping!

My DD in Y3 hasn’t had a day off since Y1. DD (age 5) in Reception has had 100% attendance this year. They both take a multivitamin with omega 3, and eat a good diet. I am also not hygiene obsessed (eg if a bit of food drops on the floor and they pick it up quickly, they eat it, unless the floor is spectacularly gross!). We also visit softplays regularly, which are germ pits! They also both went to nursery from 10/11 months, so built up a robust immune system from all the bugs there!

I always make sure my son washes his hands as soon as he steps through the door after school. Including taking his shoes and uniform off and putting it straight in the washing machine. We have a baby so I’ve been stricter on general hygiene. Who knows if it helps but it makes me feel better!

My son is 12 now.

First few months at nursery as a baby he got ear infections but never sick bugs.
Since the age of two, I can honestly say he hasn't really been ill. The odd sniffly cold (usually after swimming and exerting himself) but not bad enough to be off school/stop doing anything.

He doesn't take multivitamins or probiotics, just has a normal balanced diet. He is a good eater and eats fruit and veg. Lots of sport/playing out with friends at the weekends.

I guess it's just luck of the draw.

It's become so much worse since about 2022. Schools seem to have ramped up pressure to send sick children in so infections are spreading more easily. Plus covid infections damage your immune system so kids are more vulnerable to other infections after they have had COVID. My son has had 5 viral infections since September. He's a teenager though. I test for covid and keep him off if it's that. If he has a cold I send him in with a mask because of the attendance pressure.
I was hoping the government would improve ventilation/air filtration in classrooms but nothing has been done.
Unions are still pushing for this though, if you would like to support them there is a webinar you can register for on the 11th March, 4pm
https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/bcb51bc0-82bd-4cae-84b4-6d2d165fec4c%40d7c21edf-d541-49a4-9f5a-7737832d42c7?fbclid=IwdGRjcAQX_nxjbGNrBBf-dGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHotjFpdQ8YXkOnpY2BxMC34ECPlkzG4n80jZOVwI4Ot9U2DwyM1-5c4ty9NQ_aem_WQ938Q8Dv4V-gnSvagzGwg

2 days off a school year is bad for us for illness. Mine are rarely ill but I think it must be partly down in some way to genetics as both myself and dh hardly ever get ill. One of our kids is in secondary and has only ever had a sick bug once, youngest in primary has never been sick (other than car sickness) since preschool. Ive never had flu or norovirus and work in healthcare.

I have a friend who catches everything going and I think her kids are the same. She is often very run down generally though. The only things we do to prevent illness are wash hands when we come home from school and always have windows open at home (as I like fresh air). Also dont have an overly hot house either (set to 18). Hot houses with no fresh air feel like breeding grounds for germs to me. Generally very clean so surfaces/bathrooms cleaned all the time etc.

Other than that, I think immune system/general health has alot to do with it so i’d just suggest vitamins, sunlight, exercise (get outdoors as much as possible) and drum it into your kids to their wash hands.

That definitely seems excessive, do you know are other kids at the school ill as much. My daughter is in Yr1, never had a sickness bug before, had colds but not enough to need days off school. Oldest is in yr7, can't remember the last time he was ill, probably covid times.

My youngest is 12 and constantly sick. He’s on his third really bad cough/ cold since the end of January. Doctor says it’s viral and nothing he can do. Drink water and rest.

It's improving now in y4. But they need to learn to wash hands, blow noses properly, not cough on each other etc.

out of curiosity, you say they haven’t missed any school but does that mean you send them in when they have a cold or that they don’t get sick anymore?

I’ve give mine probiotics since birth and they’ve got everything under the sun. Although not much vomiting as yet!

Will still keep giving them the probiotics tbf.

I think you'd have to STILL be breastfeeding now in order to maybe lessen the impact of bugs, but that's maybe not the way forward 😂

vitamin D intake?
hand hygiene?

My son has never been one to get sick often, even as a baby/toddler. He's 11 now.

It can be really hard to pin down why some children seem to be more susceptible to bugs than others. When my son was a baby/toddler, I put it down to breastfeeding, but that was probably naive of me.

But now I've said that, he's going to come home this afternoon with norovirus or something, isn't he?? 😂

I can’t remember which one I used, @Nightsatthelitten, but something like Sambucol.

My 6 year old has never had a proper sick bug.
She had a lot of nasty stuff in nursery but never sickness.
I thought it would all start again at school but she was barely ill at all through reception and year 1.

I think some kids are just sicky, some aren't. I don't feed her probiotics or anything. She's very good at keeping her hands clean though.