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[Closed] 18 Month Old - How often does yours get sick?

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As above, Jnr FD poor lad, never appears to be well.

It all started just before the age of 1 when he had Chicken Pox. Since then he has had Pneumonia, Tonsillitis, Hand Foot and Mouth x 2, and he literally doesnt go more than 7 days before he gets some virus or other where his temp will be approaching 40 degrees for 2 days or more.

When he is healthy he is fantastic and everyone commments how healthy he looks, but when he gets ill it just knocks him for 6 to the extent we have ended up in hospital a number of times...

Is this normal for kids of this age? We wondered if our child minder is taking him to too many different play groups too?


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 11:50 am
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I know this may sound daft but in the long run it may help him. When I was young I can always remember being ill right up to the age of 14-16. Any cold, virus or bug I seemed to get it. But now I hardly ever become ill. The last cold I had must of been 15 years ago and I can't remember the last time I had a sickness bug, even when everybody around me is going down with one. I'm no doctor but I believe all those times I was ill when I was a youngster has built up my immune system.
Edit-
Obviously I'm not telling you to mtfu over things like taking him to hospital, illnesses like chicken pox and other fevers have to be taken seriously


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 12:05 pm
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Sounds pretty much par for the course. Kids get ill.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 12:07 pm
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Hmm, could be increased exposure like you say, but I guess it's building up his immune system.
My 2 yr old is I'll maybe every 6 to 9 months.. Can be hard to tell if something's working on him or if it's just another tooth coming in tho. Sometimes both.
Plays with his cousins so not much contact with other weans for now. Starting nursery after the new year tho.
Sounds like you've had it really tough, must be hard going for you.
Plenty of fruit and veg blah blah etc... Stick in, it will get better.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 12:09 pm
 st
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Whilst some of those ailments sounds a bit nasty I'd say it's all par for the course too.

Our two children went part-time to a day nursery from an early age and used to come back wil all sorts of lurgy, they always bounced back and seem very robust for it too. One or two of their little friends who stayed at home with their parents full time seem to be a little prone to illness now that they are older (6+).

Maybe not related but why should medical facts get in the way of a good story?


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 12:11 pm
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Pretty standard. We keep a log book of all medicines administered and it only started dropping off at 3.5 years old (still hasn't stopped).

If you think its beyond normal then get soem professioanl advice if only for peace of mind.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 12:12 pm
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Some pick up everything, others not so much

It'll pass


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 12:12 pm
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Pretty much never. She had the normal exposure to nursery and all that, but just wasn't an ill baby.

I reckon she just has good strong genes.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 12:40 pm
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I feel the same - one of our twins is in hospital right now with pneumonia (second time) now the doctors have just suggested it *might* be cystic fibrosis. Then the next doctor sees her and says 'don't be daft' and it is clearly not.

Head in a spin right now ๐Ÿ™


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 12:42 pm
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Sounds like a lot for the lad to be going through IMO. Is he exposed to a loads of kids/families, thus contracting 'more' stuff than 'usual'?

Our 15 month old is on his third cough, and so far it's lasted 4 weeks. Been to the quack 3 times; once for meds and then for 2 checkups. Cough still very apparent, and IMO more chesty than previously. But the doc still says it's in his head/nose blah blah and all kids suffer like that. Yet a friend in the same position had to have her girl put on Ventolin at the same stage. What's a parent supposed to do, eh?


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 12:45 pm
 hora
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OP whens your next ENT appointment?


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 12:52 pm
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The junior rockets were never paticularly ill when they were small just the usual coughs and colds when starting nursery/school etc.

Whenever they got anything contagious or more serious mrs rocket would always insist they Go To The Doctors but I am a firm believer in MTFU and the doctor's was a last resort.

As above, little ones need to build up their immune system and filling them full of antibiotics & medicine may help in the short term but does them no favours later on in life.

IMO ๐Ÿ™‚


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 1:01 pm
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+1 on the it's probably not a bad thing for the immune system, sad fact is all of our immune systems are under fresh attack from stuff inbound with visitors from overseas, where we are folk are getting TB again which had long since gone away, it's a new strain from Eastern Europe, there are lots of folk here now from that area.

As long as he gets better he'll be the stronger for it. Normally you don't get stuff until they start school or nursery, so if he is getting exposed to other kids then he is going to catch more of what they've got.

Haven't read much of the rest of the thread, have you had all the jabs?


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 1:11 pm
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Vaguely relatedly, I reckon I had 24 hour vomiting/norovirus/gastric flu type things maybe twice in the first 32 years of my life, and then kids came along and I've had it loads of times. Bah.

Good to get chickenpox out of the way early. As for the rest, there is no "normal". Certainly wouldn't worry about playgroups, exposure is good.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 1:14 pm
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"As above, little ones need to build up their immune system and filling them full of antibiotics & medicine may help in the short term but does them no favours later on in life."

Rocketman - Interesting points you make there, but complete trollocks. If you dont give a child antibiotics when they have Pneumonia they tend to die. If you dont give a child Calpol when they have a 40+ temperature they tend to have a fit, which can leave them brain damaged...

Hora - He hasnt had an ENT review. The hospital visits have been for Pneumonia and subsequent re visits with separate colds etc when the GP wanted to doubly make sure that there wasnt anything on his chest. Then there was the time we got an ambulane because his temp was 40.5 and he had gone completely limp, skin gone blotchy, and was having a mild fit.

When your kid has had Pneumonia, you try and avoid taking chances again and leaving it to nature. I'm sure MF (above) would agree with this.

MF hope shes ok, must be a very worrying time for you.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 1:20 pm
 flow
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Try a [url= http://www.nutritioncentre.co.uk/p/496/Solgar-Kangavites-Childrens-Mulitivitamin-Tropical-Punch.html ]good quality multivitamin[/url] and make sure he is getting enough [url= http://www.nutricentre.com/p-18976-kangavites-chewable-vitamin-c-childrens-formula-100mg.aspx ]vitamin C[/url].

Have a read of [url= http://www.drbate.com/content/nutrition_c.shtml ]this[/url], pretty interesting stuff.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 1:34 pm
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Par for the course I'm afraid.
He'll only get chicken pox once, and the rest just goes round and round and round.

Roll on summer.
(Both Thump and Thud are barking away at the moment - as is every other kid in the school and nursery.)


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 1:44 pm
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going to curse it but our 18month old (girl) apart from a little cold about 3 months ago, touch wood as been fine. a few bad nights when teething is about it.

i think you could be right about the playgroups etc our little un very rarely goes to play groups etc as we hate them (local one is a stinking hole). people have given us the "yes but she is not mixing with other children etc etc" but she plays with other children at the child minders once a week an dsees her cousins.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 1:45 pm
 trb
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Par for the course, our 18 month old has been ill with various infections constantly for the last month, yesterday our GP was concerned enough to call us at home to check she was OK.

As well as being exposed to all sorts at playgroups, their immunity can be reduced when teething at this age, and little miss trb doesn't cut a tooth without at least 3 nights of truama.

Her big brother is a lot more robust. We had a vomiting bug a while back that made little miss trb projectile vomit for 2 days, made mrs trb take to her bed for 36 hours, made me poorly for 12 hours and made little mr trb eat slightly fewer cornflakes for breakfast!

Don't worry too much about everyone else's anectdotal evidence.

I was healthy until the kids went to nursery & school, now they give every cough, cold & sniffle going.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 2:17 pm
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Our first was snivelly and snotty between about 3mo and 12mo, most of the time. Now she's fine.

When I was a kid I got every kid disease up unitl about 6 or so then never ill.

That's training the immune system, I reckon. Having pneumonia and all those other bad things is much more serious.

Although - bear in mind that 37.whatever degrees is only AVERAGE body temperature. Have you taken his temp when he's not ill? Some people are a few degrees higher, which might lead you to worry a lot when the mercury hits 40 when it might only be +1 degree fever.

Note I am not a doctor, and I saw that on House. But I did also look it up later properly. Well, on the internet.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 2:47 pm
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Flow - nonsense.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 2:49 pm
 flow
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Flow - nonsense.

That vitamin supplementation is nonsense?

Or the fact that Humans don't synthesise vitamin C and the RDA is only enough to prevent scurvy?

I can show you a hell of a lot of scientific facts to prove you are wrong my friend. Whereas I'm pretty much 100% sure you can't show me any facts to back up your "nonsense" claim.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 3:14 pm
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That vitamin supplementation is nonsense?
Indeed.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 3:32 pm
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[url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2096672.stm ]Vitamins Useless...[/url]

8 years old and related to adults primarily, but I have to say I wouldn't give a 2 year old a supplement myself.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 3:35 pm
 flow
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Come on then, let me see some proper facts to back it up boys ๐Ÿ™„

Edit: Ahh, if the BBC say so LOL

How about reading [url= http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminC/ ]this[/url], from a university, not the BBC


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 3:37 pm
 hora
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FunkyDunc I can't offer any advice, only support. I hate poorly kids. I feel utterly helpless when hora junior is ill. Hate the useless feeling ๐Ÿ™


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 3:39 pm
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Ahh flow, let your education continue, there is much to learn here.
You can start by learning what evidence based medicine is. A place to start is [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1405139765?ie=UTF8&tag=bs0b-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1405139765 ]here.[/url]

authorative reports dissing supplements:
[url= http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/05May/Documents/BtH_supplements.pdf ]nhs report[/url]
[url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11820920 ]survey in ireland[/url]
[url= http://badscience.net/files/The-Doctor-Will-Sue-You-Now.pdf ]great article by ben goldacre[/url]

Its all over the place. You choose to believe what you want, I can only be charitable and point you at the truth.

PS That link to the Linus Pauling Institute was one I was looking for to prove that supplments are bollocks. EG a quote from your link:

A recent meta-analysis of 14 cohort studies concluded that dietary vitamin C intake, but not supplemental vitamin C intake, was inversely related to coronary heart disease (CHD) risk (8). Thus, some studies did not find significant reductions in CHD risk among vitamin C supplement users in well-nourished populations (9-11).

If you have a decent diet supplements are a waste of time. In the UK if you don't have a decent diet then it's easy to sort out without taking supplements.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 3:43 pm
 flow
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LOL Toys you joker, I read the the first two links and clearly you need to do the same. It proves nothing at all, let alone them not being necessary.

Edit: if you carry on reading the rest of the link I gave you, which supposedly says they are bollocks you will see that

One notable exception was the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) Epidemiologic Follow-up Study (12). This study found that the risk of death from cardiovascular diseases was 42% lower in men and 25% lower in women who consumed more than 50 mg/day of dietary vitamin C [b]and regularly took vitamin C supplements[/b], corresponding to a total vitamin C intake of about 300 mg/day

If you carry on reading you will see there is even more evidence.

Clearly you need to learn to read fist though, instead of filtering out the facts you like.

I couldn't care less what you think TBH, I have been researching this for well over a year, clearly you haven't even looked into the facts.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 3:49 pm
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I've read them.

If you read that Linus Pauling article in more detail you will find that every sections contains a reference to how vit c supplements had little effect and that Vitc comes from diet.

Note the word EXCEPTION in your quote.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 3:53 pm
 flow
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The Nurses' Health Study (85,000 women followed for 16 years), an observational study (studies that associate diet and supplement intake with disease outcome based on food-frequency questionnaires and other criteria), found that a daily intake of more than 350 mg of vitamin C was associated with over a 25% reduction in the risk for heart disease. Additionally, a meta-analysis of pooled studies (290,000 adults followed for about ten years) reported that the daily intake of at least 700 mg of vitamin C was associated with a 25% decreased risk for heart disease.

Oh look more facts, I could keep bombarding you but I'm bored already.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 4:00 pm
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Flow you have selectively quoted and then edited those two together. FAIL

Everyone knows you need vitamin C that's not in doubt, its taking of supplements which has yet to be proven.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 4:04 pm
 flow
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.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 4:07 pm
 flow
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Flow you have selectively quoted and then edited those two together. FAIL

Really?

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/news/response2.html

Read it properly


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 4:08 pm
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A recent meta-analysis of 14 cohort studies concluded that dietary vitamin C intake, but not supplemental vitamin C intake, was inversely related to coronary heart disease (CHD) risk (8).

Right, well I haven't got time to read the links, but.. how do you get a high dietary intake of vitamin C? By eating lots of fresh fruit and veg. Things that contain many other things that we already know are good for our heart...

So it's not conclusive re vitamin C itself, surely?

EDIT: ok so I did read some of it. Does this, from your own link:

It is widely thought by the general public that vitamin C boosts the function of the immune system, and accordingly, may protect against viral infections and perhaps other diseases. While some studies suggest the biological plausibility of vitamin C as an immune enhancer, human studies published to date are conflicting

.. not suggest that vitamin C is likely not of use in the OP's situation..?


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 4:09 pm
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Dr Jane Armitage from the University of Oxford's clinical trial services unit said the ยฃ21m five-year study had given disappointing results for vitamin use.

RTFA. As I remember the BBC report other peoples findings, rather than invent random stuff to put on their website?

Disclaimer: I work for a company who make a lot of money from vitamin supplements.

But you believe what you like, no need to get so worked up.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 4:11 pm
 flow
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As I remember the BBC report other peoples findings, rather than invent random stuff to put on their website?

So they never say things like "drinking milk is bad for you" then next year its "drink milk for good health"

Or "cover up in the sun" then "recent studies show that blah blah of the population is vitamin D deficient"

Oh really how strange! Maybe thats because you tell everyone that they will get skin cancer if they don't cover up!


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 4:11 pm
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controlled clinical trials of appropriate statistical power would be necessary to determine if supplemental vitamin C boosts the immune system.

...would seem to be the key bit from that link.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 5:42 pm
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So they never say things like "drinking milk is bad for you" then next year its "drink milk for good health"

No, they don't.

They say stuff like 'a study has shown that drinking milk is bad for you'.

Massive difference.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 6:45 pm
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f'in hell i love this forum sometimes but other times like this some threads go to b*llox!

get back onto the OP!!

fekin willy wavers, i know more than you neeeerrrr FFS!


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 8:25 pm
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Back to the original question...

My youngest daughter certainly seemed to get sick a lot when she was younger. She's now 5 and seems to have grown out of it. (I have no scientific research to back this up)

When she was of pre-school age then most colds turned into chest infections, sometimes requiring hospitalisation.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 8:57 pm
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MF update - izzi is back home and perked up a little, Evie gone downhill. So we are hoping it is just a nasty bug and not CF (as it has effected them both badly).

Izzi gets a sweat test next week (when she is hopefully better) to check.

Knickers.


 
Posted : 29/11/2011 11:13 pm