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

[bintofbohemia]

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.

I feel your pain. There was one 6 month period when DS1 lurched from one bug to another and I never got a full week at work (around the time he was 1).

Then it cleared up and he's been largely fine since. He shrugged off chicken pox a few weeks ago with only a few spots, and when he gets a cold, he is a bit snotty for a day (just snotty enough to infect the rest of us) and then is fine. He has only had one tummy bug in the last year

I think that that looooooong period of illness really did train his immune system. Hopefully the same will be true for your DCs!

BTW DS1 was BF until he self weaned at 3. I don't know what it did for his immune system but it certainly eased us through those long snotty feverish nights.

Oh, it's a drag, but they all go through it at some stage or other.
9 bloody months in the womb and they come out with perfect little feet and hands but an undeveloped immune system. Very ppor design, imo.
APparently by the time they are 7 it is in full working order, so fingers crossed...

Sympathy - it is very trying.

Bint - so sorry. I remember the outrage well: how very dare they be ill so often when I'm doing all the right things? Every sympathy to you, but you are not doing anything wrong. It gets better. We are down to one or two tummy bugs and one or two colds per year now (dc 9 and 7).

my sympathy, my dd picks up every bloody bug going, and she is 8 now, and i was told she'd grow out of it.

its crap.

Thank you lovely people. Am sitting here all alone like an island of wellness in a sea of sick. Literally.

tkband3 - I hadn't thought of that, I'll get some Minadex in a minute and see if I can kick start them back to health.

I give mine childrens' sambucol and natural yoghurt. And lots of chicken soup. I don't know if it actually works, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something...
Notevenamousie a warning? WTF were you supposed to do then? That is so unfair.

I know exactly how you feel. I have often felt the same about my DD who seems to get everything going, especially colds and coughs. In her case I think it's mainly germs picked up at nursery. I'm just hoping that her immune system is toughening up nicely with each new bug.

I know the feeling DS2 got a horrendous bout of chicken pox at 3 months when he was exclusively bf covered from head to toe and miserable. DS1 (ff) had a much easier time of ti. So much for getting immunity from me.

There's no noticeable difference in health between DS1(ff) and DS2(bf) so far but I am so glad I did bf DS2 and will definitely do again if we have DC3.

How are they doing today?

I did not know that the DC's immune systems were first fully developed when they are about 7yo.

That explains the lack of D&V episodes in the past couple of years. I can remember the first years having them constantly and now very very rarely.

I feel your pain , we have had the worst year yet with the dd's (dd1 is 6 and dd2 is 4), we have had flu, high temps, scarlet fever, tummy bugs followed by colds. Dd2 has hardly done a full week at nursery and we have spent so much time at the GP's.

Dd1 seems to get a tummy bug once a year but has a continues clod from september to april, i have to say though dd1 doesn't seem to get things as bad now she's getting older and seems to recover a lot quicker. Dd2 has always been the healthy one up until this year, this year was the first time she has had a tummy bug since she was 18 months old.

The only thing they don't seen to catch is chicken pox even though they have been expossed to it a couple of times.

Both my dd's were bottle fed .

Tigga...calpol cowboys

Hello again - thank you everyone.Have been quiet because I came down with it too (that will teach me to tempt fate!) but I think we're all now hopefully on the mend and am shovelling vitamins and supplements into the whole family to try and get a sick free week.

It's reassuring to read that they grow out of this at around 7-8ish.