Covid born baby……

[AngelaB83]

Hi, I’m just after some advice from any other parents who have had babies during covid lockdown 1 / 2……. When things were really quite strict……

my ds is 2 next month, and he’s a happy gorgeous funny little boy. But. He seems to get poorly all the time. Whether it’s a cold, virus, HFM, ear infection etc etc.

when he’s well he eats a very good balanced diet. Loves his meat and veg. He has daily vitamins also. We kept him away from nursery due to covid until he was 15months old.

but I am getting concerned about the amount of time he seems to be poorly. It’s like one thing just rolls in to another and I’m worried he has a weak immune system.

we’ve been referred to peadiatrics at our local hospital a couple of times when he’s been quite poorly with viruses. Doctor there told us that they can really see if a baby has been proper shielded during lockdown (which he was, we stuck to the rules).

im more than aware babies pick things up at nursery all the time. He goes 2 days a week and has done since September. And up until recently Iv felt that it’s just part and parcel of having a toddler, But, lately, I’m finding people making comments about him. “Oh, he’s poorly AGAIN?” Or “are the doctors doing any tests on him”

as a late first time mum, I’m totally new to all this. All my friends kids are like 6-10 years old so Iv always put it down to they’ve forgotten what it’s like.

can anyone give me some insight in to what life’s been like with their covid born babies. As I’m starting to think I need to get his immune system tested, if such a thing exists. And I’m particularly concerned about the amount of antibiotics he’s had and how much nurofen and paracetamol he seems to have. Some days it feels like every day he has Calpol or nurofen!

I think this is totally normal. My DS (now 14) was at home too he was 18 months and then went to Creche. There were periods between them and 3.5 that he was sick every second week. My MIL had me driven mad suggesting vitamins, cough bottle etc at the time.

After he turned 5 he was rarely sick. He did get a few extra colds + Covid this last winter so the lockdowns did probably have a small impact but for your DS I’d think it’s just going the normal toddler-Creche-virus merry-go-round!

Now my DD was similar but by 2 it was clear she had something else going on. She constantly had thick green snotty nose and nighttime cough that she would end up vomiting from. Then I noticed she had sleep apnea so took her to ENT. She had her tonsils and adenoids out at 3 and she was totally grand after that.

I suppose I mean mild viruses/coughs/colds can be every second week but if there’s something consistent and chronic then I’d get it checked out..

Sorry I see you’re specifically asking re Covid babies. My point above was that I think it’s the same for all babies until they start Creche and it will resolve for you.

my neice was born July 2020 and she is like your DS out of Creche with a cold every second week.

I have three covid born babies and all have good immune systems, one has recently started nursery and now comes down with everything but in my experience as a nursery nurse that is completely normal.. They were all well shielded as DH had cancer during lockdowns (he was diagnosed in lockdown one).

I always found that if they didn't go down with every bug going because they were in nursery then the first year of school was often when the frequent infections hit.

It's always like that the first few months they start nursery in non-covid times OP. He'll also have a cohort who haven't been to nursery either and they'll keep passing things until their immune systems start to work more effectively.

Ours was in nursery for a year and a half before he stopped getting ill All. The. Time. We just suddenly realised he hadn't had a chest infection in a few months which was a record for him. No obvious reason why and he still gets minor colds.

That’s great, thank you so much for all your replies. I think part of me knows that this is normal and he’s ok but it’s just when the mother and mother in law and other people keep mentioning how it’s not normal just puts seeds of doubt in mind. Thank you all again x

I have one the same age as yours and a 4 yo as well. IME they all have a rotten run when they start nursery and get dose after dose. This year has been particularly bad as we've had two years work circulating at once it seems - I've seen numerous articles about it, and all the families I know with little kids have had a very very long winter.

We're lucky in that our DC seem to take after ridiculously healthy DH rather than me (asthmatic, constantly on antibiotics and steroids as a kid) so they haven't needed more than Calpol and time at home. But if they weren't as robust it would've been even worse.

It's honestly normal, things will settle, then he will start school and it will happen again. Then every September mine seem to catch something when they go back to school. I think it keeps happening right up until freshers flu!

My dd was born July 2020, things had opened up slightly and then closed down again as our area went back into local lockdown, so we did stick pretty strictly to the rules in the early days.

Honestly we’ve been really lucky in terms of her health. She had one crappy virus plus conjunctivitis last year, and she seems to pick up a runny nose or a bit of a cough every so often but so far (touch wood and all that) fights things off pretty quickly and they don’t tend to go any further. She goes to a Childminder’s either one or two days a week, and we go to lots of toddler groups, but no doubt when she starts nursery more frequently she will pick up more.