15 Month Old Constantly Sick

Try taking her to an ENT and have them look at her tonsiles and adnoids. Maybe she needs them taken out. They could be affecting everything. Best wishes

Questions to ask, allergians in the home (she might not be "allergic" to anything but allergians in the home are different) - try hepa filter in her room, changing filter in your a/c unit often or get one that is reusable and make sure you wash it off weekly. Anyone smoking around her? Still on bottle? laying down with a bottle can cause fluid to build up, does she like to lay in the tube and pretend to swim? My two y/o loves to "swim" in the tube so I have to make sure I clean her ears and wait until her hair is dry before she goes to bed. Think outside the box, I am sure you'll find the answer, good luck :)

First I would start taking her to a chiropractor to have her neck and back aligned. Most children under the age of two have chronic ear infections because their ear canals are so straight and have a tendency to collect fluid in them. Typically around the age of two they start to slope more and the collection happens less often.
One very important thing you can do is to eliminate all sugar from her diet. Most people don't realize how significant a role sugar plays in the health and well being of children. By eating too much sugar your body get's overloaded and cannot take of itself properly. Trying finding a good quality probiotic (in a gel cap) you can empty in her sippy cup with water and they can drink it this way. You want to stay away from juice, fruit snacks, and any other sweets. You may even need to remove fruit temporarily from her diet until she is doing better. You will be surprised at how much better she will do by truly limiting sugar or eliminating it from her diet for now. Also don't use artificial sugars either they can have the same effect in many cases.

First off, I'm so sorry for your stress and for your poor little one, and you! It is SO hard when kids are sick at any age, but especially as babies when they can't tell you what they're feeling. And I understand all too well about daycare. My kids were/are in daycare and I could never change that either, nor will it ever change in the future. You just have to do the best you can and try to ignore the lack of support some will give to that end.

As far as the illnesses, a couple of thoughts: first, have the tubes fallen out? I have heard that can happen for chronic ear infections kids, and the infections come back. Second, I strongly suggest giving her probiotics so she can build the good bacteria up and keep her digestive tract clean. You can buy a simple blend for kids (Jarro Dophilus makes a powder form for babies) and put it in her milk. It's tasteless and just a simple supplement for the immune system. My 5-year old had strep 4 times this year and is currently on a 45-day regimen of antibiotics to try to stave it off hopefully for good, and I've given her probiotics throughout most of the treatment. It's easier when they're a bit older since it's chewable and tasty now.

My last suggestion would be to see a chiropractor or a holistic doctor specializing in kids (or at least someone who works with them). A chiro can sometimes detect imbalances in a person that would be a factor contributing to different illnesses. I saw one once for chronic sinus infections, and since then, the frequency with which I get them has been GREATLY reduced. I hope you all get the peace you need and deserve. This is not easy! Keep us posted and hang in there, it will be okay!

I am so sorry to hear all the heartache you and your little one have been through. My son who is now three had similar issues. He got tubes placed in at nine months but illnesses still continued. His ENT tried all sorts of tests and sent us to top rank specialist. Nothing worked, as a last ditch efforts he removed the adenoids only, not the tonsils because his tonsils looked fine. But the ENT said that adenoids where huge for my kidos anatomy. Slowly afterwards when the inflammation went down my son responded well. We started to wean him off of his meds slowly and he has been doing great since. My sons adenoids were so big for him that all the junk that needed to drain was being held back by his adenoids which resulted in all sorts of ear infections, it would even plug his tubes. I hope this helps but keep trying different things. Our ENT was heaven sen,t he was patient and understanding and never gave up on my son. If I had not been happy with his care I would have gone elsewhere, but he was great. We did change pediatricains three times because they tended to blow our concerns off and I wasn't going to take that sitting but we still have the same ENT. Keep trying and don't give up, you are your sons only advocate and if you need to, arm yourself with online printouts and ask questions even if you think they are stupid questions. Ask for specialist with pediatric experience and always ask questions till you are satisfied with the answers. Sorry if this is so long but it hits close to home because I know what it was like and how frustrating it can be, keep your chin up and I hope this helps.

have you had her adenoids checked by an ENT?? my son went to an allergist for months and was treated for a "recurring sinus infection" but it never went away. we decided to take him to an ENT to have him checked out and she said right away that his problem was that that his adenoids were huge and needed to be removed. he also needed tubes to help drain his ears out. his tonsils are also inflamed, but in our area they don't do that surgery until they are older than 2 so we're waiting for that one. he had just turned one when he had the adenoids and tubes done. he still gets the common cold every once in awhile, but no where near what it was like before his adenoid surgery...it was amazing but we noticed an immediate difference in the way he slept. he used to snore constantly but slept great the night after the surgery was done.

good luck...this is just as tough on the parents cause i know from experience that you're not sleeping at night either! i'd say also that the food journal is a great idea. our son was allergic to eggs too which didnt help the sinus infection issues either cause we had no idea :)

I'm so sorry to hear that! I do have a few suggestions for you that I hope help.
First of all: contrary to popular belief/myth, antibiotics have NEVER been proven to be effective to treat ear infections. However, they HAVE been proven to increase the incidence of reoccurence. (Believe me--I wish I had known that w/ my first child!)

Secondly, if she's testing negative for all allergies & doesn't have any other red flags of them, then that may not be the cause (but you should still keep an eye on it & I think it's great that you've explored that path). You might want to switch to organic dairy & poultry if she's not already on it too since conventional dairy often contains high amounts of residue of antibiotics, which reduces how effective they are for your child when she really does need them.

Third: If it were me, I'd get her on regular probiotics IMMEDIATELY. They should be of high quality. There are two kinds that I'd start her on. One is a chewable or liquid that you can find in the refrigerated section of any good health food store. Another is specifically for inner ear support.

Fourth: I can not stress this enough! Start taking her a to a good chiropractor on a regular basis NOW. He or she will be able to guide you with how often she needs to be seen (it will probably be pretty frequent at first, maybe even a few times a week for 1-3 wks & then once every few weeks thereafter). www.icpa4kids.com (I think!) should be able to help you find a good doctor in your area but you can call (or ask your friends if they have any referrals) around & ask what kind of experience they have w/ kids.

Lastly, you can do some ear candling with her when she's sleeping (if she's a restful & somewhat deep sleeper). If you can't do this yet, then tuck it into your mental Roladex for when she gets older.

I hope that helps some & that she (and you guys!) starts to get some relief soon! NOT fun!

Have you been back to the ENT? If not, make sure you let them know. When my son got an ear infection after his tubes, I saw the pediatrician (who gave him ear drops) and also called the ENT. Our ENT said 1-2 ear infections after tubes is normal, especially after a bad cold/flu. But if we got to 3, we should make an appointment to come back. He said that sometimes when they are putting the tubes in, if there is an active ear infection, debris can be left inside the inner ear that would make him prone to continuing ear infections (he said they try to clean the ear out when they are putting the tubes in, but sometimes they don't get it all). But that they could go in an clean it out later if needed.

On a different line of thought - could you take a week off and stay home with her? This was/is a really bad winter for illnesses in general. Everyone at my daycare has had one illness after another, particularly in the infant room (the old kids already have some immunity and don't get sick as often). I took a week off of work in January so we could stay home and away from the daycare germs for a week. It made a big difference. I feel like it gave my son's immunity a chance to recover a bit, and he has been much better since then (maybe 2 colds in 2 months, whereas before I felt like you - it was one illness right after another).

I hope she is feeling better soon!

I agree about the food journal, maybe she's allergic to some type of food. Have them check her white blood cells and make sure her immune system is okay. It sounds like she has a weak immune system. I would give her immune supportive milkshake or drinks that is infant safe (I don't know enough about them to know if they're generally safe for babies or not).

First of all,poor baby. I would say to make sure you are giving her lots of probiotics. Yogurt is good. Yo baby by stonyfield farms is a good source. Unfortunately, it is her immune system. Hopefully,soon she will get better and stop getting sick. May sound silly but give her a bath when you get home to get rid of all she has been in contact with.. Good luck

HUGS! Like others, I would recommend supplements for the immune system (my son gets daily doses of probiotics, D3, fish oil and multivitamin - the first 3 are tasteless/odorless and mixed in his juice/milk) and trips to the chiropractor. When my son's 2nd ear infection didn't go away after antibiotics, we took him to the chiro three days in a row and it went away.

I would also look into pesticides on the foods that you're eating. Our friend's daughter was super-lethargic and sick every other week, starting around 20mos, lasting over a year - they finally connected it to pesticides on produce. They switched to all organic and she's been back to her healthy/happy/tireless self.

Good luck!!!!

I feel for you. My 15 month old hasn't been much better. We pulled him from daycare (not that's what you should do at all...i was actually bummed because we loved it.) He also has a ton of allergy issues - so we're trying to figure all of that out. Food journal advice below probably couldn't hurt. We also bought an air purifier for his bedroom...and i was told by the allergist to try to avoid the humidifier unless sick (it provides a great environment for dust mites.) Other than that, not much advice, but hang in there...I totally feel for you. My son has had a high fever all weekend... no other symptoms, tubes in a few weeks ago...and if he has an ear infection, I'm going to flip. Oh and that's OUT of day care... so that's not always the answer (although this is the first time he's had a virus since he was pulled out over a month ago...which is quite a record. (again, just info, no judgement!)

good luck

Keep a food /activity journal.

My son went through something similar. I was finally able to narrow it down to 2 possible foods. Pears and Peaches. The pears test triggered instant hives and sneezing. We gave him pears as a baby and they had always given him loose bms. We he went to table foods he wouldn't eat them. Turns out the daycare was serving pears every other week for lunch. He wouldn't eat the pears, but the juice would get on the other foods that he did eat. As soon as we removed pears and pear juice from his diet he was better and didn't have an ear infection for almost a year!