can anyone explain what's happening to my 12month old school health?

[MYA2016]

Will try and keep this as brief as possible.
Ds (12mo) always been very healthy. Eats well, sleeps well. Always on 75th centile.

Started nursery in November.

Xmas - developed first illness. Hand foot and mouth. Dh also got it. Both were very poorly.

1st week of January - suspected tonsillitis. 5 days antibiotics

2nd -3rd week of January - severe chest infection. Very poorly and drowsy.1 week of antibiotics. Doctor tells us he has a lot of fluid in his right lung.

4th week of January - wakes up with very swollen eyes and can't open them. No gunk. Eye infection diagnosed and antibiotic drops given.

This same week he gets weighed. In 6 weeks he's plummeted from 75th to 9th centile. Sees paediatrician at local hospital same day who orders bloods.

1st week of Feb - nursery call to say his temp is 40 and he is chesty again. Go straight to doc who is rude and tells me he is a baby and they get ill. Then listens to his chest and tells me he has lots of fluid back in his lung and gives another weeks worth of antibiotics.

This morning - receive letter from hospital with blood results on. I don't understand it. Is there anything I need to do? Is this all really down to an iron deficiency? Letter posted below.

The nursery have told me that it isn't normal for them to be this Ill.

He sleeps around 15 hours a day and just generally has gone from being a happy bright little boy with a constant smile to looking poorly and exhausted all the time.

I am so worried about him but feel like I have no reason to be?

Thanks

This is the letter of results I've been cc'd on

He is very anaemic, which can leave you very susceptible to illness. Poor wee thing.

I can't see the letter, maybe because I'm on my phone. Hopefully someone who can see it will be able to help with an explanation and maybe reassure you.

That does sound like very bad luck. We have had a constant run of more or less severe colds since nursery started plus a vomiting bug and a cough which won't shift (I say 'we' as I have had them as well).
But usually we get a couple of days well in between (sometimes they run together) and we haven't the General loss of condition you describe.
Also our gps are lovely, do thorough checks & reassure.
Take him back? Or phone paeds who did the bloods?

Oh, crossed with your photo. Get the prescription filled asap. Maybe gave a chat with HV about why he's so anaemic?

It's common for toddlers to have low iron levels, but not that low. You need to follow medical advice. How'a his diet?

It can be hard on children when they first start at nursery as they do tend to pick up every infection going as they build up their immune system
I'm surprised the nursery didn't say this

Sounds like a mixture of anaemia and the usual bugs that are picked up when children are first in nursery.

A friend discovered they were actually coeliac and that was causing the anaemia. Don't know if that's a common cause but I guess if you aren't digesting and absorbing food you wouldn't get the righty levels of minerals etc. Children do tend to have z rough first year in childcare as they build up immunity but that does sound too much. Also boost with zinc as that's good for colds etc.

I'm shocked that you have been sent a letter and been given no explanation or advice
That's not very helpful is it

anaemia/iron deficiency is a symptom not an illness.

unless your dc's diet is shit, it should be investigated why.
coeliac comes to mind.
go to gp and ask for a referral for tests.

Thanks so much for all your replies.
Oh yes I forgot about the sickness bug he picked up also...
His diets really good. He eats everything I have literally not found anything he doesn't like apart from food that's cut up too chunky.... He eats lots of fruit and veg and meat, beans etc and still has formula with the odd bit of cows milk but he's not too keen on cows milk.
He's also on abidec vitamins once a day.
It's interesting about ceoliac is there anything else I should lol out for with that?
Yeah I'm pretty annoyed actually that I've had it through the post. I'm guessing that they got the results yesterday as the letter was written and basically said "due to weightloss and recurring infections we've done a series of bloods and will write to you in due course" but then the results were stapled to the back and it literally said nothing else!
I'll book an appointment for Monday to find out more. I don't understand how he can have such low levels. He just looks poorly and I don't get how he's dropped 4 percentiles in 6 weeks.
Thanks again

Ps. Just noticed the title autocorrected to "old school" !

Is your gp normally rude and dismissive like that btw? Generally speaking gps are happy to see small children anytime. I'd be thinking about avoiding that gp or going to another surgery.

Tobee thankfully at my doctors surgery there are around 15 doctors, the one I saw yesterday I will usually avoid as he's not sympathetic at all to things like this. Unfortunately as I requested an emergency apt he was all that was left!

I don't understand how his iron levels can be so low yet the doctor dismissed you. Or am i getting confused and the doc has not had a consult with you about the iron levels?? Is that range for babies?

Hiya. Basically the paediatrician at hospital on Monday did the bloods.
Saw the doc at local surgery yesterday as he has a new chest infection.
The letter has come today with his blood results so not seen a doctor yet but will on Monday.
By the look of the letter though we'll just be given iron supplements and dismissed. I would rather know why they've got so low! And why he has lost so much weight. And why he has had 4 infections in 5 weeks

How did you get on @MYA2016 ?

Hi @coldhandscoldheart
Not getting on well to be honest. I took him to the docs Monday about his iron results and was just given supplements and told it's common.
Yesterday (weds) nursery called to say his temp was upto 40 again despite them giving him regular ibuprofen and paracetamol - alongside the fact he is on day 5 of 7 of his antibiotics

Took him back to docs who have had him back this morning for a urine sample.
Temp is still high today. I'm off work with him and starting to feel like it's getting on top of me now.
Is this really all normal as the docs seem to think?

He is so tired all the time. He slept 14 hours straight last night and has been asleep on me again for the last hour

I'd ask for a paeds referral. He needs investigating. As a PP said, anaemia is a symptom, not a diagnosis. So you need to find out what is causing the anaemia and why he's not well.

Kids do get lots of lurgy, but this doesn't sound normal.

That is a really really low hb, I'm not an expert in children's health but normally a low hb in an adult would be say for example 11 you would probs feel like crap! So for it to be so low he is probably really feeling it. I'm very surprised that they would just prescribe Sytron and leave it at that For a start you will
Struggle to get him to take it as it is like drinking liquid metal. Nice guidelines state that if heamoglobin below 11 for men or 10 for non menstruating women then urgent referral for gastroenterologist investigations should be made. i can't imagine why it would be different for children. I would get back on to doctors asap.

Thanks both. If you look at the results it's says fbc (full blood count) was normal so they said his iron is very low but he isn't anaemic. Does this sound right?

patient.info/doctor/non-anaemic-iron-deficiency this sounds like what they mean, low iron stores

I would also look at the nursery/day care he is in. Do they allow a lot of sick babies there? Some day care nurseries are stricter than others about allowing babies who have any kind of temperatures etc come in that day.
I know a couple of mothers who changed creche/nursery due to their baby getting sick every second week, however yours only started there in November so it's too early to jump to that conclusion.
He is going to be catching a few viruses the first few months so there is hope it'll settle down in the coming weeks.
If your baby is in there with a virus and a temperature, then other babies are in there with a virus and a temperature that he might catch next. It's just what happens when you take a baby from home where they are not meeting anyone to a creche where there is lots of baby and minder contact. But eventually he builds up resistance to the stuff going around.
If he has just started in the creche he might not be settled enough yet to take proper decent naps there and may be cranky and refusing food.
Also if he is spending a lot of time at home again due to being sick, then it takes longer to settle in the nursery, and eat well and sleep well there.
So if he gets a few good weeks straight at the nursery things might settle down considerably...