To ask if anyone else’s immune system has gone to shit after having kids?

[FFRC4th]

I’m in my mid 30’s always been slim, active and healthy. Very, very rarely got ill before having a child, even if I was around sick people I just didn’t tend to catch it.

Fast forward to now, DC is 18 months old and I’ve lost count of the amount of colds and coughs that I’ve had since they’ve been born. Pretty much everything they bring home I’ve caught.

I eat fairly well, I get plenty of fresh air and exercise everyday, I take my multivitamins.

I had pneumonia last year, people were shocked, asked how on earth I managed to get pneumonia as a mid 30’s something. It was horrific and I was in hospital for a bit, never felt so ill in my life, I swear I’ve got PTSD from it.

DC brought yet another cold home from nursery last week and this morning I’ve woken up feeling so ill. Coughing up dark green/ browny phlegm and I’m so worried I’ve got pneumonia again. Feel like absolute crap.

Although I do suffer with some health anxiety so appreciate it could be this speaking, I’m so worried I’ve got something sinister going on with me that’s lowering my immune system.

Has anyone else just been a more sick person since having children or should I book in for some blood tests?

There isn't anything wrong with your immune system. Kids are just germ factories so you are meeting lots more germs than before.

It gets better somewhere around secondary school. Or when they leave home.

My DH is constantly sick from what our kids bring back from nursery. He's also foreign, so I reckon his system isn't used to UK-based illnesses.

I always get sick when we visit his family (they also have kids in nursery), so it's a two-way street 😆

Yep. My whole body seems to have gone to pot!!

Yes, that's me and my family too. Your immune system may have been good at coping with evading say air-borne droplets and you were washing your hands etc and avoiding contagion that way. Now you have little people around you that lick the floor and wipe their noses on the sofa and basically spread any germs they've got extremely effectively - plus they get billions of germs because other kids around them do that and they catch their germs, and they all keep going round and round. I'm off work today with flu, I've basically had colds continuously for about six months now excluding literally a day or two in between some where I've felt a bit better. The respiratory ones are awful but the worst for me is where you also get them sbeezing/dribbling/poking you in the eye and then you get an eye infection to add to the fun 🙄 Have you had hand foot and mouth yet, that one was the worst. My c. 1 year old screamed for 3 days straight, I was home alone with her, we got no sleep for all that time, and I had caught it too so felt like death. No one told me this would happen!

It could also be worth booking blood tests though, you could find you are low in some essential things you didn't realise you were which support your immune system. Also I think once you've had pneumonia once it may be more likely you get it again if there's some lung damage.

I was so low when my two were 3 and nearly 1 I went to the GP convinced something was actually wrong. Tonsillitis, normally mild asthma being symptomatic, infected finger nail bed, eczema which I’d never had before, ear infections, proper flu etc.

Had panel of bloods. GP said ‘I’m sorry to tell you there is nothing medically wrong with you. You’re just a parent of young children!’ She had 3 in two years so got it completely.

Things improved massively as they got older. My two weren’t great sleepers and the oldest was very hyper and I was exhausted. Plus all the nursery bugs.

I think it's all the germs that kids bring in and also you just can't look after yourself as well with less sleep exercise and healthy meals than you probably used to have before! I am currently crippled by a bad back from carrying and moving my big big baby around!

I’m laid up on the sofa with yet another virus - have also lost count of how many illnesses I’ve had just this year 😩
my kids are 14 months and 4 yrs old and I’ve never felt so run down or exhausted. I feel like it’s starting to affect me mentally. I love being out and about and keeping busy. I hate being laid up and staying in. It’s so shit.
Have also been thinking about going to the gp for blood tests but have a feeling they’ll also tell me - you’ve just got young kids.

Yes I've had multiple serious infections which started from catching the kids colds and normal childhood illnesses. My DC are not good sleepers and I think it's life stress, poor sleep, less exercise and a less healthy diet. So I think it's a combination of being in less optimum health, and being exposed to more viruses. I had never had a chest infection before having covid though, so think that's a factor. I've had covid twice now, pleurisy, and a couple of chest infections, as well as kidney infections, shingles, sinus infections, etc. it is a bit endless!

It's usually the other way round - women are (often) physically peaking after childbirth (look at how many athletes set their Bests in the year or two following).

How many times have you had covid?

That is known to dysregulate/dampen the immune system in some people for months/years. Put that alongside DC (similarly affected, so catching every damn thing going it round and bringing it to you, who will also be catching everything that bit more easily and having it last a bit longer).

Before you had a kid, were you regularly snuggling up to someone who was constantly full of illness? Probably not. Small DC catch everything and you, this one's DM, are presumably in very close proximity with that sick DC for hours at a time with them breathing, coughing and sneezing in your face. There is no one else in life who you're going to spend so much close time with. Hence you catching everything. It makes sense if you think about it.

Old post but appreciate you posting anyways. I’m the exact same! Since LO started nursery (and before actually, but like 1 every 3 months) it’s been unimaginable. I’ve also been to the Dr multiple times and they’ve run so many tests. My immune system is apparently working fine - it’s not having as big as a response as they might expect (WBCs are a little ‘sleepy’) but even that I was told isn’t really a marker. I’ve had my immunoglobulins measured as they can apparently also tell any issues with immunity - nope, bang smack normal and showing a very healthy response.

it’s totally shit. I get you. Thinking I might be a one and done cause can’t go through all this again. I’m on my 13th virus in as many months and it’s taking me Aages to get over them because I’m so run down.