Worried or paranoid? 3 year old's health

[IrnBruAddict]

Hello,
I've got a doctor's appointment later this afternoon for my 3y.o. DD but my concerns are rather vague and I wondered if anyone could offer any advice before I go, or help me to narrow them down...

She had pneumonia in February and ever since then has had a chesty cough and, for most of the same time, a runny nose. Now, I know that kids who go to nursery/school are more often snotty than not, but backed up with the serious illness at the beginning of the year I don't know whether I should still be concerned. She's generally bright and with a healthy appetite, although occasionally looks quite pale and listless.

The other concern I have is with her recent appetite - she never seems full! Yesterday, for example, she had 3 bowls of Cheerios, a slice of toast and an apple for breakfast; she then had a big plate of sausage, chips and peas then some chocolate cake for lunch and within half an hour of eating her lunch she complained of being hungry again. She had a slice of cheese on toast, some ham and cherry tomatoes for tea. I wondered if she's confusing thirst for hunger and so have been trying to get her to drink more, but surely she shouldn't be complaining of being hungry within such a short timeframe, particularly when her last meal was a decent size?

Every so often she complains that her tummy or her bottom is sore. Other times she says she's poorly but can't put her finger on what the problem is; she's not one for saying it for the sake of it, hence my concern.

When she looks so well I feel a bit silly taking her to the doctor but would anyone else feel the same in my position?

Sorry for the essay

So - she had pneumonia and presumably antibiotics? But she still has an ongoing cough - has that been treated with more antibiotics?

She may have developed thrush from the antibiotics, might be making her bottom itchy/ sore.
If she still has an ongoing cough, her central lymph nodes may still be inflamed, causing her to feel like she has stomach ache, or it may be something else entirely.

The food thing - don't know.
But in the end, your concerns are valid because your DD isn't right - so you are doing the right thing, going to the GP about it.

My Ds is 13.1 and Dd is 4.8 and both of them have been doing this recently too. They eat a good sized meal and within 20 minutes are complaining that they are hungry . I know that they are both having growth spurts right now and both are way above average for height, but both are very slim.
Dd in particular was constantly ill last year (she was at nursery) and seemed to be at home sick more than at school.
I don't know what to advise, but I am not sure that it's an unuasual scenario tbh. It wont however, hurt to get her checked out with your GP. :)

Thank you both for your replies.

Thumb - she hasn't had antibiotics since she was in hospital in February. She had a follow up appointment in May and the docs could still see some infection in her chest, but they were confident it would clear. Perhaps it just hasn't and she'll need some more antibiotics. Feel guilty writing this as it seems she may have been ill for months but she's generally appeared so well; it's only looking back that it's clear her cough hasn't really improved.

I'll just mention the food thing in passing, too - it can't do any harm!

Definitely mention the food thing - mention everything you've said here.

One dose of antibiotics would be enough to cause thrush - DS had it after one dose (for a chest infection too but not as serious as pneumonia).

The first time DS had a chesty cough, I left it and left it, thinking it would clear - 6w later, he was still coughing at night and I took him to the doc, who instantly prescribed the antibiotics - cough gone within 2 days. I was so that I had left it that long - but now I leave it a week at most and if he's still coughing, antibiotics it is.

Thinking about it, if she does have thrush, it might be affecting her ability to absorb nutrients and so she might be eating more to try and get the nutrients - but I doubt it - her body systems would have to be REALLY sensitive for that to be the case.

The tired and listless thing - mention that definitely, see if the doc will get a full blood count done to check for low haemoglobin anaemia.

The other thing with the food, but it's so unlikely in this day and age, is a tapeworm - tapeworms nick all the nutrients out of the food so you do end up eating all the time to try and get some nutrients! Is she putting on weight with the eating?

Thanks again, thumbwitch. Yes, she does appear to be putting on weight. It looks like I'll just have to mention everything and see what GP says. I hope she's not swayed too much by DD tearing about the surgery as I really do feel quite worried about it sure I'm just being paranoid!

well that's one thing ruled out then - she doesn't have a tapeworm!

Write it all down before you go as well, so you don't forget one bit in the discussion about another bit - you'll only kick yourself later. :)

It took dd1 (age 8 at the time) a year or more to recover from pneumonia. She completely lost her appetite and didn't put on weight either. Even 2 years later she hasn't got her appetite properly back.
She didn't have a cough at any point, even with the pneumonia, and the blockage was in an unusal place.

I copy what you have wrote in your OP and take it with you to your GP so they can see all of your concerns.

She shouldn't still be struggling with her chest so much so long after without them doing something. DS has had punmonia (amongst other chest problems) but they kept treating him until it had fully cleared.

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to respond.

GP wants to send DD for an x-ray as she agrees that cough is pretty bad and certainly shouldn't have continued this long, so she's referring us to hospital for that.

As for the excessive hunger she reckons it's a wee growth spurt so wants us to monitor that a bit longer before doing anything about that.

thanks again

Glad you got some positive action from the GP, IrnBru - hope it's all sorted out very soon :)