Children constantly poorly- setting of my raging anxiety!

[thebearandthemare]

Wondering if I’m alone in this… I have two children who seem to be constantly poorly with the usual coughs, colds, ear infections, occasional sickness bug etc alongside some things like constipation, UTIs, eczema, skin flare ups. This has been ongoing over their childhoods (eldest now 6) but has really ramped up recently and perhaps made more stressful with the worries around PCR tests etc. They seem to spike a temperature at the slightest thing which can go on for days.

I’m absolutely frazzled. From sleep deprivation, juggling work and of course the worry about them being ok, I just feel my anxiety spiralling. My head is telling me it’s my fault they’re always ill. Perhaps I haven’t fed them well enough, built up their immune systems, not taken care of them well enough so they keep getting ill!

Anyone else have children who seem to be constantly ill at the moment? Recently it’s the temps, coughs, colds that are battering us. What can I do to help?

Please can I jump on the train for recurrent germs!
My son currently has a second sickness bug in 2.5 weeks, he’s been sick since Monday morning and complaining of tummy aches since Sunday evening so I think it’s gastroenteritis ☹️. No fever though thankfully and he’s managing to eat little bits and drinking plenty. My daughter had 3 lots of vomiting in the space of 2 weeks and then passed it on to me too! When will it end?!? 😩

Soon! I really hope for all of our sanity that it’s is soon!

I am so glad I've found this thread! My 6 yo has always caught every single cough and cold going but I really hoped she'd grow out of them by now. After several hospital dashes with breathing troubles we've now got Montelukast which has been great when she has a bad cold. But in the last 6 weeks she's had 4 colds and one of them turned into bronchitis.
My GP has referred her to see if there's anything else underlying. One chest X-ray done and clear, blood tests done (that was not much fun!) waiting for the results although I'll be honest that I'm worried about what they're looking for. Hopefully we can find out what's going on as I agree with everyone that the anxiety is overwhelming! X

Really sorry to hear that @katarina77. Fingers crossed you get some answers soon x

How is everyone doing with all the strep a in the news?! Hope everyone is ok, illness free and anxiety free! Xx

Bit worried about the strep A, but managing to try to keep a lid on it....

My youngest has been sooo I'll recently - had so much time off school that we had an attendance letter, then had to have another few days off after that! Just one thing after another. There's been loads of staff off sick too. Just a horrible time of year.

How are we all doing? I'm going mad tonight - between November and now, my 2 year old has had 3x viral illnesses with runny nose, low grade temp and a cough that has resulted in 2x courses of steroids and a whole host of inhaler puffs. Now on montelukast also. But I thought he was improving (sick since saturday, sunday, bit better monday) but tonight (Tues) he is back to coughing, temperature and runny nose. WHYYYY?? I HATE the winter with toddlers, it is incessant!

It really is! I thought we had made it to the end of term relatively healthy but two of my DC are snotty/coughing tonight! So it begins again! I am STILL waiting on blood test results from two weeks ago for my DS too so anxiety is up tonight in our house

Glad you're having some success on Montelukast @Greentomatoes21 - it didn't work out for us as my DD had awful side effects, hearing voices and all sorts. We're now on 400 Clenil a day and the latest two colds we've managed with just her inhaler at home and no hospital/steroids so I'm hoping that's paying off.

This time of year is such a worry. I haven't even let myself think about Strep A too much!

Three kids. In the past month we have had strep, croup, ear infection, asthma flare up, colds and two stomach bugs. Mine are older. Youngest is 6! One of them has had the whole raft of blood tests - nothing wrong with their immune system but they still catch everything going. I thought they would grow out of getting everything as they got older but it hasn't happened yet.

My dc are the same I’m at my wits end.

They eat well, take vitamins, etc. they are constantly ill and when they get something it seems to really affect them due to other long term conditions. So a simple cold for most will have them off school for a week and then we have attendance problems.

I’m literally at the point of home educating as the stress over illness plus the stress about attendance is too much and if I home educate I won’t be being told to control something out of my control 😭

I got so desperate when DD was 2.5, after a full 18 months of back to back sickness, that I pulled her out of nursery with no alternative childcare, figuring juggling wfh and a toddler had to be less stressful. After a month or so out I put her back in, begrudgingly! It was such a horribly stressful time. She seems to be over the worst now, touch wood, at 3.5.

@NotatTheExpectedlevel Don't feel forced into home ed. Can you speak to your dr or hospital consultant about writing a letter to the head of your child's school? Some kids are more prone to serious illness than others and you shouldn't be penalised for it

@Cuppasoupmonster Glad things are improving. I just wanted to warn you that my eldest got better about age 3 but then had an absolutely horrific first year at school with loads of absence. She seems slightly hardier now she's in year 1 but still had a couple of trips to a&e for her asthma this autumn. It's never ending!

Oh god thanks for the heads up. Looks like she’s getting home schooled 😆

We have already. They’ve had investigations too blood tests and all was fine it just seems they are generally weaker and more prone to catching things and when they do it makes them really ill but we still have the same attendance target as everyone else 🤦‍♀️
I’m really really fed up about it. I want them to be well and go in as they love it but I can’t send them to school with fevers etc

Oh no! @NotatTheExpectedlevel Make sure you send them a photo of the thermometer each day they're off for fever. The lovely admin manager at my DD's school told me to do this and all her absences were authorised (over 30 days last year!)

I think I’ll have to and we have pictures of things like antibiotics etc. we had sent in a consultants letter too but not having much luck

Definitely do it - other to lose. Make sure you take it as video so they can see you taking the temp, the result, the face of your child and it will automatically record the date and time on the video file too

*nothing to lose