Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

in thinking my kids' immune systems couldn't be worse even if I'd fed them on a flour and water solution from birth...

37 replies

bintofbohemia · 14/04/2010 16:33

and pushed them around in lead lined prams? For god's sake, I breastfed DS1 for a year, DS2 is still feeding at 19 months, I feed them as good a diet as I can get in them, and they reward me with constant bloody illness!

In the last four weeks, we've had two bouts of chickenpox, DS1 has been sent home from playgroup today with his second severe vomiting bug in two weeks, whilst DS2 has a virus that saw him in hospital on Saturday afternoon and has turned him into a bad tempered swine.

I suppose I am BU, I just need to rant after starting my 5th week of nursing two very, very difficult patients.

OP posts:
bellissima · 14/04/2010 16:39

You know what this will turn into don't you??

YANBU. You are having a tough time and I hope they both get better soon. For what it's worth I bf both my DDs - and I hope they get a reasonably healthy diet! One is slightly asthmatic and gets every respiratory bug going. The other doesn't so much as sneeze even when the rest of us are streaming. (oh no this is also going to turn into 'evidence' and 'research' versus 'anecdotes' - argh argh - just hope they get better soon that is by far the main thing!) rushes off..

Original poster
bintofbohemia · 14/04/2010 16:39

Oooh, and now DH coming home from work ill. So make that three patients...

OP posts:
Poledra · 14/04/2010 16:41

These things always come in batches (prolly because their immune systems are weakened by the previous illnesses). 'Tis a complete bugger, specially as no-one will look after you when you're ill.

You have my sympathy

Original poster
bintofbohemia · 14/04/2010 16:42

oh, bugger, not a bf vs ff debate? Please no, I don't have the strength!

I could equally have said that they could have been made to sleep in the shed and fed Tizer in a bottle every day... It's all the same!

OP posts:
TrillianAstra · 14/04/2010 16:42

If you'd done that they would be dead, so the state of their immune system would be irrelevant.

Original poster
bintofbohemia · 14/04/2010 16:43

Thank you Poledra! I will be cracking that at 7.01pm precisely. Assumign they don't go on vomiting and wailing into the night...

OP posts:
MintHumbug · 14/04/2010 16:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
bintofbohemia · 14/04/2010 16:53

Trillian - I've been reading a book about childcare through the ages. It's amazing anyone lived at all!

Is there anything I can do to boost them in the meantime? They won't eat anything that looks more threatening than white toast so no superfood tonics unfortunately...

OP posts:
newpup · 14/04/2010 16:58

Hope they feel better soon.

I know I shouldn't but .... you guessed it my 2 were FF and have the constitutions of oxes!!

It really is just luck if they have a healthy diet etc. Although if their immune systems are low they will be suceptable to everything going!

Wish you a speedy recovery!

Original poster
bintofbohemia · 14/04/2010 17:03

DH was ff too, and he's never, ever ill. (Well, ok until today, but he gets ill maybe one day a year.) I was breastfed and am a total mess. Am also a breastfeeding counsellor and trying to disregard such anecdotal evidence!

OP posts:
MintHumbug · 14/04/2010 17:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dawntigga · 14/04/2010 17:17

The Cub ebf until 6 months blah, blah, has just had 7 bloody weeks of snot and teething. YADNBU it's the bloody Calpol Cowboys who bring their children knowing they aren't well who are BU.

IfSheHasToExplainTheDifferenceBetweenRiskAndCertaintyToOneMorePersonMayEndUpInPrisonTiggaxx

chipmonkey · 14/04/2010 17:18

bint, I was ff and my immune system is way worse than that of my bf siblings. Out of the four of us I was the only one to be ff
I get coldsores, every cold going and am inclined to get tummy bugs. My siblings never get any of these things.
So maybe, even though your LO's are a bit sickly now ( did that word come up in your childcare through the ages book?) maybe as adults they'll be healthier?
[hopeful emoticon]
Anyway, have a bottle of vodka. That kills all germs!

porcamiseria · 14/04/2010 17:30

It IS annoying, and there seems to be no evidence I have seen. Its like all that hard work FOR SEEMINGLY NOTHING

but they are meant to get 8 times a year....

giveitago · 14/04/2010 17:40

Ow - luck of the draw - I breastfed (and formula the same time) for only a month- ds had his first and only set of antibiotics at 2 years - lots of early nursery and no cathing of anything.

But he will, I'm sure.

smokinaces · 14/04/2010 18:44

I swear by Kaolin at the tail end of stomach bugs for getting rid of toxins in the belly. And a couple of weeks on multivitamin solution worked for us too, after batches of illness on illness.

Hopefully the nicer weather will start killing off some bugs too.

Original poster
bintofbohemia · 14/04/2010 18:49

I would say it has defnintely got worse since DS1 started playgroup last year. It's the first exposure he's had to a mass of other children and bugs are rife.

Thanks for the solidarity - it really does seem quite random...

OP posts:
MmeLindt · 14/04/2010 18:54

First year in kindergarten was THE PITS for our DD. She seemed to get every bug going.

By the time DS started kindergarten, he had had all the bugs from his sister and got far less.

They are now almost 8yo and 5yo and rarely ill

Think of it this way, the more they catch now the better their immune systems will be by the time they are in school.

And have some to make you feel better.

tkband3 · 14/04/2010 18:59

Have you tried Minadex - it's like a tonic, with added iron. It's orange flavour, so dc's normally quite happy to take it and I find it really helps to build mine up after they've been ill - it also helps to build their appetite back up too.

Also, have you tried children's acidophilus (sp?) - you can get it in powder form for mixing with milk or juice and it's great for getting rid of the bad bacteria in the stomach which can hang around after tummy bugs etc. You can find it in good pharmacies or health food shops.

Anyway, many sympathies - I hope your DSs are better v soon.

Goingspare · 14/04/2010 19:01

Is it any consolation that I caught everything going as a child, but am strong as an ox these days - hardly ever catch a cold (though as it happens I have laryngitis at the moment). I think I had (nearly) everything when I was younger.

Your children are growing their strong immune systems now.

LittleMissHissyFit · 14/04/2010 19:17

bint, my sympathies to you, DC and DH sick... you'll be needing AA or a revolver by the end of this....

as for the bf/ff thing, am ignoring it all, haven't got the strength....

oricella · 14/04/2010 19:28

YANBU - I actually was this close to posting an AIBU to feel shortchanged on the BF health benefits when at 1 year DD2 had gone through colds - fevers - meningitis - tonsilitis - more colds - chicken pox - and endless ear infections.

It sucks drawing the short straw out of the statistical spaghetti!

On the upside BF has been an absolute blessing nursing her through it all and I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't been BF she would have suffered a hell of lot more from the meningitis. At 17 months there's no sign of stopping yet

DilysPrice · 14/04/2010 19:34

You can discount the chickenpox at least, because nothing short of keeping them in a bubble will prevent that, and the earlier they get it (within reason) the better.

The one definite bug-related benefit I found for bf was that they never got the same bug that I got - as long as I got it first, they'd get the benefit of my immunogoodies (a technical term). Not much use once they've started nursery, but at least it spares you the hell of nursing a sick baby when you're feeling like death yourself.

notevenamousie · 14/04/2010 19:36

I know the feeling too. DD (3.4) eats better than me and all that... and yet we have had norovirus, scarlet fever and swine flu in 3 months and I have had a warning from work abt the amount of unpaid leave I have had to take. It's not fair, but it's good to hear from others in the situation.

MrsVidic · 14/04/2010 19:40

I was breastfed and I am never ill, ever. However- I think this is down to excersize and diet. My sister who was also breastfed is always ill- she hardly excersizes. Also on the other hand my sister is tiny and I'm an ox!

Swipe left for the next trending thread