Has anyone else's dc never been ill beyond a cold?

[Redwineandroses]

My dc are 15 and 16 and I was thinking today, beyond a sniffle and a cold, they've never been ill. Seems quite a rare thing?

We are a normal family as in they go to school, we're not overly cautious on cleaning the house top to bottom, they socialise and live fairly normal lives as teens. I hear of people and children getting flu/sickness bugs/bronchitis/general illnesses. I myself have suffered tonsillitis/strep throat over the years.

Has anyone else's dc not been poorly in their childhoods?

My DC was hardly ever ill. Chicken pox, vomited once ever, very occasional cold. She would get those daft full attendance certificates most years.

It's interesting isn't it, she's been very ill in adulthood so I don't think it's an indicator of anything much really.

Be careful. A lot of things emerge in early adulthood for the first time. One of mine was like yours until he came to me at 18 because his stomach had been hurting for a few weeks. That was the start of what will now be a lifelong journey for him. Another was diagnosed at 23 with another serious condition that hadn't been detected at birth. I hope it stays as it is for your kids but you just never know.

Four kids here, all brought up the same, eat the same - two of each BGGB. Boys, hardly a thing. Girls, far more, especially youngest daughter who only has to walk past someone with a bug and gets it, and suffers. Has recently had tonsils out due to continuous infection and times off school. All four were travel sick (rolls eyes at the bad luck of this) so they did vomit on occasion, but we knew the cause. Girls have had covid 3 times each (with symptoms), boys once each, maybe they had it 3 times and never noticed. I think it is just genetics, but maybe gender too, I'm not sure. It is fab if you haven't got a sickly one, and I don't think it means anything later in life either as they haven't suddenly been struck down with anything bad as a result of not having stuff when younger.

Mine are in their 20s and never had d and v. The odd cold and tonsillitis.
No idea why....they had garlic, onions and broccoli on a daily basis though 🤣

Have your kids ever had an ECG? Mine did once, just as a routine screening. She's my most robust child, never sick, throws it off easily if they get a mild sickness. Thought the ECG would be boring because it was just routine. We were wrong.

This was in their early 20s btw.

So far with a 5 and 6 year old they had chickenpox within 2 weeks of each other at 2 and 3 (just had spots, no proper illness) and they've never been sick/vomiting bugs/diarrhoea otherwise.

I generally don't ever get really ill myself, and if I have sniffles or feel a bit under the weather I tend to carry on through it, and seem fine in a couple of days.

Let's hope it stays that way, as I'm a single parent and can't take time off for DC illnesses as I need my annual leave to cover their holidays!

@lifeinthehills DS2 took part in a clinical trial when a baby, part of which was having an ECG, he was one of the “healthy” test subjects. His heart was 100% perfect but his immune system? He had every single thing going. Colds, coughs, croup, flu, vomiting, bacterial infections- ears, joints. Age 7 he caught pneumonia, following a short stay in hospital and a lot of antibiotics he has never been sick since, not even Covid. He is now an extremely robust 13 yo.

I was never ill as a child. Siblings had measles, chickenpox, think one had mumps ( pre MMR days) I had earache once, sent home from school. My mother took one look at me, told me there was nothing wrong with me and sent me back. Maybe the thought of being “cared for” by my mother put me off being ill!

DS (15) had chicken pox as a baby, and he's had Covid twice. I remember two sicknesses bugs when he was smaller but nothing recently. Apart from that, he's never had more than a cold. Never had any kind of infection.
However, he's kind of made up for it in accidents! Worst was a broken leg but he's also dislocated a finger and also had a concussion and various bumps and sprains, mostly from sports.

One of my sisters was like that, didn’t catch any of the usual childhood viruses like chickenpox, rubella, etc. despite sleeping in a room with 2, sometimes 3 other kids who were ill.

She is still very healthy as an adult, but she did catch slapped cheek from her kids and she had joint pain for a few months, she probably would have preferred to have had it as a child.

Mine were like this too! all had chicken pox aged before school, eldest had one sickness bug aged about 6, the other 2 escaped them all. Two eldest had a couple of days off in secondary school years for operations following sporting injuries but youngest actually had 100% attendance at school from year 1 to when she left at 16 to go to sports college. Then she had a couple of days absence due to having an op on her ankle but otherwise no bugs. They've all had colds but never anything serious.

They only went to a very small primary school (95 children across the whole school) so I guess that played a big part in the lack of bugs. After that we were just very lucky but their dad and I both seem to have good immune systems and we were all privileged and lucky enough to be able to spend lots of time outdoors in the fresh air and eating good quality home cooked food.

I've never had chicken pox/measles/scarlet fever etc. Had covid three times, pneumonia, multiple chest infections.

Maybe we just have parts of us that are prone to illness. My dc had cpox very young (I didn't even catch it from them), and have each vomited once. They are both nearly 9 and 11.

Hi OP were you children vaccinated at all as youngsters ?

My eldest is in year 7 and has never had a day off school. Other than when he got covid but he wasn't ill and we only knew he had covid because his school had asked everyone to test twice a week. He got chicken pox before starting school and wasn't poorly with it at all.

He's had antibiotics once for infected eczema when he was about 1 and never had a sickness bug. Not been sick since he ate egg as a baby that he turned out to be allergic to. He grew out of his egg allergy and eczema at about 2 though.

I'm very glad though because if he ever gets so much as a brief sore head or a bit of a sniffle, you'd think he was dying by the fuss he makes. I'd hate to think what he'd be like if he was properly ill!!

Eldest is 21, he’s never seen doctor in his life for illness (only vaccinations, and routine baby checks).

He’s had the odd loose stools now and again as a child, and been sick after too many sweets and then going on a fairground rides once, but nothing else other than colds that were gone in a few days and never a very high temp that a couple of doses of paracetamol didn’t do away with. He’s never had antibiotics.

My 8 year old dd is the same, never darkened the door of a dr surgery as yet but she did have one night of vomiting once when she was 5 and half her class was off with sickness so I guess that counts her out!

2 year old had croup as a baby though and needed to go to hospital for steroids.

Oldest two had chicken pox when they were both 5 though.

Mine is 4 and she's had one overnight vomit thing, two colds and her chicken pox was three little spots and nothing else.
I get everything going.

I'm 39 and never had to take antibiotics, aside from Covid I havent taken a day off from work in over 10 years.

Think i got the usual chicken pox and colds as a kid. had norovirus once as an adult. Guess I am just very lucky

My DC has never been sick. He's 5. He's never had a cold.

He licks lamp posts and floors, and I have to try my best to stop him picking up dog poo in a public place. It's rank the stuff he will put near his mouth and in it

🤢

That sounds like he does get ill but you tell him he's making a fuss and send him into school anyway.

My children rarely had colds or stomach upsets. My daughter was physically sick three times and my son once.

My daughter did have glue ear though which was managed by massage.

The only medicine I ever gave was Pepto Bismol which stopped all stomach upsets in its tracks.

No calpol used as was never needed.

We were noticeably much more outdoors than many of their peers so I don’t know if that was a factor or just genetics.

My kids have definitely had their fair share of illnesses (chicken pox, tonsillitis, croup, RSV, endless coughs and colds!) but they never seem to catch sickness bugs, despite regular attendance at nursery from the age of 1 for both of them where there seems to be a sickness bug doing the rounds every other week! There must be a genetic component to it as myself and my husband are rarely sick either, although I regularly catch all the other minor illnesses that my DC bring home.

A sniffle and a fleeting sore head he forgets about a few minutes later isn't 'ill' . At least not ill enough to keep off school.

Perhaps you've got a bit of a point in that my benchmark for what ill is probably different to those who whip out the calpol at the slightest sniffle. My mum used to 'prescribe' a walk to get some fresh air and exercise for everything. And perhaps I've adopted a similar approach. But if he actually ever had a proper illness, I wouldn't dismiss it as him making a fuss. But he never has.

I never had a vomiting bug as a child but I didn’t go to nursery. I only had chickenpox in my twenties which was horrendous. But both my girls had a lot of sickness bugs in the preschool ages which I think is down to nursery. They’ve been pretty good since starting school though (14 and 12 now). I don’t think my eldest has had one at all and she didn’t get covid when the rest of us all did even though she’s in a vulnerable category.

Not much. Barely even a cold. Never had d&v either of them. Dh and I the same. 2 of my friends are never ill, their dc neither. 2 of my friends their dc get everything going. Luck? Natural strong immune system?