Reoccurring tonsillitis and chest infections - any thoughts ?

[Olivia933]

Just wondering if anyone has experienced similar and any thoughts on what the reason could be...

My daughter is 13 months old. Since Feb this year, she has had tonsillitis 4 times, pneumonia once and 2 other chest infections.. on 2 of the occasions she has had tonsillitis and chest infection at the same time. I have 2 other children and they never seem to get it, so can't see how it would be a bug.
Just worried about how frequently it's been happening and how unwell she gets from it..
Does anyone have any thoughts or advice ? Should I be pushing for the Dr's to investigate further ?

Thanks in advance x

Sorry OP I have no idea, but am in a similar position with my son, so hopefully someone will come back with useful ideas soon.

Have they had their tonsils swapped during the tonsillitis? Have they been hopitised? As you’re worried, I would ask your GP what is the threshold for being referred to paediatrician or ENT. Since one of our kids got seriously ill with croup, I’ve learnt to listen to my concerns and not worry so much about “bothering the doctor”.

My oldest is 12 now.
He had ear infections (requiring antibiotics) approximately every 8 weeks from 3 months old until he was 3 years or so, then less and less (about twice a year until about 7 or 8), then it suddenly stopped.
He had tonsillitis about 4-5 times a year from about 7 to about 10 years old, and has been fine since.
Not fun…..

My brother was like that, he had chest infections, tonsillitis, ear infections on a rolling cycle, his tonsils would start, then his ears, then his chest. The number of nights my mum was up all night with him when he couldn't breathe, he was diagnosed with asthma age 2, had been a prem baby. He had at least one bout of tonsillitis every 8 weeks which resulted in at least a week off school every time, he was waking up with his pillow covered in blood from his tonsils. It took until he was 12 for the hospital to agree to take his tonsils out, once he had it done, he never had a chest infection again, his allergies & eczema cleared up which was brilliant as he had to be constantly wet bandaged on his hands, elbows & knees as they would split open.

Based purely on our family’s experience, I think they might be quicker to take out tonsils where the recurrent tonsillitis is caused by bacteria than if it’s viral. My brother’s child had recurrent tonsillitis every 2-3 weeks after finishing antibiotics and had theirs out relatively quickly at around 4 years old. Swaps came back with bacterial infection.
They did consider taking my child’s tonsils out even though hers pwas viral in origin as she ended up in hospital so many times with temps of 41/42 C which meant she needed monitoring. They swapped every time but always viral. They did start to talk about tonsils out but said they’d give her 6 months as she was only 2 as sometimes when they’re that young the tonsils can scar over and it stops… which it did.

I would ask for full blood tests to rule out any other cause too if that hasn’t happened yet.