Do you have a child who rarely gets a cold?

[2535and3]

Do you have a child who rarely gets a cold? You know, the one who can sit next to a sniffling classmate, survive winter, and somehow avoid bringing home every bug going around?

What are you doing differently?

Diet? Immunity boosting supplements? Superior genes? Force feed them garlic? What?

Have been enjoying fewer colds over the last couple of months and not wishing summer away but come the 2nd week in September and dc13 will guaranteed be down with a high temperature cough sniffles.

So whats your secret to autumn winter that aren't just cold after cold? My dc catches a viral fever cough every 5-6 weeks. Gets the flu nasal vaccine of course.

I think it’s down to luck, none of my family of five ever gets colds. I’ve always opened my windows when I get up and air the bed but other than that I can’t think of anything else we do.

Neither me nor the children get colds often.
In all honesty we do nothing to stop it.
Ds in particular has a rubbish immune system, catches anything going of a more serious nature, but for some reason we don't particularly get colds, or sickness bugs.

As a kind younger sister I used to inform my sister that she did only have one cold a year - it just lasted September to May. I didn't catch "it" off her.

Luck. I have one that picks up everything (to the degree that we get antibiotics prescribed on call from the GP ….), and one that had to take Calpol once in his life - he’s 9 years old.

Mine very rarely get colds (or any illnesses to be fair) my eldest in particular, I’m not sure I ever remember him having a cold (he’s 15) though I’m sure he has.

I’m not sure what we did tbh, they take vitamin d over winter, other than that we’re pretty normal I think. DH has a very good immune system. They were breastfed and went to nursery if that has any impact. I wish my immune system was as good as theirs, and we largely eat the same!

My eldest and second don’t get sick, my youngest catches absolutely everything that goes around. It’s just luck or a difference in immune system considering we all live in the same house so you’d think the two eldest would catch off the youngest - but they never do

Pure luck I think, also child went to nursery part time from 7 months old which may have helped boost the immune system? Who knows!

I don’t think there’s much you can do, one of mine gets colds and one doesn’t. Obviously they have the same environment and diet.

Breastfed for 2.5 years?

My DD8 hardly gets ill, when the other kids at school are dropping like flies I'll notice she gets slightly tired and unreasonable and they are her only symptoms.

I breastfed her to 3.4 years, and returned to work as a Paramedic when she was 9 months, so I think she has had pretty much every antibody possible via my breastmilk.

Ds is 11. Never had a cold. Can't think I have either(54).. Not a sickly family tbh. Me and ds are veggie. If that is a coincidence or not who knows?

None of my children or I ever really get colds, I don't recognise the way on here everyone says having young children is one long series of illness

That's not my experience and not one that was ever really a noticeable topic of conversation when my children were younger either so I guess my friends were the same

My oldest (who catches everything, pretty much from birth) was breastfed for 2 years. Youngest (literally never sick) was breastfed for just over a year.

I breastfed one of my three DC and haven’t noticed any differences in them healthwise.

It's just genetics and luck. I hardly ever get ill and nor does my DS. Never had the issues people talk about with picking up bugs at nursery and school.
ETA I bottle fed.

I have 3 children: 11, 8, 8.

They have had chickenpox and this winter, for the first time in their lives, a vomiting bug.

Other than that, none of the three of them has ever had a day off school for illness, never more than mildly stuffed up, and none of the three has ever had a GP appt in their whole lives except standard newborn tests/ vaccines.

I suspect partially luck/ genes but....

We are clean but zero bleach or antibac (I personally think over-use of these harms microbiome).

They eat a lot of fresh food, so non processed stuff. They do like UPFs but a typical meal would include a whole raw carrot, raw spinach leaves etc.

They do not have any sugary drinks (for example we do not have juice in, ever). We do not usually have biscuits, sweets or chocolate in. I do not have a scientific explanation for this, but when I was younger, sometimes if I ate a lot of biscuits I would be more likely to pick up a bug later.

They play outside and in dirt a lot, digging a "pond" in the back garden etc.

Obviously, they wash their hands. But I do think they get exposure to more germs than most kids and eat more fresh real stuff. I cannot prove that plays a role in immunity but they are noticeably less ill than other kids we know.

Duplicate

Mine rarely get sick, when they do it’s a one day thing and that’s it. Meanwhile myself and DP are taken out for 3+ weeks every single time.

Yeah that is a point, mine also went to nursery from 6 mos.

Also BF or in the case of my twins, partially.

I think that as well as it being luck and genetics how susceptible to getting infected you are at all, it also makes a difference how your body reacts to illness. I honestly don't think I've ever had a temperature when ill, and DS1 never gets one. With both of us this is even if we are clearly ill in other ways. DS2 gets a temperature every time he's even mildly under the weather, which makes him seem much sicklier than us (and means he's been off nursery and school more frequently).

DD7 has a cold at the moment, and I genuinely can't remember the last time she had one! I'm a nurse and often wonder whether some kind of low level exposure stuff goes on. Both kids have a multivitamin every day and eat lots of fresh fruit and veg, but it may just all be down to luck!

Mine is 6 in a couple of weeks, up until this year I’d have said she was basically never ill - one vomiting bug and a cough once and that was it.

The last few months she’s picked up a few more things but probably still no more than the ‘average’ child. Even then, the actual being ill part never lasts more than 12 hours (usually more like 4) then she’s back to tearing round the house again and right as rain.

She’s never had antibiotics since the IV ones when she was born (and they were just a precaution because I had sepsis, she was fine). We’re still on the first bottle of calpol I bought I think.

Pure luck. She was formula fed, she was born by EMCS and her dad and I are quite susceptible to stuff. She has always eaten well, with plenty of fruit and veg. I did give her the healthy start vitamin drops religiously until she was about 4, and now she has a multivitamin every day, but I doubt it’s that really. Just luck. Long may it continue.

My kids rarely get colds although my eldest gets cold sores. DD3 did more than make up for it by having neonatal meningitis though so we aren't completely bulletproof.

We are also rarely victims of D&V type bugs. I am known amongst friends for having a strong constitution to the point of people panicking if I do get ill that they will definitely catch it. I've vomited 3 times in the last 20 years, including once for alcohol reasons. Never vomited across 4 pregnancies, even.

My kids were all breastfed until 2+ but I wasn't, so it isn't that. They were all at home with me until aged 4 so maybe we dodged that awful period when they start nursery as they were much older / less affected? But really I think it is just genetics.

The downside is that I have a really toxic attitude to illness and am totally unsympathetic. I can't believe it when people - especially in a work context - are off ill say 3 or 4 times over a winter.

Some kids aare just more robust.

DC1 never gets anything much, what they does get they shakes off fast. DC2 used to pick up everything. DC1 brought a cold home and had little more than a sniffle, in DC2 it evolved into bronchiolitis requiring intensive care.

I would say DC2 has got miles better as they have aged & now throw stuff off fast.

I think it’s cause we spend 4 billion pounds on strawberries throughout the year so he’s drowning in vitamin C.

lol, it’s probably that with us. Our berry consumption is off the charts.