20 month old ill so often

[Beeloux]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice. Ds2 (20mo) has had 7 bouts of tonsillitis and 2 chest infections since the end of may (7 rounds of antibiotics, including 1 IV).

3 weeks ago he was sent to a&e by nurse where they confirmed tonsillitis (he almost always develops a non blanching pinprick rash with it hence why being sent to A&E). 2 days later more of the pinprick rash and he was sucking in under his ribs. He was admitted with low oxygen and chest infection and needed a nebuliser and oxygen. He’s also had 4 blood tests for this rash that appears which all bar one have shown high white blood cells/inflammatory markers.

Last weekend back to A&E with the rash and temperature where they confirmed tonsilittis yet again. Yesterday he started vomiting and had diarrhoea. He’s been to the gp this morning as his nappies were dry and still vomiting and having diarrhoea. She said he doesn’t seem dehydrated as he was crying tears but to take him to A&E if he doesn’t have a wet nappy in 8 hours. Thankfully he had one just before.

Im just wondering has anyone else had a dc who is ill so often? I can only compare with my ds1 (4) who is very rarely sick apart from the odd cold. I’m at a loss why he’s getting sick so often. He eats a healthy diet and no smoking at home. He also has cmpa and eczema.

The doctors seem to brush it off that he’s probably catching them off ds1 but ds1 is not getting ill and he wasn't when he was ds2 age either despite going to playgroup almost daily.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Firstly that sounds worrying and frankly horrible for your LO and you! My LO had D&V four times in six weeks around their first birthday, the GP said "Oh some children are just prone to certain types of illness" - well, maybe, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't look a bit closer. Our first winter at nursery was awful (HFM, COVID, norovirus & a hospitalisation with RSV between mid October and mid December). There's lots going around, but your LO is either very unlucky to get so many bacterial infections (especially over summer), or your LO might be like a small proportion of children who just need their tonsils out. You can find lots of threads here with experience of that.

Second - was your eldest a pandemic baby? Is possible they didn't catch quite so many things at this age because there was less to catch going around? It's definitely true that children over 3 are less likely to show symptoms than children under 3 - your eldest can look/feel fine, but be bringing bugs back into the house. Asymptomatic transmission, like with COVID. Nothing to be done unfortunately.

Third - had the GP swabbed your LOs throat to see whether it's bacterial or viral, and if it's bacterial, to check it's not the same bacteria coming back over and over again? You can ask the GP to test and refer you to Infectious Diseases/Microbiology for advice.

@OtterMummy2024 thanks so much for your reply 😊

He has been referred to ENT but have been told the waiting list for the initial consultation is 28 weeks. 😭

Ds1 was born the back end of 2021 so most of the restrictions had already been lifted (he did get bronchiolitis as a newborn but apart from that rarely ill).

They did a swab once when he was admitted for IV antibiotcs for the rash and tonsillitis but I never heard anything else for it. They normally prescribe phenexomethylpenicillin for the tonsils but swapped it to co-amoxiclav a few weeks back when he had a chest infection alongside but his tonsilittis was back again last week.

I’m most concerned about the non blanching petechial rash he gets whenever he has these infections. In A&E last weekend the doctor tried to say it was eczema (despite being flat non blanching pinprick dots) and making out as if I was an over anxious mother even though new dots appeared while waiting in A&E! I pointed out I was only going off what all the other doctors and consultants said it was.

Hoping he grows out of it or it improves if his tonsils are removed. I was planning on putting him in nursery but I’m dreading it as most likely he’ll pick up anything going.

Thanks so much again for your reply!

My friend's son was having tonsillitis basically every month, endless antibiotics and stomach problems, he used to get the most ridiculously high fevers needing A&E, and she was in trouble at work for being off with him so much (husband works away part of the week).

The NHS agreed he needed his tonsils removed, but the wait was 18 months. They ended up paying about 3k to have them removed privately, and she says it was so worth it. He's barely been ill since and looks so much more healthy now.

I’m sorry, that sounds horrible for him and for you. 💐 Getting his tonsils removed could be a good idea, it could really help.
Regarding what a previous poster said about Covid, it’s not that missing out on childhood bugs makes children more likely to get sick. Covid can suppress the immune system, like some other viruses do, often for a few months after infection. That means people are more likely to pick up other infections afterward. This is one reason we’re seeing higher levels of illness in the population than before Covid, even in children born after the lockdowns ended, because many people get Covid one or more times a year and are therefore more vulnerable to other infections.
There are probiotics formulated for young children that may help support the immune system, especially since he had to take a broad-spectrum antibiotic last time. Making sure his diet includes plenty of vitamin C, as well as some prebiotic foods like bananas, oats, or apples, could also be helpful. Has he had his vitamin D levels checked? Deficiency is very common in this country and can also affect immunity. 💜

Ds, who was dc#3 for me was like that.

His first illness was at about 8 weeks when suddenly his legs came out in what looked like huge amount of bruising. Cue blood tests.
Then at 10 weeks old he had his first ear infection. And from then on about October to May was ear infection season, which meant about every 10 days he had an infection which needed antibiotics (never cleared without them) until he had the first set of grommets at 20 months.

A week after grommets he was hospitalised with dehydration due to a vomiting bug.

Then we had the season of rashes. From about September through to January we spent about once every 3-4 weeks in A&E, sent by the GP with some sort of rash. Blood test and conclusion viral rash.
Viral rashes varied from pin pricks, through to huge 2p sized red or blue/green marks. Also had one set that started on his head and you could watch them move down his body covering it entirely.

The grommets came out, and straight back into the ear infections....

Then he added tonsilitis to the set. For these, he'd often get a viral rash. But his temperature would come up, he'd vomit, then he'd just go to sleep. He'd hardly disturb for 18 hours - when he'd wake up and be pretty much okay again...

At 8yo he had alarm bells going when he had tonsilitis and didn't pick up. he missed most of a term of school, we suspect with just post viral fatigue, but they thought it might be far worse. (and he still had ear infections!)

He's 18yo now and not ill as often. He still tends to have a temperature that shoots up with any illness and then he vomits. But he's nothing like as bad. In fact, for the first time ever I don't think he's been ill since September, even though he's at uni and mixing with lots of bugs.

When he was small I suspected it was because he got 2x bugs from his sisters. I suspect he just does tend to get ill. But also if dd1 is ill, she tends to feel a bit rotten, go to bed and recover quickly. If ds is ill, then he is not-able-to-do-anything ill.

But yes, some children are more ill than others.
Dd1 has never been to A&E and had antibiotics about 6 times in her life, mostly for toothache, except for the one bad illness she had, pneumonia where she ended up on 3 types as it was antibiotic resistant to at least one type of antibiotics.
Dd2 has been to A&E perhaps 8 times, either due to accidents or being overdramatic. Similar amounts of antibiotics to dd1.
Ds has been to A&E and had antibiotics too many times to keep track. He's also broken a bone twice and had appendicitis.