why does ds get so ill when he has a cold?

[mimsum]

ds1 is 12, very active and eats remarkably healthily for a pre-teen boy because he wants to be in the best possible condition for his sport

however, about 3 or 4 times a year he comes down with a truly awful cold - he's usually off school for about a week each time with a high temp, snot pouring out, hacking cough etc. It seems to affect him much worse than anyone else in the family - ds2's got a cold too, but in his case it's little more than a runny nose and feeling slightly uncomfortable and he's very rarely off school.

He eats lots of fresh fruit and veg, has very little processed food and a vit C and zinc supplement (mainly for the placebo effect!). Any ideas how I can boost his immune system? It's starting to get him down as each time it happens he loses a week or more of training and it's racing season for his sport at the moment

I think athletes do suffer from these bouts now and then because they are so fit. DD is a swimmer and triathlete, every now and then she goes down like your DS does but what she's learned over the years is to take a step back from training/competiting when a cold/virus starts to hit hard to give her body a chance to recover. When she was younger she used to try to trian through illness but she has learned that a couple of nights off with an early night's sleep is far more likely to aid her recovery time than negatively affect her training/fitness levels.

snap! ds is a swimmer and is just getting into triathlons - I'm not letting him train through illness any more as it just means he's sick again 2 weeks later, but he's getting upset as he's been out of the pool for nearly a week now and still isn't better, poor lamb

Have you tried probiotics? DD is an asthmatic as well as an athlete and she has noticed an improvement in her immunity to colds since she's been taking them.

And have you spoken to his coach? DD does light land training if she's feeling well enough, it helps keep up her muscle strength while she's out of the pool he coach gave her some reps to do with light hand weights so she can do them at home.

Thanks smudge - will try probiotics - I'm going to talk to his squad coach at the weekend to see if we can come up with a plan - the older kids' coach is very old school and really frowns at them taking any time off at all