How often is your 3 year old unwell?

[Elisabeth3468]

I'm talking unwell with a virus, temperature, off food etc - a week or so to get better.
My 3 year old is constantly unwell. I know it's nursery because when I take him out to recover for a couple of weeks he's well again.
I've already posted about this before but it's an ongoing issue /battle between us whether to pull him out of nursery for a bit.
I have such bad anxiety around the whole illness thing because he gets really high temperatures and it's just such a worry. I now have a newborn to think about too and shes so vulnerable at 3 weeks old.
I'm just wondering how often your toddler gets un well?
For us it goes like this - sick for 1 week, off nursery for a week so is ok, goes back and gets sick the end of the week again. And so on. Theres no break. It's been like this since November.
In the summer he would go 3 months at least without so much as a sniffle. It's just brutal and I feel so bad on his little body. It's really affecting me mentally as I'm so anxious about the next illness. The last one was the flu and I caught it and could hardly lift my head off the pillow for a week and had a newborn to feed and a toddler.

Once a year. She's in nursery 2 days a week.

1 year old (21 months) is ill a lot more often, but usually just fairly frequent colds, nothing major. However, she was only breastfed til 7ish months, so that probably plays a part (less of my antibodies etc)

Pretty often with my (just turned) 4yo. Sometimes it’s a bit sniffly for a few days, sometimes more severe with the temp etc. A few weeks ago it was the flu and DH and I got it too - it was horrendous so I feel your pain!

Mine seems be sick more than a lot of the other kids that we know but the majority of them either have older siblings that would have been bringing germs into the house or they started nursery when mum returned to work. So their immune systems probably took the hit earlier.
Mine only started nursery at 3 and is the only child in the family so I think this last year has been a shock to his immune system!

Rarely, about once a year she'll have a fever and decreased appetite. She's never had a vomiting/diarrhoea bug and I've never had to take her to A&E or any non-routine GP appointment. She gets plenty of colds and coughs but feels fine and it doesn't stop her from going out. She goes to nursery 4 days and I take her to 2 different classes on the other day, and weekends are spent doing days out, so plenty of mixing. She only started nursery 5 months ago but we used to go constantly to classes or playgroups etc every day. She's still breastfed.

My 2 year old is in nursery 2 days a week. Since October he has had 5/6 colds, hand foot and mouth and 2 sickness bugs. Plus a couple of nights of really high temperatures.
I feel like it’s relentless. I can’t wait for the warmer weather so the bugs die off a bit.

Once a year. Minor things more often but not that prevent him going about day to day life.

Mine has never been ill for an entire week. He’s had 3 bugs since starting preschool FT in September that have required time off but none were more than 3 days and really he was only ill for 2, it was just the extra day to make sure they’re 24 hours free of fever or D&V. I’d say he has a mild cold 50% of the time though!

Mine has just turned 4 but has hardly ever been ill. She gets colds from time to time, sometimes with a fever and has had covid once, but has never vomited or had diarrhoea, or needed antibiotics, or even been to the GP apart from once at 7 months old. My 6yo is the same. I feel very very lucky tbh as most people I know seem to be struggling with constant illness with their kids.

Possibly relevant things are that neither went to nursery until they were 3 (but then went full time) and both bf until 18 months.

Well we are on illness number 3 so far for January...... cold then a random temp/sleepy/off
Food now back to a cold🙈
He's like me constantly has a cold....I've been the same my whole life.
Although he didn't get the flu when I had it.
He's been at nursery since he was a little over one and is now 3.5. 🙃

Mine is rarely seriously ill (one sick bug after a long haul flight and one mild case of hand foot and mouth). Has had a few minor colds but usually shakes them off before I do! Goes to nursery classes 5 mornings per week and lots of play dates since around 18 months old. My 11 month old is the same. Neither one was breastfed for longer than 3 months and both were mix fed from the start so I don’t think immunity is down to that tbh. We do have pets at home which I have read helps…

Wow so it seems like mine is ill more often than most then, I wonder why?
A lot of you are mentioning BFing, I breast fed him till he was 2 and a half and he's never had any formula. I did notice when I was BFing him he used to fight things off faster. He's had anti biotics about 3 times in his life and they've all been for tonsillitis. He has increased his hours at nursery from January from 2 half days to 4 half days.
we've always socialised and gone to 2-3 groups and when we were doing these without nursery he was unwell a lot less frequently.

OP my impression from friends with same aged kids is that actually my kids are the exception and it’s much more normal to be constantly fighting off illness over the winter, especially if they are prone to tonsillitis and ear infections. Hopefully things will improve for you and little one as we come into the spring!

I don’t think she was sick at all for the whole of her 3rd year? Maybe a cold but nothing bad enough to be off nursery.
She was breast fed, no idea if that helped build a strong immune system or just lucky??

Very similar scenario here, only difference is my son has been in nursery since 9 months and was only breastfed for 3 months.
Luck of the drawer I think. I have some friends whose kids always seem to be sick and I don’t think I could cope, or how I would maintain my job. We’re very fortunate.

The doctor told me that kids fight off about 60 different bugs before they are 5. That's on average once a month.

health.choc.org/why-is-my-child-always-sick-a-pediatrician-answers-your-questions/

My dr told me something very similar when I took son about a persistent cough at age 1. He said something like in their first 3 years they spend about 50% of their life fighting viral infections.

My eldest (4, nearly 5) gets ill at most once or twice a year. He’s down for about 12 hours before being absolutely hyper his usual vivacious self again. Coughs a fair amount over winter but is never ill with it.

The youngest (toddler) seems to be permanently brewing something from October until March. Hospitalised twice in his first year. Goes off food or throws off a temperature very easily.

I think it’s just luck of the draw.

I feel your pain, I also have a 3 year old who is generally well but since the start of December up until now I feel like there has been constant sickness. The temperatures terrify me aswell! Hope you are doing ok x

My 4 year old was constantly sick her first year of nursery. It was incredibly stressful, she was off more than she was in. It's much better this year though, although we had the flu over Christmas then another viral infection that us in January. She was breastfed until 15 months old. Think it's just the luck of the draw to be honest. I get sick very easily also.

My two (1 and 3.5) have a cough or a runny nose more often than they don't.....but in terms of being unwell enough to be off nursery probably once or twice a year.

3 boys
After the initial hiatus ( on and off for a few months ) of gastroenteritis when they started nursery after 6months they really weren’t ever Ill.
Except one had appendicitis when older.

Most of our issues happened when they started playing rugby 🥴
But at nursery and primary, nothing, not even colds that impacted them in any way or I’d remember getting hassle from my boss for taking time off.

ps. All breastfed if it’s relevant

Have you tried using more foods with vitamin C to deal with constant colds.
ie lots more fruit and veg

Okay guys I get the gist and seems I have a sickly child as none of yours seem to get unwell this often. He was breast fed for 2.5 years if it's relevant but not sure it is.

About twice a year. Goes to pre-school and a childminder. We do lots of handwashing, daily vitamin, fruit and veg. No idea if it makes a difference.

We do all this too