My 6 year old DD has never been unwell, is this normal?

[Breadkneadslove]

Just this really, she is a healthy and active little girl, but she honestly has never been properly unwell. Never needed time off school / nursery for illness. She did have chicken pox but it was mild and other than a handful of spots she wasn't actually unwell with it. She has never had antibiotics, we rarely go to the Doctors, we have been twice in the past 2 years but that was to get her health certificate to take part in sports activity. The occasional sniffle and cough but that's it, never anything to actually slow her down.

Just wondered if anyone else's kids are like this as it seems as though she is not the norm and this causes me some anxiety, not sure why though but I do worry that her immunity will be affected in later life or something, am I reading too much into it? Any advice or thoughts welcome...

My DC aren't ill either. They've had chicken pox and some colds but they're off school for maybe an average of 1 day per year. I think it means they have good immune systems :)

Mine are very similar fortunately. Year 4 child has had 2 days off school - one time was more of a precaution as teacher is vulnerable, the other was an ear infection. Year one child not yet been off luckily. I don't think it is something to worry about - be glad, I say!

In fact even at preschool, which they went to 3 days a week from age 1, I can think of only one or two days off. they got a lot of immunity from me, I imagine.

I do also think that it means she has a good immune system, but then I worry too Maybe it's just a parents job to worry. I have let her take a sick day off school once as she said she was unwell and I felt like I should / guilty that I had missed the symptoms but very quickly realised she so wasn't poorly!

Well, it is highly unlikely that this is relevant to your dd as it is so extremely rare..... My mum went through life without ever being ill. Not even a cold, no tummybugs, nothing. One day there was a notice in the paper asking people come for a free health check as the local university was going to spend 2 years cataloging the health of the county (this was in Norway), so my mum signed up for a laugh as she said she would amaze medical science as the woman with the best health in the world. Turns out they found a rare bone marrow cancer, she had an insanely high white blood cell count which affected her immune system. Once her cancer was in check, she was suddenly like a child that started nursery, she got every bug going. But like I said, this is extremely rare!

DS 1 is 9 and DS 2 is 7 and whilst they have both had chicken pox and the odd cold and puke bug, they very very very rarely get ill. I have never hD to have time off work due to their illness. I consider myself very lucky and them very healthy. They have never even had nits.

Mind you I am never ill either.

My two are teenagers, and so far have had very much less than their fair share of childhood illnesses. My son is on 100% attendance and my dd is almost the same

mind you, I don't "let" them be ill...they go to school unless literally swooning with illness

They take after me and their dad, with the constitution of an ox

I was looking though my workplace sickness record recently (as you do) and I realised I have not had one day off sick since starting my new role almost 5 years ago. And before that, not much more since I started work about 25 years ago...

Quinteszilla...This is my worry! Stupid I know but instead of being glad I fret that there are bigger and worse things lying in wait for her...

My DS (5) is the same. Occasional cold or sniffle, but other than that, plus chickenpox and one bout of norovirus he's never ill. He does occasionally have migraines but they're genetic and can be controlled with a dose of calpol and a sleep. He's in Y1 and hasn't missed a day of school yet.

He has been in nursery since 9 months though, and I've always felt that was a factor.

My DD was like this until age 11 when she then suffered a three week episode of gastroenteritis. Up to then she had never had a single day of school. DS is the opposite and is ill on average every three weeks and has rubbish attendance.

She is only 6. What mum has is extremely rare. I think you should just enjoy your daughter without worrying about anything sinister.

There could be many contributing factors to her good health. When we lived in Norway for three years my sons did not have one day home from school, they were not ill at all. Back to normal with 3/4 courses of antibiotics per year now we are in London again.

But it's good to know that there are other fit and healthy children out there. I just find that it can be difficult sometimes with other parents because I can't join in in the latest 'how sick has your child been / how many bugs have they had' chat and it feels like I am viewed as the smug mum when I say my DD is fine.

My Ds aged 9 is like this. Occasional colds and tummy bugs but only been to the doctor once in his life. And it turned out to be nothing. He's never had anti biotics or any medicine except calpol! Ds aged 5 is the same. I put it down to the amount of soil they ate in their first year or two! Well looked after pfb, aged 11, gets a lot more bugs and has had anti biotics on several occasions.

one of mine is like that
sometimes he feels sick. goes to bed. wakes up well!
the eldest has a chronic health condition so it is nice to get a break

Asheth our DD has eaten her fair share of dirt and worms as a baby and she was our pfb!

Merci sleep could well play a big factor too, she has always been a good sleeper and is generally 7 til 7. So maybe her system fights everything off whilst sleeping! I can't imagine how different and difficult it would be with a child with health problems.

None of my DSs sleep well, so definitly not the answer in our case! But I do think not over protecting children from dirt can boost their immune systems so they can fight off infections before we even know they've been exposed!