Help me with DD's diet

[AntoinetteCosway]

DD is 16mo. She has had a runny nose/full on cold/cough almost ever since she was born-even the midwives in hospital commented that she was very mucusy. The weeks she's NOT ill stand out in my memory! She currently has a really bad cough and cold, has just come off antibiotics for a chest infection, had an ear infection (and more antibiotics) before Christmas and has had a vomiting bug twice.

Does this seem excessive in her short little life? I keep thinking that her immune system must be really bad for her to get all these bugs, but I THINK she has a good diet. A typical day at the moment:

Breakfast of ready brek or sometimes a piece of buttered toast with jam
and a bottle of full fat milk.

Lunch depends if she's at home or nursery-at nursery it's always a full hot meal and at home it's either something simple and hot, like beans on toast with cheese, or something cold like cheese, ham, vegetable sticks (like a salad) and new potatoes.

In the afternoon she sometimes has a snack of a breadstick, rice cake or a bit of fruit if she's hungry.

Tea is always a hot meal-we did BLW so she just eats with us and I cook without salt. Examples-risotto, bolognese, chilli, stew, pasta, omelette etc. She then usually has fruit for pudding, sometimes with yoghurt.

She has another bottle before bed.

We give her Abidec in the mornings with her breakfast. She's never been breastfed as she wouldn't latch on at all, despite the efforts of many midwives and health visitors. I am still about this and upset that her immune system might be rubbish because of it. She was on Aptamil first milk until a year and has had full fat cow's milk since then.

Am I missing something here? Is her diet not as good as I think? She's always eaten pretty much anything she's given and the only thing she doesn't like is green beans! She rarely has junk-she had a tiny bit of chocolate cake on her birthday but on a day to day basis she doesn't eat sweet things except fruit.

I just don't want her to be so ill all the time. GP says it's just life but it honestly seems constant. The last time she didn't have a cold was August.

[redwellybluewelly]

OP just to add I am not an evangelical cut everything out type of person. I would like nothing more than to load my DD with full fat milk, cheese on toast, chocolate, icecream and yummy yoghurts. We do a milk trial every 3-4 months to see if she has outgrown it because I want her to have a childhood as close to others as possible. Nothing brought it home quite as much as the Easter party last year when my DD was sat with a gingerbiscuit while other children at nursery ate crumpets, and scones piled high with cream

It is a complete PITA and I have to watch her calcium intake very carefully.

[tempnameswap]

It isn't just lactose intolerance though hugoagogo! Much more common is an intolerance to cow's milk protein, in varying degrees of severity.

And FWIW I think it negligent to categorically say there is nothing wrong with the OP's child. One month in 16 without a virus/illness may just be bad luck but it might well not be.

Those who only focus on the horses risk having a less good quality of life than they might!

[Glimmerberry]

Dairy does seem to be mucous inducing -my 16 month old sounds similar to yours. If he's having a bad time with a cold we do cut back for a day or two, or avoid dairy toward the evening and he seems to get a better night's sleep with less coughing.

[redwellybluewelly]

Yes - lactose intolerance is much more rare - CMPI is actually quite surprisingly common, and many children outgrow it