My baby is sick for 2.5 months straight help

amother

Mon, Dec 06 2021, 10:26 pm

She caught mild chicken pox right after sukkos and has literally been going from one sickness to another without a break. (Assuming it was the chicken pox that knocked out her immune system.)
Ear infection to pink eye to fever to crazy cold to terrible barking cough for 3 weeks to another ear infection and today Coxsackie (and probably some others I am forgetting)
I cannot count any 24 hours that she has not been sick. She's 9m. I'm losing it. I'm taking off work way too constantly and up all night. I can't anymore. My older kids were never like this.

Any tried and true ideas to strengthen her immune system so she doesn't get every single virus/infection on the planet? (I have a a 3 year old who has been sick a lot as well but not nearly as bad as the baby.)

(And FWIW, I did not nurse her and really regretting it. 🙈)

Just want to end off this post thanking Hashem that she's a happy delicious little girl who is bh healthy and has no serious illnesses.
Thank You for these small childhood problems!
Now I need some solutions. Wink

amother

Seagreen

Mon, Dec 06 2021, 10:31 pm

Hugs hugs hugs
I love how you ended your post.
And I nursed my baby and she still go sick crazy frequently so don’t beat yourself up about that.

Just today I was reminiscing about the lockdown months when none of my kids got sick the whole time!

I haven’t found anything to work but I try keeping baby warm, vitamins, foods with vitamin c… hand washing…

amother

Firebrick

Mon, Dec 06 2021, 10:34 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

My baby has coxsackie too. It seems to be going around now

amother

Firethorn

Mon, Dec 06 2021, 10:41 pm

Sounds like my son...but he is 2. He literally goes from one thing to the next. I'm at the doctor with him almost every other week. I keep hoping his immune system will get stronger as he gets older but hasn't happened yet. Agree bh he is otherwise healthy...

happy chick

Mon, Dec 06 2021, 10:41 pm

First of all, stop beating yourself up about not nursing.

She may need some time to naturally build back up her immune system. She's young and sending her out to a babysitter (if that's what you do) every time she gets better, it could be that her immune system is still weak. As a fellow working mom, I understand that may not always be possible, but that may be the solution.

As a side note, maybe have your pediatrician do a regular blood work up (if s/he hadn't yet) just to be sure there's no deficiencies.

amother

Tomato

Mon, Dec 06 2021, 10:48 pm

Chiming in to sympathize. 6 month old sick for last 6 weeks also one thing after the next (bh nothing serious). She is exclusively breastfeeding....
I was advised to keep her out of daycare to give her time to strengthen her immune system but she keeps catching whatever my 2 1/2 yr old gets.... there really is no easy solution. I am losing my mind...especially when there is always another kid sick keeping us company at home. I haven't been in to my office all this time and it's really hard working from home with sick needy kids.
Refuah shleima

yiddishmom

Mon, Dec 06 2021, 10:55 pm

I have no solutions, but this thread is so validating.

My 2 year old has been constantly getting sick. I'm also at the doctor every week or two. I was starting to think that there is something wrong with me - perhaps I'm not feeding him well or who knows what. But, nah. It's just childhood.

I do think that playgroup plays a large role. He is with another 11 children. I'm sure there is always someone sick...

BH for all the little things.

amother

Mon, Dec 06 2021, 11:10 pm

Thanks for all the validation!
I agree she's probably getting a lot of it from her babysitter but what are my options exactly? I need to work so she can have diapers and food and clothing and she needs to go to the babysitter so I can work. Such is life in 2021. 😳

Her babysitter is a relatively smallish group (6-7 kids) although her morah is super chilled and probably not so clean.
Do you think it will help to keep her home an additional few days even after the Coxsackie goes away? (More time off help)
Also, she catches whatever my 3yr old has very hard to keep them completely apart.

There are no drops or vitamins to give her?

amother

Mon, Dec 06 2021, 11:13 pm

octopus wrote:

You're not going to like my answer. Pull her out of the babysitter you are using. She's being exposed to way too many germs.

Meaning? She's with another 5 babies, not crazy huge group.
What makes you think there are more germs at this babysitter that any other?
Aside from a private one at my house which isn't affordable.

tweety1

Mon, Dec 06 2021, 11:19 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

You can pm me for the phone number of Mrs. Apter from monsey. There are vitamins that are safe to give this age. She has helped me tremendously a few times. Including for my 6 week old with a terrible cough/cold. Dr said its upper respiratory but it was very scary hearing such a young baby coughing like that.

amother

Butterscotch

Mon, Dec 06 2021, 11:36 pm

I've had this with one of my kids - we took bloodwork and confirmed that her immune system was a tiny bit compromised. she would pick up any germ she passed on the street.

FYI just to make you feel better she didn't go to a babysitter, was home with me and nursed..... it didn't help much....

she outgrew it by approx 2 years old. Also in regards to coxsockie goat milk applied directly from a goat really helps (I do tend to go with conventional medicine however my pediatrician recommended this)

octopus

Tue, Dec 07 2021, 12:25 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Meaning? She's with another 5 babies, not crazy huge group.
What makes you think there are more germs at this babysitter that any other?
Aside from a private one at my house which isn't affordable.

No, it's not normal for your nine month old to be non stop sick, especially with chicken pox and coksackie. I'm sad with you because I know what it's like to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. I knew you wouldn't like my answer. But it's the honest truth. I don't know what it is, maybe your child has a weaker immune system, or the babysitter is not careful enough, or the other moms are sending sick babies, or all of the above but something is not working.

imaima

Tue, Dec 07 2021, 12:51 am

Did anyone else at this babysitter have chickenpox?
How come you don't know for sure that this was chickenpox and not something else?

I agree with those who say, have her home for a fee days symptom-free before sending her out again. She may look fine but her immune system must be really taxed after everything you have described.

amother

Molasses

Tue, Dec 07 2021, 1:33 am

My 3 year old gets sick super frequently also. And yes, it comes from being at a baby sitter. It’s so frustrating.

And yes, I remember during lockdown that was one good thing - except in the beginning when we had Covid.

amother

Pansy

Tue, Dec 07 2021, 1:52 am

I have the same thing with my 2.5 year old who for what's it is worth, I'm still nursing . Have you gotten her a throat culture ? For my son a lot of the symptoms that you describe ( eyes infection , ear infection ) ended up being symptoms of strep for my son . It took me a long time to figure out the pattern but now I know to immediately test him when he has any of these symptoms . I know 9 months is very young for strep but for my son it also started very young . I did some research and it's totally possible to occur in even very young children ...

tweety1

Tue, Dec 07 2021, 5:11 am

amother [ Pansy ] wrote:

My 3 month old had strep. Yes strep is possible even in infants