To feel at the end of my rope with DD2’s constant illnesses

[GoodAfternoonSeattle]

She is ten months old and I swear to god, she has been ill constantly since about November.

We might get a week of daylight in between one illness and another if we are lucky (when we can get some sleep) but it only ever lasts a few days before she’s up through the night again with something else. Another temperature. Another cold. Another vomiting bout.

I can’t stand it. I can’t stand the worry. The stress about who is going to take time off work this time. The sleep deprivation.

For background, her older sister (who is, touch wood, never unwell) attends nursery and DD2 joined her there in March. I remember DD1 went through that phase of picking up everything going for a while when she first started (and that’s what DD2s constant illnesses get put down to by the doctor), but it was nothing like this.

We have been back and forward to the doctor. Sometimes she gets antibiotics for ear infections or whatever but most of the time it’s put down to a virus or teething.

She has had a cough for months and we have a hospital appointment next month to get her checked over but she has another bug today and I could curl into a ball and weep. For her and for me.

Does anyone else have any experience with this? Is there anything I can do to help her??

My eldest 2 were like that for a while. God, I thought it would never end. They were ALWAYS sick for about 18 months.
I tried every tonic and vitamin I could find, but actually found them no good. So I stopped them, and started giving probotics. The change was incredible within 3 weeks they were better. Not never sick again, but back to normal kid sick.
Definitely worth a try. I feel for you thoughave. Hope it improves soon.

Probiotics. Are they the wee yoghurt drinks you can buy in the supermarket? Is that what you mean?

Has the GP tested for this?
Selective IgA deficiency (SIGAD) it is the most common immunodeficiency disorder; it affects about 1 in 200 to 900 persons. Most affected children are asymptomatic. However, in rare patients, the deficiency leads to an increased incidence of infection, particularly sinopulmonary infection. My son had constant infections, colds, coughs etc as a result of this.
I hope things get better for you.

The child minders around my way take 3-4 children at a time - lots less germs, worth a thought maybe?

No user but I have now looked it up and i will ask that they do. It sounds very similar. Thank you. Did you find a way to improve things for your son?

Mmm. Had this with DD1. From the minute she started nursery (12 months) she had illness after illness. She was so so poorly and often was so unwell that she couldn't go to nursery. I was working part time and literally 95% of my wages went in child care. In the end we realised that she would not have picked up any of these illness's if she had been at home with me looking after her. When DD2 came along we made the decision to have me give up work and me look after both DC's. Best decision we ever made.

Sadly that’s not an option for us

**Probiotics. Are they the wee yoghurt drinks you can buy in the supermarket? Is that what you mean?

I got them from the pharmacy. Can't remember which brand it was I got nut they were a chewable tablet. They are available in liquid form too.

My 16 month old is exactly like this has had pneumonia about 10 times since birth. Severe asthma severe multiple allergies and excema. Nursery refuse to take him until hes at least 3 because of all the problems. All I can say is hang on in there

You can get powdered pro Biotics from a pharmacy designed for kids which you can sprinkle on their porridge etc
But ask for basic immune function blood tests

DD2 was the same in her first year at nursery, picked up every cold and always got an ear infection to go along with it. I’m sure DD1 was never this bad, but she seems to have inherited her dad’s cast iron immune system!

It did get better after the first year, so I think you’ll just have to plod on and hope things will improve over the summer. Good luck!

I think catching bugs is quite common. Especially if they don’t always require antibiotics so are viral in nature.
Doctors would be interested in (I have a prem baby so we have the usual round of hospital appointments) things like:
Persistently raised temperature
Lethargy
Weight loss
Loss of appetite
And not meeting milestones.
Those are typically some of the red flags.

They will not diagnose with asthma at this age unless an asthma attack has had her hospitalised. My 14 week premature child who had a readmission for bronchiolitis has an inhaler and we use it regularly but he will not have an official asthma diagnosis.

When we sense a cold or a cough coming, we use a lot of nasal spray (Sterimar) to flush it out many times a day, use the inhaler on a regular basis if he’s wheezing a bit and keep his temperature down and his fluids up.

My first child, full term was also similar and sickly in the winter and needed an inhaler. He’s now six and we have had our first winter with no antibiotics and no serious illnesses.

My DD was exactly the same at that age. repeated infections, UTIs, colds, rashes, coughs. Fast forward and she is now age 7. She had her tonsils out last year in an attempt to reduce her illness level. It helped with the tonsilitis and she is somewhat healthier but she is still a sickly child. She is underweight (despite my best efforts to fatten her up) and seems to have some sort of cold every other week. She even had impetigo a few weeks back due to being generally under the weather.

As far as we know there is nothing wrong with her other than that she is a sickly beasty. Some kids are just not blessed in the immune system department!

Oh and to add mine had all the red flags Kosha mentions above and apart from testing her for leukaemia they were disinterested. I actually had to go private to get someone to take her tonsils out. That resulted in her gaining a stone in weight (she is still underweight AFTER gaining that stone) and getting back her ability to run, jump and have fun. The NHS don't deal well with "malaise" without a good cause.

Unfortunately, if she needs antibiotics sometimes it is a vicious circle. The antibiotics wipe their gut bacteria out which in turn makes their immune system weaker so then they catch something else that may require antibiotics again and so on.
My only advice would be to not jump straight away into antibiotics whenever possible (obviously following you Dr's instructions) Ds had recurring ear infections treated with ABs, then I read on the NHS website to wait for 2 days and give Ibuprofen before seeing the Gp. I dud that and by day 3 he was much better and healed on his own, without ABs. That was the last time he needed antibiotics, over 2 years ago.
Of course, whatever you do, some children are way more prone to catch things, my youngest has also been ill way more frequently than her brother.

Sambucol and probiotic got DS through a similar stage, then his immune system became stronger and he is very rarely ill. You have my sympathy, it’s tough.

My dd (nearly 5) was like that.

In fact all the kids in the 1-2 room in her nursery seem to be snotty, constantly

But trust your gut..... and push and push until you're happy.

She seems to have a much better immune system than some of her buddies who were going to nursery later (14 month vs 36).

But who knows? That's why your gut is the important bit.

Mee whoo - you shouldn’t give too much ibuprofen to kids - it can be really harmful to their kidneys. Use calpol as a first port of call imo

Thanks, applesandpears65, I wasn't aware of that. Where I live (not the UK) child ibuprofen is treated pretty much the same as child paracetamol. In fact the paediatrician tended to recommend ibuprofen as one of dd's main complaints was croup, so the anti inflammatory component was useful.

No worries it’s it’s much more effective than paracetamol I’ve found but yes very hard on the liver and kidneys so just don’t use too often