My son is almost 21 mos old and I feel like he is always sick. He seriously almost always has a runny nose and/or a cough. We will get about two or three days of healthy and then back to a cold. Recently (April 8) we found out he had the flu and double ear infection this was his first ear infection. Then we got over that and at the end of April he got another ear infection and then tonsilitus (pardon the spelling) with a fever for three days that got as high as 104.2 at one point. Today he seems healthy, he was crabby and I did notice he was pulling at his ear but I am crossing my fingers for a healthy week. I only provided information from the month of April but he has been off and on again sick for months. I feel like we are at the doctor at least twice a month and I have actually started keeping a journal of his illness' for my own information and observation.
So here is my question, should I be concerned about his immune system or perhaps take him to another peditrician for a second a opinion on why he is always sick?
Have you tried giving him vitimans and asking the doctor if he/she feel concerned about the amount of times he is sick and if there is anything they feel you can do to help him from being sick so often..
I kind of thought allergies, too. What can happen is that because of drainage caused by allergies, fluid can back up behind the ears, in the brochials, and in the sinus cavity. If it stays there (which for little ones who can't yet blow it does) it can cause secondary infection like bronchitis, ear infection, sinus infection and so on. All of my kids have allergies.
Zyrtec is available in chewable form and I believe that kids can take it once they turn 2. It has made a huge difference for us and we are healthier over all.
Also, from my experience, once a child gets good and sick it seems like their immune system is compromised and they get whatever is coming down the pike. One thing right after another especially during cold and flu season. Their little bodies can't recover before they are exposed to something else. This adds up to months and weeks of sick. This could be another reason, or it could be a combination of the two.
I feel your concerns!! My daughter spent the first two years of her life very ill, same kind of illnesses. I had a blood test done for allergies (it's called an immunocap test). Children's hospital drew one tiny vial of blood and I found out she's allergic to milk. It's COMPLETELY worth the millisecond of toddler discomfort!! She's been on 6-8 different meds on any given day and she has now been medication free and healthy for months. I highly recommend the allergy testing. You never know what could be causing the illnesses and if it turns out to be something simple like milk that you can control, all for the better. I hope this helps.
Every time my daughter cuts a tooth (and you know how many teeth they have) she gets a nasty runny nose and a cough and will even sometimes run a fever. The runny nose has lasted 3 weeks a lot and that is just for 1 tooth. As soon as she would get better she would go and cut another tooth. It was a never ending cycle. I only mention his bc once there is mucus there is open opportunity for infection...whether it be the ears or chest. My daughter would get the runny nose and then at night it would drain into her ears and chest therefore allowing it to sit and become infected. Also if the teeth have nothing at all to do with this it does sound like he is getting quite a few ear infections. I think I ould look into an ENT just to get it checked. If you are around the Dayton area I can reccomend a fantastic DR. that comes highly reccomended by me, but by everyone I have ever talked to who use him (and thats a lot!). The other thing that can be happeneing is maybe this is all starting with allergies and you could have him allergy tested. My 6 yr old son has allergies and a ssoon as he starts sneezing I know an infection is right around the corner. Again bc the mucuc sits and gets infected, but all I can do is give hime allergy medicine and hope it helps. The docs won't prescribe antibiotics (for obviuos reasons) until they can actually detect the infection...even though I know in 2 more days he will have one. If you maybe mention some of these suggestions and any others you get to your peds. and they still won't try and help you then I would seek a new ped. I hope this helps and I hope you can see there are other kids who get sick quite often (it helps with the worrrying). Just remember that some kids really do just get sick a lot, but I have noticed that babies who are sick a lot become very healthy kids and the babies who never really got sick become extremely sick when they get a little bigger and start school so hopefully you have something to look forward to. Good Luck and I do hope your little guy feels better soon.
If he gets sick again soon, you may want to talk to your pediatrician about referring you to an ENT specialist. My daughter was sick like that all the time too, and at the same age! We had an MRI done, and come to find out, her adenoids were very large, so when she would get a runny nose, it would just stay up there because she had insufficient drainage from the adenoids. She ended up having them taken out, plus tubes put in her ears, and that was when she was 25 months old. The surgery is a piece of cake, and she was feeling fine by that evening. She immediately was better too! She went from being sick all the time and on antibiotics frequently, to being sick maybe 4 or 5 times a year. It was a great decision. Sometimes you just have to ask to see someone, or you could even say, "What do you think may be causing him to be sick so often?" and maybe your pediatrician will bring up some of these possibilities.
I agree that you should have the doctors investigate this further. Have them screen for an immune deficiency as well as allergies.
In the meantime, you may want to look into probiotic supplementation. Probiotics are "good" bacteria and yeast that help your intestinal immune system. They're totally safe, in fact, one brand of baby formula now comes with a probiotic (Nestle good start natural cultures). Another good supplement that helps the immune system is cod liver oil or fish oil. They have some out there that don't taste fishy at all. I can give more info if interested.
Aleisha!
I can help you! My girls were sick alot and my 14 yr old daughter was diagnosed with fibromyalgia last year. We eat very healthy but they were still getting sick! My friend recommended taking JuicePlus whole food supplement. I was skeptical but we tried it since we knew we had to make a change for our family. The FDA recommends between 7-13 servings of fruits and vegetables a day and I try but can't get it in. I did some research and found that Dr. Sears recommends it for all his patients. Here is his website. http://askdrsears.com/html/4/t040500.asp
I was blown away that fruits and vegetables could make such a difference! But it did in my family. My 10 yr old has only had the sniffles once this year and we haven't been to the doctor except for the well check. My 14 yr old is off 4 medicines for her fibromyalgia and is only on one sleep med. T
The children's research is amazing, you can clearly see the benefits! That is what convinced me. Here is the web site for it. http://www.childrenshealthstudy.com/index.shtml?juiceplus
I have now become a distributor for JuicePlus. You can check out my website at www.juiceplus.com/+jp80863
Please let me know if you have any questions – even if it is about how to get your little guy to eat more fruits & veggies at home!
Good luck, I know that caring for a sick baby is exhausting, take care of yourself too!
D.
Hi Aleisha!
Your son sounds so much like my 2nd son. He was always sick with ear infections, colds, flu, etc. I did keep a diary, too of illnesses and dr. visits. He was always on antibiotics and just in general wasn't healthy. I did switch dr.'s when he was about 6 months old because of concerns not taken seriously with the first dr. Did I mention this was my 2nd child that I almost never took the first to the dr. so I wasn't a mom that freaked out about everything?!! Anyways, the 2nd dr. was better but still didn't seem to take some of my concerns seriously. Unfortunately he was 3 1/2 before we stumbled upon food allergies. We stumbled upon this because I had been seeing an allergist and tested positive for some food allergies. He then saw this allergist and sure enough he had food allergies. If you don't know much about allergies, they are an immune system disorder. Your body thinks this thing (the allergen) is bad or poisonous and your immune system goes into overtime trying to fight it. It's kind of like a bad message to your brain which makes the immune system go crazy. Anyways, when you have allergies (unless you can avoid them altogether) your immune system is ALWAYS compromised. The more allergies, the worse the immune system. I'm not saying your son definately has allergies, (which don't always show the way most people think) but it would definately be worth looking into. My recommendation is that you take him to a naturapathic dr. who can test him (very easy) and can help you with his immune system regardless of why he is sick all the time. I have been seeing a N.D. now for almost a year. My immune system is the best it has been EVER and I am the healthiest I have EVER been. After fertility treatments for the 3 boys I have, I actually had a surprise pregnancy. I definately feel (and so does my N.D.) that it is due to how healthy she has made me. Good luck on getting that little guy healthy. I know how hard it is to see them sick all the time, not to mention how hard it is on mom to have to always care for a sick child.
