To wonder how parents stay healthy?

[Constantcolds]

Is this just me? I have a nursery aged child and so far this year I've had 4 bad colds - all of which I've caught from her. And I don't mean sniffles, I mean I'm getting flawed by them - like I'm getting fevers, body aches, lingering coughs after a cold that keep me up at night for a couple of weeks at a time etc

Prior to having my child I had 2 bad colds in 10yrs - now I feel like I'm constantly ill. I'm currently in bed with a fever over 38.5degrees for the fourth time in 6 months with what I suspect is tonsillitis.

It's always the same pattern, she gets sick. I spend 4 or 5 nights getting constantly disrupted sleep taking care of her. I get run down and then I get ill.

Is this normal? I wash my hands alot, but it would feel unnatural to me, not to hold her when she's poorly. But given how frequently I'm getting catching all her viruses I don't know whether I should be wearing a hazmat suit instead! Haha (joking). But in all seriousness I can't keep taking so much time off work, this level of sickness is unsustainable!

I know kids get poorly and theres nothing that can be done, they have to build an immune system but I'm just wondering if there is anything I can be doing to prevent myself catching everything she brings home from nursery, what do you all do to stop yourself getting viruses that come through the door from your children?

Or aibu and this is what everyone goes through and I'm just being a big baby about it and I've got to suck it up for the next few years.

If so, any magic medication you take to help you power through with working, looking after other kids and getting on with life?

Hm I have two young children and I feel like I have a cold at least once a month (as do they) but the vast majority are very mild. I’m floored by one once a year perhaps. I always thought it was kind good for you to come in frequent contact with colds and other viruses as it builds the immune system although this could be wrong.

Honestly I found the COVID testing guidelines very difficult because it was a very rare occasion indeed when not one of me, DH or DC didn’t have a cold.

Same here. We pretty much always had a cold. It's settled down a bit now. I also take a vitamin c supplement just in case that helps

Yup. Between October and March it was a never ending cascade of horror in my house.

I was so run down I had two bouts of bronchitis after a ‘cold’ which made me much much worse than Covid.

Switch nursery? (Joking!)

I think it might be luck of the draw. My DD hardly ever had a cold at nursery.

what is the quality of your diets, and general level of health? Are there areas you could improve to help you both build a stronger immune system?

I don't, I get sick all the time. Pre-child I was rarely ill, maybe one bad cold a year (I commuted into London so exposed to a lot of germs). Now add you say, I look after him, get run down and then get ill myself. Just last week I had a horrible flu-like bug, with two days of high fevers. I've had Covid and tonsillitis since spring, and endless colds over winter.

I'm hoping his immune system will improve soon and he'll stop bringing so much home.

YANBU. This too will pass. It gets better as they grow up.

I don’t know how well it actually works, but I took all the multi vitamins, extra Vit C and Ecchinacea (sp) as my mum swears by it!

I've just got a good immune system I think. DP takes a battering with nursery bugs.

I found while DC got lots from nursery, I avoided most of them or got them very mildly until this year. I think lockdown has screwed over our immune systems as since September I've had 4 colds, Covid and possible tonsillitis from the children! Hope it stops soon as I don't have much sick leave left.

In a similar situation. What I find odd recently is the amount of illness we've all had since March?! I have two kids and with my eldest there would be a bit off illness here or there in the winter months. Since March we've had sinusitis, something like the flu, Covid and two colds and vomiting bugs. We don't all come down with every symptom but are very run down.
When my kids are ill they tend to sleep badly which means I sleep badly and this is having a knock on effect on my diet and energy levels and I am finding it difficult to exercise. It's really tough. I just hope we're all a bit more resilient for the year ahead.

I don't think I got colds or other illnesses any more when my dc were small than at any other time tbh. The time in my life I got ill most was at university and my early 20s, when I was going out too much and not looking after myself!

Mind you... I'm a teacher, so maybe when I had my dc I was already used to years of being in classrooms full of kids and my immune system had got used to it!

What I find odd recently is the amount of illness we've all had since March?!

Yes.. it was weird to be sneezing in the Monday/ Tuesday heatwave!!

When the DTs started nursery we were on a cycle of colds / D&V / HFM etc for the first few terms. Good news is by the time they started school they had immune systems of steel. The ones that hadn't been in nursery went through the same thing, just later.

I got everything. My kid would come home mildly ill, give it to me, and I’d be floored. I think it was a combo of Covid isolation weakening us all, and the fact that he regularly put his face on my face. Snot, drool et al.

I had four courses of antibiotics the first few months of his nursery life: sinusitis that wouldn’t go, bacterial tonsillitis twice, and for what we thought was tonsillitis but in fact turned out to be a nasty case of hand, foot and mouth. So I stopped those ones. I couldn’t eat for a week as my mouth was so blistered inside. Then got the most awful dose of thrush. Dire.

All calming down a bit now but we still get every damn cold.

I didn't get ill much myself (although one bout of D&V was particularly horrendous), but DC were constantly ill for their first year in nursery. The trouble is if your immune system hasn't had chance to recover from fending off one illness before being faced with the next. It becomes a vicious circle. Add in other immune stressors common to parents, such as lack if sleep, and it goes from bad to worse!

I'm sorry you're suffering. No quick fixes, sorry, but it will ease off and you should start to feel better. In the meantime, the biggest difference you can make is getting others to help so you can rest adequately, along with a good diet.

Hope you feel better soon. 💐

I used to be sick all the time when they were under 4 as they always seemed to have something. It totally passed when youngest was about 4 and neither of them catch much now- therefore neither do I!

You need to eat whole foods, plenty of green veg and take your vitamins, (A-Z multivitamin, vitamin C and zinc shot you put in water plus a vitamin d spray. That’s the magic combo right there 🙌🏻) and exercise, even if it’s just a 4/5k walk everyday.

My kids are strange. Rarely get unwell. Haven't had a sickness bug in over 6 years, colds there over within a few days.
They do eat a lot of fruit and veg though. I take very high vit d and c supplements which has really stopped me catching anything off them.
touch wood

This is probably helpful to a point, but I eat textbook well (cardiac issues in the family), don’t drink much, imbibe so much water, exercise 5 days a week, take my supplements and probiotics, outside a lot, yady yady yada, and I still got every damn bug.

Just happens that way. Especially when your kids like to get their snot on your lip.

It's also been since end of February that I've been battered with viruses!

It's true about the well-living. I could do more in that area by taking more vitamins and dropping some weight. I need to lose 1-2 stone and that might be impacting.

Thank you all though. Feel a bit less alone now with my non-stop germs!

I never get sick, I actually can't remember the last time I had a cold. However I did use to teach in a secondary school and spent every holiday sick with flu for the first 2 years so maybe I've just strengthened my immune system.

I don't actually get ill much but my health in general has suffered in a low-level sort of way since having kids. I put myself last all the time, I make sure they eat a really good diet but my own is terrible, I take them to parks and playgrounds to make sure they run around but never do exercise myself. I even wash my hair much less frequently than I used to as there just doesn't seem to be enough time. Which is all completely ridiculous.

Yep, it does get better though. For me the first six months of nursery were rough, I caught everything he caught. I have type 1 diabetes and I don’t have a functioning spleen, so colds etc hit me really hard. After that it wasn’t too bad, we always get a bad cold in September when its back to school, but apart from that we don’t suffer too much.

Eventually your kids stop licking everything and then bringing it home to give to you, but until then, you're screwed.

My daughter at about 4 years old, got up with her one morning about 6am, she threw up twice, and then was absolutely fine. By lunchtime I had the worst D&V bug ever. Was seriously the illest I've ever felt in my life.

By teatime my DP had it as well, so my Mum offered to take my DD for the night. She had it by the next day, so typhoid Mary got passed on to my DP's parents. They got it, my Sister in Law got it.

By the time SIL got it I was mercifully starting to feel human again, so went to pick DD up, but it was the most horrendous 72 hours of my life.

And that's just the most memorable occasion. So many colds etc.

So you're stuffed, but one day you won't be.

You say you wash your hands 'a lot'. I'd recommend cutting back a bit. Exposure to germs keeps us healthy and strong. I've got 2 under 4 and am hardly ever unwell. Me, my house and my kids are clean BUT I never anti-bac any surfaces and only wash my hands after the toilet, a nappy change, handling raw meat or something gross. I never bother washing my hands before eating or if we've just come back home or whatever.