i have a daughter who just turned 2 and she is constantly sick and i just need some advice from other mommies out there. Starting back to the very beginning - she was only about 4 months when she got her first ear infection. She had many more after that and had tubes put in her ears in April of 2010. less than 4 months later the tube in her left ear fell out and she had a severe infection in her ear. From age 6 months and on she was also having one sinus infection and cold after another. She was in the hospital for 2 weeks for pneumonia. She would be put on medication for sometimes as long as 21 days. 2 weeks after stopping the medication she would be sick again. Her ENT that had previously did her ear surgery moved out of town so we were sent to another who suggested that she have her adenoids removed. Her pediatrician recommended that her tonsils be taken out but her ENT will not remove them because she is under the age of 3 (unless its an emergency – which he feels its not). She had adenoids removed and another tube put in her left ear. Her adenoids were blocking 70% of her breathing area and doc was sure this would help. Within 1 week she was sick AGAIN. i felt so hopeless and unsure what to do that i took her to another pediatrician for a second opinion. Her current pediatrician has ran some blood test on her. One test was an (IGG 23 panel) 18 out of the 23 levels were LOW, so her immune system is suppressed. I was starting to feel like we were getting some results and things would start moving along and maybe we would find out what was going on. She is now sick again.I took her to the emergency room last night for a temp of 102.8 that she has had for 3 days, cough, congestion, severe runny nose and so on, they did x-ray to check for pneumonia (came back negative) and the er says its just viral. they gave her a steroid to help with inflammation. She was just sick 2 weeks ago and put on 2 antibiotics and a steroid. Im back to feeling helpless and unsure what to do. I just feel like her new doctor is not doing much either. My child is constantly sick and her immune system is suppressed. I just feel like there is more that he could be doing for her.. Her cough is horrible and she is miserable.. we have also been to an allergist and nothing came back with those - i give her a vitamin c chewy as well as a vitamin gummy.Any advice ( sorry its a long one ) thanks for any help & advice!
i decided to take her back to her old ped because i just felt like this new one wasnt taking this as serious as he should be. turns out she has a horrible sinus infection and her tube has fallen out of her right ear and he ear is just draining. She is sending her to an immunologist at a childrens hospital as well as an ent at the hospital as well. she is on clyndomycin 3 times a day for 14 days until they can get her scheduled. im hoping and praying we get some answers.i broke down and started crying at the doctors because i just feel helpless and horrible because i cant make things better for her. thank you very much to everyone who responded.. it really means a lot. wish us luck. THANKS again :)
My son used to get sick a lot and he has not been sick since I started giving him probiotics. I just go to the health food store and get chewable ones and give him one each morning.
You could try taking her to a chiropractor. Sounds strange but all my kids and I go and after spending years with them passing colds ect. back and forth we started going and 1 of the 4 has been on antibiotics once in the past 2 years. Considering I have 1 in public school, provide childcare from home, and the kids are involved in a variety of activities I really think it's made all the difference.
I could have written this post... Constant congestion, sinus & ear infections every 6-8 weeks, ear tubes that didn't solve the problem, nebulizer breathing treatments for brochiolitis, an allergy blood test that came back negative... Then she started to have allergic reactions to antibiotics due to over-exposure, which resulted in a couple runs to the Children's ER--That was scary... She had a pediatrician, ENT, allergist & immunologist, a referral to a pediatric cardiologist for a heart test (her heart is fine), they wanted to test her for Cystic Fibrosis... All of this between 9 months of age to 27 months (basically from when she started on gormula until we got a diagnosis). It was a nightmare. It stressed me out, stressed my marriage, not to mention the toll on our child.
Turns out she is allergic to cows milk protein. The allergy blood test didn't catch it; she had to do a skin prick allergy test to get diagnosed with the milk allergy. Once I cut all forms of cows milk out of her diet, she improved 100%. And i mean entirely out of her diet. At first, i was just going to cut out direct forms of cow diary, but she was still getting sinus infections. So I had to start reading ingredient labels; cut out all foods made with milk, butter, casein or whey. After she stopping being exposed to cows milk, we went to the pediatrician 3 times the next year--twice because bath water got in her ears and once for eye drops due to pink eye at school.
We also started salt water sinus rinses. Got the pediatric size Neil Med sinus rinse and salt packets. That worked better than all the singuliar and zyrtec medication.
I did not go the soy route. Instead her diet includes goat milk and goat yogurt/cheese/butter. She drinks between 8-16oz each day of a goat yogurt "smoothie" (basically milk diluted yogurt, put through a strainer to remove the big fruit chunks and seeds). I swear that yogurt keeps her healthy! I bought a bread machine and make goat milk bread...
Try not to feel depressed or overwhelmed. Pursue the possibility of a food allergy. Message me if you have follow-up questions! Hugs to you!!
From the amount of infections and an abnormal immuneglobulin panel, I would definitely recommend that she be seen by an Allergy and Immunology specialist, preferably at your closest children's hospital, to have them do a full evaluation and decide if this is related to food allergies, or if she has some kind of immune disease, and in the meantime, if she is in daycare, I would take her out if at all possible to keep her from being exposed to a million different things.
This is probably not an option either at her young age, but when I was 13yrs old I had sinus surgery. My deviated septum was causing similar problems to what your daughter has (sinus infections, ear infections, chronic bronchitis that would morph into pneumonia) - after the sugery it all went away! I've only had about 5 ear infections in 20 years, and a cold is just a cold, no more sinus infections, or respiratory problems caused by the sniffles. I would ask if they can check her septum (sometimes deviated by breaking the nose during birth) and if this is the problem they could fix it??? I will say though, that the recovery from that surgery was much more involved than having tubes put in the ears!
My first thought is allergies since what you described is what happens with untreated allergies in my family. Did you have the allergy test done while at the allergist? Typically, they don't test that young. If you did have the test and it is not allergies I would suspect it is sensitivity to environmental factors (mold in the home, chemicals in the home...cleaning products, personal care products, etc.).
my son has IGA Deficiency and the allergist was the one that found it and she sent us to a immunologist and he keeps a close eye on him we have had to make some adjustments to the things that he does like when it is cold outside he is not allowed to go out and play and when he is sick we have to keep him even if he doesnt have fever and he has to wear a medic alert bracelet because if he has to have any blood products he has to have IGA deficient blood products or triple washed blood products or he could have a allergic reaction to the blood products and go into anaphalatic shock..also if she is having trouble with a cough long term you might want to ask to have her put on a nebulizer it seems to help control the cough..i would take her to the immunologist and tell them what is going on and let them run tests because it could be a whole host of things..good luck to you if you have questions feel free to private message me
since my daughter was a year old she had on going throat infections, ear aches and so forth... there would be a period of 3 months and she'd be on 4 courses of antibiotics... than last year we removed her adenoids and tonsils. and she is on zyrtec to help her with her allergies. touch wood, she hasnt been sick since :)
Build up her immune system. If it is allergies building the immune system will help as well. The number one thing that comes to mind is a probiotic. Does your baby like yogurt? In my humble opinion everyone should take probiotics (I take one daily), but especially if you are on antibiotics or have frequent ear infections. If you don't know about probiotics do a google search, along with ear infections and/or immunity. A prebiotic would be a good idea as well. And definitely vitamin supplements, but a really good one. Not just one you buy in the grocery store. If you would like recommendations just email me. I sell supplements and I can offer you a look online.
I truly believe supplements can help you.
is your daughter in daycare? my son was so sick in daycare. he had ear infections constantly.he had tubes in at 6 months adnoids out at 9 months (he was big enough not old enough ) had pneumonia. still got ear infections. his ent said daycare had to end or it would just get worse. his immune system couldn't handle all the germs. so i had to get a different job in the evenings so he could be home all day with me and at night with his dad. he hasn't had an ear infection since. he did have his tonsils out at 3 but they were just swollen and since he had a history his ent just took em. he is 8 now and all the sickness happened the first year of his life. maybe its daycare if she goes if not i don't know thats just my story hope maybe it helps
My son had the same problem and food allergies was to blame. You can have her tested for that or you can cut out dairy for starters and see if that helps. You can also give her supplements to boost her immune system. Many of those come in liquid. I did ear cones with my kids with ear infections but I have to say that you have to be very very careful with little ones so you don't burn them. I was used to it so I was able to do this. I wish you the best.
my thought is a food allergy. everything you've described matches what i went through with my son, minus the surgery. i was going nuts. if another person said 'just a virus' to me i was going to start smacking people! starting with a week that he was not sick i started a food journal and wrote down everything that he ate, then when he did get sick i looked back for 2-3 days to see if i could see anything. after a month, i noticed that there was one food that his body seemed a bit sensitive too. Pears. i went to the allergist. Hubby thought i was nuts. As soon as they put the test for pears to his arm he broke out in hives! We removed pears and pear juice from his diet and he's only had 3 ear infections in the last 7y.
Just this summer my daughter had 3 ear infections in 6w. The only new food was watermellon. As soon as we took that away her ear infections stopped.
seek out a hemotology oncologist ... my son had pediatric neutropenia (spelling) we saw tons of doctors went so far as to have him tested for HIV, childhood cancers, cystic fybrosis ... keep trying, do not give up and ask your doc for a hemetologist (blood doctor) and let them run further tests.
Wow i had the same problem growing up from a baby till i was 18 i had tons of surgery and tonsils tooken out skin cutted from behind my ear tubes none of those things will work i wouldn't do it thats something that has to go away natural my ear infections didn't go away till i was 18 and boy i suffered alot when you give her a bath buy ear plugs from the store water is the main problem even when you go swimming in the summer keep her ears plugged.
WATER in the ear that causes it big time with ear infections and the cold from outside make sure she covers her ears when its cold outside. Putting a warm cloth alot on the ear will drain whatever is in her ear bothering her. Warm the cloth everytime it gets cold which is alot. That help me out alot and give her ibuprofen its the best for kids. With her being sick keep her warm well depends if its cold or not where your at. The cold will keep her sick that happend with my son when he was around that age keep it warm temperture in your house during the winter times. Have her eat alot of warm stuff warm milk and give her medicine for the syptomes shes having trust me it works! I had these problems growing up with my ears and the sickness with my son. Keep doing this intill you notice that shes feeling better. If you need any other advise you can drop me a message anytime growing as a kid i learn sooo many things to cure stuff and it works doctors don't really do anything their to worried about getting paid. Getting advise from others is the best thing you did i hope you try what i said trust me you won't go wrong. Childrens gummey chewable vitamins are the best that should boost her immune system
I have a severe gluten intolerance and since most of the immune system is located in the digestive tract, my immune system was very supressed and I was always sick. Gluten intolerance is not a food allergy. Has she been tested for celiacs? You can order a test to take at home at www.enterolab.com This is how I figured out about my intolerance. Also, does the vitamin gummy you give your daughter have lots of vitamin D in it? Vitamin D is great for fighting off illness. Also, have you considered a supplement with echincea? Such as Lil critters gummies immune booster with echinacea? Echinacea is a great natural thing that seems to help fight off and prevent viruses. I also recommend yogurt or a probiotic supplement. My son eats one yogurt everyday and it helps regulate his digestive tract plus its a good immune booster.
Your doctor needs to check her Ig levels. This is the antibodies in your body that fight infections. She also needs to be checked for pueumo titers. (not sure if I saying it right) Our bodies have 5 IG antibodies to fight infections; IGA is for the ears,throat, mouth, lungs; IGE is the severe allergies; IGG is mostly in your gut where the majority of our immune system is; IGD never had this one tested for; and IGM . This site explains it better http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody. My daughter has dealt with these issues and we see an immunologist. An immunologist can also check to see if allergies are involved. Dr Wishah in Westlake has been a God send to me. Also check idf.com.
Hello, I understand 110% I went through a very similiar situation. Except in addition to the adnoid surgery my son was on Ominicef post op and ended up with a severe allergic reaction on day 8 of a 10 day course. He ended up in the hospital for 2 days the reaction was so bad and ended up as serum sickness where he was medicated for 3 months after due to the continual hives. The immunologist/allergist did CT scans of his sinuses and his entire face was basically filled with snot. 21 days of antibiotics to clear it along with steroids to reduce the inflamation. His labs showed he had almost no pnuemococcal immunity. So I had to pull him from day care, find a home provider with only 2 other kids (I'm a single mom so staying home with him was not an option) and they gave him a pnuemonia vaccine. He just returned to a small day care in June. He has been sick on and off this winter, but nothing compared to last year. He is now 4. He is due to have his blood drawn again to see if his body is maintaining the immunity. Good luck and don't give up. If you haven't seen an immunologist/allergist yet I would highly suggest it.
Have you had her tested for allergies? Sometimes severe allergies turn into secondary problems - constant colds, sinus infections, etc. Food allergies can cause these problems as well as pollens and molds. A boy I know turned out to have allergies to wheat which made his sick all the time.
