Fed up of having a poorly baby

[Maccapaccawacca]

First off, let me just say I am very grateful not to have a seriously ill child - am just here to moan..

My DS, now 15 months, is one toddling little germ. Since he has been born he has had:

Abscess (10days in hosp on IV's)
Gastroenteritis
Hand, foot and mouth
Chicken Pox
Tonsilitis
3 Ear infections - 1 burst ear drum...now got glue ear (awaiting appt for surgery)
Flu (don't use that to mean a bad cold)
And now, he has fucking croup

I don't live in a pit. I wash his hands before snacks and meals. But again, today, I have had to cancel a day out because he's poorly....it is ALWAYS my son....none of the other children I know seem to be this sickly.

Ahhhh, feels better now....

It's frustrating isn't it! Ds is 2.5 and has had numerous chest problems, croup etc as well as the normal colds (which normally end on his chest)

Hopefully they outgrow it all

My now 13 year old was like that, but in the whole of his time at primary school he had 2 days off and i think the last time he went to the doctors was 3 years ago ( hayfever!)

I can remember feeling like this when my ds's started nursery, they took it in turns to be off sick and they never seemed to have the same thing as each other!
Good news is your ds will have a cast iron immune system once they start School
Have you looked into ways to boost immune system? do you did any suppliments? mine are all really good eaters but I do now give them things like a vit c boost for the winter to get them through - now 2, 4 and 5 they are rarely ill and if they are I they recover very quickly. I'd also recommend probiotics, especially after antibiotics or stomach upsets. Problem is once they get one thing they seem to be susceptable to some thing else especially, if like mine, they go to nursery

I don't believe i am actually writing this but he's been to the GP again this morning after an awful night and turns out he's got an ear infection in each ear AGAIN...becuase of his glue ear.
This is getting ridiculous.
I think I may start thinking about supplements - I already give plenty of live yoghurt but do you think i should try a probiotic supplement aswell?

Did you get ear drops for it? works much better for us than oral antibotics that seem to wipe out the digestive system on the way through...

I would use a probiotic supplement, we usewww.biocare.co.uk/default.aspx?GroupGuid=29&ProductGuid=15360&PageItemGroupGuid=21
a strong immune system and the gut are very linked, it also won't do him any harm but might do some good is my rational....

I hope ds's ears are better soon - all 3 of mine have glue ear (all had grommets last year, middle one back for 2nd set in couple of weeks) ENT advised us to take them off dairy and said the glue build up could be an allergy response although we haven't bottomed out if this is true for ours, they aren't obviously affected by anything but are all dairy free to see if we can avoid surgery in the future.

Got the normal oral antibiotics...

Its interesting what you say about ENT advice re.dairy. DS had a lactose intolerance since 4 weeks old (thanks to a long course of 3 types of IV antib's) and has only just grown out of it. He now has quite a bit of dairy.
I have posted before about glue ear and many people said give up the dairy but I read around about it and couldn't find anything other than anecdotal evidence to support it.....did ENT provide an evidence base to support their recommendation?

No, NICE guidelines don't recommend giving up dairy as a preventative measure, I've only heard anicdotal evidence too - we discussed everything we could try with respect to trying to stop glue ear (or at least spread out grommets) he suggested (i) not smoking - we don't (ii) nasal balloons - he doesn't suggest them for children under 3 or for severe cases (we fall into severe) (iii) cranial oseopathy - some of his patients had reported good things because the eustachian tubes are more horizontal in children and whether they can drain is due to geometry - children tend to grow out of it once their heads are big enough - he wondered if it could help with that, again only anicdotal and he recognised it had a cost implication especially as we had 3 and we'd have to pick our favourite (iv) cutting out anything they are allergic too - went through any 'risk factors' ie hayfever, asthma, food, diet etc, nothing came to mind, then said 'dairy is very mucous producing' and we could try cutting it out. Its worth noting that our GP disagrees that its mucous producing (as you said no evidence)

I'm going on gut feeling desperation I think any intollerances or sensitivities can affect immune system. dh is wheat intollerant and much healthier since cutting it out - again gut linked to immune system....

I should add, our boys are very healthy now, the glue builds up, they now don't get ear infections but lose hearing and it affects their behaviour.

Thank you, its good to hear. I have another audiology appt in a couple of weeks so I will quiz them then.
Do you, just as an aside, whether tots can have yakult or similar?

I don't know about yakult or similar - we use a probiotic powder because we are avoiding dairy