Do you have kids who are almost never ill? What do you put that down to?

[EssentialFattyAcid]

I am interested in why some kids hardly ever get ill. If this is your child, what do you put it down to?

[recall]

I have noticed that since moving out to a remote detached house on a hill. from a terraced cottage in the centre of a village at the bottom of a valley, we all seem to have less illness.

[hauntedstateofmind]

My teenagers are very rarely ill. I do have a clean house, with a no shoes rule and when anyone comes in they wash their hands. However we live on the Equator where there are lots of bugs.

They did spend their first few years in the countryside in the UK, playing outside a lot in farmyards and in the woods which will have got their immune systems off to a good start.

[MowlemB]

My DDs rarely get ill. DD1 did suffer a lot with ear infections, and if one of them will get ill it will be DD2, but hardly ever Dd1. DD1 who is now almost 8 has vomited 3 times in her life. They get colds, but that is all.

Not sure why but I guess I did most of the things correctly...

Both were breastfed. Dd1 exclusively for 6 months and until 18 months. DD2 mixed but predominantly breast (one bottle per day) and until 7 months.

Both live with lots of germs and the 5 second rule because I'm a slattern

Both are very active. DD1 does a lot of gymnastics but neither children are sit down kind of kids.

Both have great diets. They both easily eat their 5 portions of fruit / veg a day, probably more and because of the gym I try hard to make sure they have balanced diets with lots of calcium and protein too.

Could be any (or none) of those. Take your pick.

[JujyFruits]

DD had hardly ever been ill so far. She had a few colds as a baby / toddler and that's it, she now 4.

I put it down to luck or genetics (DH is never ill either)...

[Linnet]

I have 2 dd's who don't get ill very often at all.

Dd1 gets the odd cold, she's had a tummy bug about twice and I think she's had antibiotics once, she's 14.

Dd2 gets the odd cold, has never had a tummy bug,touch wood, and has had antibiotics twice, she's 7.

I am usually ill from mid November until mid february with colds and coughs and throaty things. I am usually ill every Christmas so never get the chance to enjoy it and I'm always ill on holiday. As a teenager I suffered a lot from tonsilitis.

So, I put it down to them getting their fathers immune system as in the 17 years we've been together he's been ill about 3 times. he never catches colds from me when I have them or other bugs, I think he brings them home to me instead,lol

[pickling]

One of mine is healthy, the other gets everything. They share a room. Sicky ds vomited on healthy dd during the night last week and she still didn't get ill. He has just had the last week of school, his attendance is only about 80%, hers is 100%. He was hospitalised with chicken pox, she wasn't even unwell, she just got a few spots and a bit of a temp (they caught it at the same time). He ends up in hospital on a nebuliser every so often when he gets a cold, he gets outrageously high temps. If they do get the same virus at the same time she is ill for a day and he is ill for a fortnight.

Technically he should be healthier, he was bf for 2 years compared to dds 2 months, his diet is far better (she hardly eats fruit or veg), he is fitter as he is v sporty when he is well, he looks after the animals and is generally more outdoorsy and grubby. I can't account for it.

[SansaLannister]

Maybe, maybe not. I had next to no experience of it growing up because it was stunningly humid and hot and polluted. Still rarely fell ill.

We throw the windows open here in the morning because this place is full of damp and the windows are all misted up in the mornings.

Still, touch wood, we're rarely ill. I'm usually the one who fares the worst, but I'm overweight, I smoke, have depression and don't exercise.

[gaelicsheep]

Do you not think fresh air generally makes a difference then? DH insists on throwing open the windows to let in fresh air, but I agree with him that it does make the place feel healthier. (He is however banned from doing it in midwinter!)

[SansaLannister]

Nice and cozy central heating. I grew up in a tropical climate with recycled air/AC and was hardly ever ill, either.

All that makes FA difference even though people think it does.

Some people are weaker than others, that's just how it goes.

[gaelicsheep]

No central heating means healthier atmosphere in the house (although not if damp and mouldy obviously).

No obsession with hygiene and cleanliness - our house is clean of course, but they've had food scooped up off the floor, crawled around on dubious old carpets, etc.

Not mollycoddling but just getting on with it. Other mothers I know are so obsessed with their child being ill and the possibility of passing on germs. Whereas my view is that kids are germ factories and they're meant to be as it boosts their collective immunity. Seems to have worked so far.

[SansaLannister]

We live in a non ground-floor flat with no garden.

It's luck of the genes, tbh.

My dad still smokes a pack a day and has done for over 50 years, eats a bunch of shite. Other than hypertension, nowt wrong with him and he's now nearly 80.

His folks were the same way. Lived till their 90s with hardly a day ill.

DH smokes, throws things off or doesn't catch them at all. His brother, never smoked, teetotal, eats great - the bloke's is eternally ill.

It's luck of the draw a lot of times.

[saffron]

DD is 16 she has had flu once, chicken pox once and the occasionally dodgy stomach and cold.
DS is 12 he was born at 27 weeks and was very ill for a very long time. BUT, since then has had chicken pox once and also the occasionally dodgy stomach and cold.
I put it down to lots of veg and a dirty house but it might be the fact that we don't have any central heating.

[toughdecisions]

DS is definitely robust. Not BF & not a sicky baby nor now child, but then I didn't have a moments nausea in pregnancy. DS has eaten & slept well since early months. Belong to the school of not very clean house, much poking around outside & have a dog.

[StickyFloor]

My twins were born at 26 weeks and we were warned about how weak they would be and likely to pick up everything going. thankfully they are now 8 yo and they barely get so much as a sniffle, it is astonishing. Apart from when they were tiny and occasionally brought up their feed neother of them have ever been sick and nor have they had dodgy tummies either.

I did not bf and they both still have terrible diets. I keep a clean house, but not crazily so. They went to preschool from the age of 3 but before that had very little contact with other kids. I am rarely ever ill myself whereas dh constantly catches colds and tummy bugs so I guess they got my robust system.

[moajab]

3 DSs all very healthy all bf DS1 - 11 months DS2 22 months DS3 still feeding aged 2 1/2.
DS1 and 2 very fussy eaters - don't eat nearly enough fruit and veg
DS1 and 3 don't seem to need very much sleep
DS1 is healthy but not quite as healthy as the other two.
I do not have a very clean house and put their good health down to the amount of mud they all ate in the first two years of their life!

[Northernlurker]

genes (mine - dh not quite as healthy ), luck, breastfeeding and robust immune systems built by plenty of outside contact - church and baby group from birth, nursery for all of them from around a year old whilst I'm at work.

[Almostfifty]

We used to live in a house without a garden when three of mine were small. I was always at the doctors with one or other of them.

We then moved to a house with a garden, where I could watch them while I was cooking dinner in the spring/summer.

I went to the doctors for a routine check-up for one of them. The doctor commented that he'd not seen me for a while. I told him about the garden and he stated it seemed to him that I was right that as much fresh air as possible helped children stay fit.

[bibbitybobbitybloodyaxe]

I have absolutely no idea why my dc are so robust. Sheer good luck?

[Mandy2003]

"Scarevola: Luck, filth and parents who refuse to take any ailment seriously."

Zombies: I am a believer in 'carry on unless you are actively puking or bleeding'.

Yes I agree. When DS was younger I worked outside the home every day. He seemed to absorb that he really shouldn't get ill.

I've only kept him off school if he has a temperature, and he has only vomited twice in 12 years. Only childhood illness has been chicken pox. My health has improved drastically in the way of catching colds etc since he's been born too.

[racheyroo28]

I would say being outside every day walking the dog and good old dog spit to build the immune system! :)
And of course a good diet!

[lborolass]

In relation to general coughs/colds/bugs and not serious conditions ime the children who suffer most seem to have mothers who are obessed by looking out for the smallest sign of a sniffle, whipping out a thermometer and then going on about it so much that the poor child is talked into an illness.

My DCs are never ill and I put it down to genes (my parents and siblings are never ill either), bf, generally lax attitude to cleanliness, lots of fresh air, generally good diet BUT who knows, it could just be luck.

[gingeroots]

mmmm - DS 19, never ill , genes maybe as I'm never ill ?
Other than that ,bfeeding ,sleeping ( tho not much in first 4 years of life ),vitamin pills .

[SouthGoingZax]

I have 2 year old twins.

We've had 2 colds and 1 night of vomiting since they were born. No other illness.

Luck, not being at nursery or school (yet) (they are 2 and a bit), breastfeeding for the first year, being a bit grubby and around animals, they love fruit and veg.

I think not being around loads of other children has helped (live in the middle of nowhere)