Please help... bouts of serious illness in baby

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This is likely to be long so please bare with me... shall try to keep things as short as possible...

ds2 (15 months) was born at 35 weeks. Absolutely no problems at birth beyond extremely prolonged jaundice and i tested pos for Group B strep but had recieved sufficient iv antibiotics after my waters ruptured.

He had quite a few courses of antibiotics in the early months for chest infections, was diagnosed with laryngomalacia (which he appeared to grom out of fairly quickly) and had a couple of stopping breathing episodes whereby he turned blue.

Last July he had supected swine flu, was extremely ill and ended up in a&e with fever of 40+ and respiratory distress.

Last August he had another respiratory infection and ended up being ambulanced to hospital due to respiratory distress. Nebulised, discharged with salbutamol and a spacer and put down to a virus.

Saw a pulmonologist in September who was not too concerned as he was growing and thriving despite the breathing and infection episodes.

Just after his first birthday he was ambulanced yet again to hosipital with extremely high fever and respiratory distress. Admitted for the night, frequent nebulisation and discharged the following day. Again we were told it was just one of those things.

October to December he had infection after infection, none stop streaming nose and cough.Several more courses of antibiotics but no hospital. (By the way, he is not in day care but his older brother does attend pre-school a few mornings a week)

Having just got over a 2 week long virus/infection we flew to the States to visit family in early December. Within a day he was back at a doctor and on antibiotics for ear and chest infection. He recovered from this.

Christmas eve, we rushed him into a hospital in the states where he was close to being put on life support. Diagnosed with rsv, pneumonia and bronchiolitis. Spent a week desperately ill in hospital. On iv antibiotics, saline, oxygen tube in nose (levels regualrly dropping to low 80's) and frequent chest suctioning. That week will haunt me forever.

WE are going back to the pulmonologist next week but i am frightened we will being shrugged off again with all children get ill a lot. I mean, this isn't normal is it? I know it isn't normal, i have an almost 4 year old who has had his fair share of illnesses but this has been ridiculous.

anyone with similar experience/able to shed some light? A friend mentioned today CF, my (doctor) brother thinks they should check his immunoglobulin. i am just so exhausted (he is an appalling sleeper at the best of time) and so frightened that there is something serious going on.

Any help greatly appreciated

Sorry you have had such a bad time lately. I haven't any personal experience of serious illnesses with my DCs, but am a nurse, and I would be asking for a referral to a paediatrician to discuss your concerns.

It does sound like a lot of illness to me, I know my 13mo has, in the last 6 weeks or so, had an ear infection, a chest infection, D and V, plus 3 teeth in the last 10 days but nothing serious, I would be concerned too.

Can't suggest anything specific I think they should look at though, he certainly sounds prone to chest problems at the moment and breathing difficulties are very frightening for both the patient and their mum.

You are wwise to push for full & further diagnosis, has he had chest x-rays etc.
ds2 suffered frequest serious chest infections, he was very prem & had been ventilated in SCBU so not totally unexpected BUT they discovered that a large part of his problem was due to reflux!
He was aspirating back in to his lungs & this was causing alot of the infections they sorted his reflux with medication & his chest infections greatly reduced. There was no outward sign of his reflux but a nurse noticed that his sats dropped dramatically shortly after feeding & suggested it as the problem.
His frequent ear infections were due to glue ear, this was monitored & at almost 7 he has just about grown out of it.
We were also told he just had a very poor immune system because of his prematurity.

ds2 also had turning blue & stopping breathing, this was def caused by his reflux & we had to be trained in resus before being allowed back home with him.

Thanks all for responding... i am not sure how i managed to double post other than being a technophobe with a new laptop!

moaning, yes we are seeing a paediatric pulmonologist next week. i was just hoping for any words of wisdom/experience/hand holding in the meantime. Your little on has had a rough time recently. My ds2 has also grown 3 teeth in the last 10 days... all he needed!

anon he had a chest xray back in september which was clear. His xray in hospital in the USA showed pneumonia on the right lung. Interesting what you say about reflux. My ds1 had reflux as a baby. I would have thought that things, reflux-wise would be starting to improve by 15 months rather than getting worse but it is worth investigating all routes so thank you. Interesting too about the ear infections. Both of my ds's are quite prone to them and i have been wondering about glue ear. DS1 tends to get very severe ear infections quite often while ds2 gets them accompanied by chest infections and hospitalisation!