teething coinciding with recurrent illnesses: is this normal?

[rasberryjam]

My son has been ill almost permanently since turning 1. He is now 17 months. On nearly every occasion it seems to coincide with teething, with which he suffers a lot (grumpy, tired, high pitched screaming), leading me to think that there is a direct link between the two. I am assuming that perhaps teething lowers the immune system and makes littles ones more susceptible to illness? Anyone with similar experiences I would appreciate to hear your stories (and maybe remedies) as we have simply been riding it out with the aid of calpol/neurofen and teething powders. Have considered taking him to cranio-osteopath as a bit desperate now! Anyone out there tried this?
There have been gaps of wellness since he turned 1 but not many! I can count probably since his first birthday: three stomach bugs and five colds/coughs.... is this normal?! Currently he has his canines coming out (all four at the same time) and has had a bad cold/cough all week with a fever at the beginning of week. Now just a cough remaining but lots of crying with obvious teeth pain. Thanks in advance for you help and opinions.

Mine wasn't affected quite as badly but yes, it's not at all unusual for them to be ill when teething - particularly colds / fevers and very unpleasant nappy rash.

The only other thing than the teething gels/powders etc that we found helped was offering small ice cubes to suck or crunch. At night we used to leave the teething rings you put in the fridge in small child's cot to help there too.

Hope someone will be along shortly with a bit more advice for you. It's really horrible when they are grouchy and helpless like that.

DS2 is exactly the same.
18 mos old, canines erupting ATM and he has had the snots on and off for last few weeks and now conjunctivitis and a horrible cough
He tends to get a hot head when the teeth are actually breaking through too which seems odd, it's not a fever as such as his body isn't hot but the top of his head gets really hot.
I've been giving calpol at night and a dose of ibuprofen if he wakes and won't settle and that seems to help.
DS1 used to get awful loose poos and terrible nappy rash but thankfully DS2 doesn't seem too.

I think they're also at an age when they are starting to socialise and pick up every bug going; at least it'll all be building immunity.
Does your DS go to nursery? That seems to be a good steady source of coughs and colds IME.

Hope he's better soon

It's a while since mine went through this as she's now 9, but in short - YES from what I know of others & remember its quite normal at that age, especially colds, they go hand in hand - teething does make them run down & picking up lots of viruses in the early years is par for the course too - its what builds up his immunity :)

A couple of cups of Epsom salts in his bath can help up his magnesium levels, which helps his body deal with both pain & stress, this will indirectly help his immune system also add a few drops lavender aromatherapy oil to either bath, or pillow, will also help calm him, help him sleep & again is believed to help fight viral & bacterial infection & a good healthy balanced diet, with lots of good fish, fruit & veg will keep him strong. - he needs lots of omegas, zinc & vit C to help his immunity

cranio-osteopath can help too, as can chiropractic if you have a good one near you

Hope the poor mite finds some relief soon - you too :)

thank you both- he is better today, teeth pretty much emerged. I remembered his amber necklace which every now and then I stick on him (I am a bit dubious about leaving it on at night) and he seemed calmer but I never know if it really works or not. Yes he does go to creche so of course picking up bugs- I just never thought it would be so often and that he would suffer so much with teething (my other child sailed through it and was hardly ill BUT she didn't go to nursery until she was 3).
LakeFlyPie, hope your little one copes ok and rockinhippy thanks for advice, I will try the salts. I do panic now and then that he's not getting enough vits etc but we are a super healthy household with 95% of everything cooked from scratch. Did you ever give yours a supplement? Keep thinking I should. Thanks again

Poor you - it's ghastly. I don't supplement but am blessed with a boy who eats a good balanced diet and plenty of it. However, I just wanted to say my DS (now 3.5) had an ear infection with EVERY set of teeth (he got his in twos) that emerged. None since he got his last teeth.

Even my GP acknowledged that (despite all the medical evidence to the contrary) that there did seem to be a link.

Hi Rasberry

glad to hear he's a bit better - I had to think back, but we used to add Hemp Oil to DDs porridge INFO HERE

Don't be put off by the cannabis connection, it's a superfood & safe for DCs - my old friend works in alt health care, specialises in babies & DCs & it was she who recommended it to me

It can be added to anything & you can get it in good health food shops, might be worth you looking into if he's so run down, gut health it apparently related to immunity & the omegas help gut health.

HTH