Are you anti anti-biotics?

[Ra]

Can anyone help? My 2 year old son was ill about 4 weeks ago with a cold/cough. Although he got better, the cough lingered and he is now really bad again with bronchitus. I took him to the Doctors yesterday and she gave me a prescription for anti-biotics but suggests I leave it a day or 2 to see if he gets better by himself before starting the course. He's never had anti-biotics before and I understand the importance of leaving his own immune system to fight the virus, but how harmful would it really be to give him the course? He's really run down with ulcers in his mouth and not eating properly, so I can't see him being strong enough to fight the virus himself. I just want to get rid of it once and for all but don't obviously want to do what is going to be best for the long run.

Ra, give him the medicine, it sounds as if he is quite unwell. Mouth ulcers can be a sign of the body being run down and also you don't want thrush to start in his mouth. My son has spent the past month on antibiotics for a chronic Adenoid infection that we cannot get rid of, but they won't remove them because, I've said no and that his hearing is not impaired. Do you give him multi vitamins of any kind?, my 2 take them every day and they are more able to cope with a cold or sons horrible beak!, without becoming quite grotty. By the by what antibiotic has your GP pescribed for your son?, as some can make the bottom go off with rather a nasty bang!!

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Antibiotics only work for bacterial infections. I'd give your son the antibiotics to zap them as soon as possible. You should finish the course even if he seems better or the little blighters may come back with avengence.

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ra, i would have thought the virus would be long gone now and what he is left with is a bacterial infection, in fact i'm surprised the doc said that after 4 weeks.

although he's not eating much is he drinking? does he like fresh orange or fresh apple juice because i think they might help with the ulcers, and some sort of multi-vitamin too, as well as the anti-b's - poor little boy - hope he is himself again soon!

Have you thought of homeopathy?My family have had some brilliant results. It is easy to be anti antibiotics when you child is fighting fit but when they are poorly,and for such a long time, you'd do anything to make them better.
Homeopathy works with the patients own immune system to help them fight it themselves.It may feel like a load of nonsense but it can work so quickly you can begin to see improvement in minutes if you have the right remedy.Even if you decide to give the antibiotics now seeing a homeopath after he has finished will help boost his immune system and general health.
It is also great for behavioural problems ,sleep,
etc etc.(I am not a homeopath by the way!)

I am not exactly anti antibiotics myself but like others here try to distinguish between a viral and a bacterial infection, not always easy in young children - apparently a lot of GPs find it hard too.
It sounds to me though Ra as though you should give him this course. You ask if they will hurt him? Not a jot unless he is one of the unlucky ones who is allergic to certain types of antibiotic (usually the penicillin/amoxycillin types). As he has not had them before, why not go back to the pharmacy and check what side-effects an allergy might produce. Then you can be on the look-out. The reason why some parents and most doctors are leery of antibiotics is because a lot of patients still do not realise that they don't help with viral infections, and insist on having a useless prescription. This has led to some bacterial strains developing immunity to some types of antibiotic, which may not matter when you have a sore throat but which could be very bad news if you have a more serious infection.
On the few occasions our son has needed them, we have also put powdered lactobacillus in his breakfast, for two weeks after the end of the course. This is supposed to encourage renewal of the gastrointestinal flora (the good bugs) which can be wiped out by antibiotics. It seems to work for us and did reduce the exploding nappies described by Tigger.
Hope the poor little chap feels better soon. He has done extremely well to get to two without having needed antibiotics!

I agree with what most people have said about this particular problem - it looks as if a course of antibiotics would help in this case. But more generally, I think my daughter was prescribed too many antibiotics for her ear infections. She had four courses in total, none of which got rid of it for any length of time. The last time, it came back again the very day after she finished the course. Somebody suggested I try a homeopathic remedy, so I went to Neal's Yard Homeopathy, and they sold me something called mullein oil. (The woman consulted a huge, well-thumbed manual, and seemed very knowledgable about the products). Within a couple of weeks, my daughter's ears had cleared up and it's never come back again. I don't know if it was that that did it, but you could say the same about antibiotics. I hasten to add that it's the kind of thing I would have been very sceptical about before!

When my daughter was born she caught strap.b from me when my waters broke. i had no idea i had an infection, and for about three days hadn't realised that my waters had broke cos it was so incredibly slow, like normal discharge. When they discovered the infection in me they did some test on my daughter, and we spent 11 days in hospital, with both of us being pumped full of anti-biotics to eliminate the infection, so i'm very pro-anti biotics. I've recently met this woman who's baby died from strap.b, it made me realise how lucky i was and am.