"sickly children"

[Coco H]

I have used the title "sickly children" as I couldn't think of a better way of describing a child - who seems to get every bug going and takes a long time to get over them.
My son is 16 months old and has not had more than two well days in a row since September/October. It has been cold after cold, chest problems, vomiting, diarhrea, chicken pox, cold etc. It is really wearing. We have been back and forth to the doctor messing around with inhalers and granules and reflux medication.
Please tell me he will grow out of it!
This year has been better. It still amazes me that a small cold can last for weeks, coughs never go away completely.
I am assuming he will grow out of this and the peads are hopeful next year will be better. But I have been staying in a lot this year. Is there anything else I can do?

[sinizter]

Hopefully, relevant tests have been done already.

Diet?

Things like celiac disease and other associated metabolic problems, etc can cause failure to thrive in children and might not be diagnosed straightaway. But hopefully, this is something your doctor has discussed with you.

[RemainAllHoof]

Out of interest, do you tend to keep your house ultra clean especially before you had your baby? Also, do you tend to get ill a lot?

I just wonder if you've not developed enough resistances to germs due to having a really clean home and have thus not passed on various immunities (but I might be talking nonsense; any qualified medics on?). Going forward, I guess he will develop his own immune system over time assuming he doesn't become dependant on whatever your doc's giving him. Can you do any research on how to improve one's immune system?

[K77 CTR]

My niece was like that, had a dairy intolerance but has recently been diagnosed as coeliac and since that has been under control seems much improved!

[Coco H]

Interestingly he is dairy intolerant and still has reflux. He is finally growing into his head and putting on weight - his head is on the top centile and was born big but fell to the 2nd centile and is now 9th -25th centile. He weaned at about 12 months onto solids due to reflux and refusal to eat. So he does not qualify as a failure to thrive.

As for the tidy house, tidy yes, overclean no. We live out in the country, we have a puppy, a cat and two other children. My husband and I have very robust immune systems as do the other two. All were roughly equally prem.

[RemainAllHoof]

Well that rules out my theory. Guess in this case it's down to luck. Hope he "grows out" of these problems.

[whirligig]

Our daughter, now age 10, was a sickly toddler. Any bug going round her two brothers would shake off no bother but she would be struck down all the time. I hate giving the kids antibiotics but sometimes did have to resort to it with her.

Because I had had taken immuno-suppressants during my pregancy (due to severe Chrones) I was terrified that they had somehow crossed the placenta and compromised her immune system but was assured that this wasn't possible.

She is still prone to maybe slightly more bugs than the rest of the family but has largely outgrown this now and seems stronger and has more stamina. Hopefully this will be your experience too.