Toddler Sick Since Thanksgiving!! Help!!

It sounds like her immune system is depressed, so everything she is exposed to, she gets. She has no ability to fight anything off. I work in immune system support and nutritional approaches to it, and I can tell you we see this all the time. In fact, I was like your child, and one of my colleagues had a child like this for the bette part of a year - sick for 3 weeks, well for 1, sick for 3, etc. We all took proactive steps to remedy the situation, but I do understand how incredibly frustrating it is. We all did what you are doing - doctor visits, few if any answers, and mostly a whole bunch of copayments and meds to help with symptoms but of course not with the causes.

Is the long-lasting cough a deep bronchial one, from her chest (with or without coughing up phlegm) vs. a dry cough in the throat? Is it worse at night? That sounds like bronchitis - I used to get that all the time - every cold went into the chest and stayed there for 3-4 weeks. This usually has nothing to do with asthma. It made it impossible to really sleep and get any rest. If it's more in the throat, it could be related to other things including post nasal drip from her nose and sinuses (which may or may not be infected, causing the temp). I'm assuming they have ruled out strep.

The vomiting, with or without diarrhea, can also be related to her swallowing too much mucus or phlegm, or saliva from teething - but the teething doesn't explain the cough nor does it explain a temp of 103.3.

This does occur in daycare kids but it also occurs in at-home kids - it's impossible to isolate them from germs. In fact, many germs and viruses flourish in the dry air of heated homes in winter. She doesn't have the ability to fight this off so unless you do something about that, I think she will continue to pick up the next thing and the next. When you add in your soon-to-be exhausted self and a new baby, that's obviously a concern. Let me know if I can help more.

You know 103.3 is not teething, right? Something else is going on and needs to be dealt with right away.

With a fever as high as 103.3 I strongly hope you have already gone BACK immediately to the doctor for a flu test, even if she had her flu shot. Flu is going around viciously right now, and young children are much more susceptible to serious consequences and hospitalizations. She may need an antiviral medication if it's flu -- and you need her to be treated if it's flu, to reduce the chance that you at eight months pregnant end up with flu as well.

Once you rule the flu in or out for this immediate fever -- I too wondered, like someone in a post below: Is she in daycare? Kids in daycare of course pick up a lot of bugs, but her immune system may be so weakened right now that every little thing is affecting her more than it would most kids. I might consider taking her out ASAP so she can rest and rebuild some strength, and not be actively ill when your new baby comes home. If she is not in day care: I would ask to meet with the pediatrician without your daughter there, and ask to have all her records since Thanksgiving out for review, so you and the doctor can discuss what's going on in the big picture. She may need testing to see if she has a generally low immune system. There are precautions youll need to take if that's the case.

looks like she is catching stuff back to back. When I know we really need to focus on getting well and staying well I get more strict on our diet. I notice that we went 8 months without illness when we switched to a plant based diet.
In any case, I'd suggest zero sugar (lowers immunity)
increase fruits and veg. significantly.
get rid of processed foods, white flower, boxed breakfast cereals, and cows milk.
(also, being in a medical family, I know the protocol for fevers. They don't want to see the kid in the doctors office if its under 104 and has not gone on past three days)

Well, you need to continue seeing the doctor. Are you expressing your full concern to the doctor or going in piece meal? She has a cough, she has a fever, she has diarrhea etc? You need to outline the problems you have had so far and go to the doctor telling him/her this whole journey from the beginning. They need to see the whole picture.

If there are still no answers, or you feel you Dr is not giving this issue the priority it deserves, go to the ER. They may admit her and she may get what you and she needs to feel better.

What you have to do is have a written list of what you have gone through so far so they know where to look for info and what still needs to be done.

It's your job to "torture" her with doctors visits. The real torture is that she is not well yet.

So many possibilities.
Get back to basics. Lots of rest, fresh air, simple diet.
Keep a diary of everything she eats and drinks.

Could be allergies, infection, asthma.

Our daughter had a coughing asthma. Took them forever to diagnose it.
Get an electric air filter for her bedroom. Make sure you vacuum as often as possible. Really cold air can help if the coughing leads to vomiting.

Coud be she is allergic to milk, gluten....pet dander, smoking, take a look around.

Could be fluid in her ears.

Reflux? That also could be causing issues. Allergies?

Sounds like gastrointestinal virus, then allergies, then post-nasal drip induced vomiting, continued allergies and post-nasal drip induced upper respiratory congestion and cough, and now she's teething and has a virus.

I recommend that you ask the doctor about giving her once a day Claritin to see if that helps. I'm willing to bet that her allergies are the issue. Also, change the filter in your furnace to a better one.

I completely feel where you are coming from. Our son is 2.5 and he started daycare back in September and since day 3 of being there, he had been sick with something. I think he had 2 or 3 weeks where he wasn't sick with something, either colds, ear infection, sinus infection, the flu and several days of high fevers. I've missed more work than I ever have and like your situation, he had never been sick before this. He had chest xrays taken to make sure he didn't have pneumonia, which came back negative. He's now currently on an antibiotic because he's had a constant runny nose, sometimes clear, sometimes green. He's also has a cough, usually only while sleeping since October. We are meeting with an allergy doctor in a couple of days to see if maybe he has allergies. We ended up taking him out of day care, his last day was Dec. 18 and he's had one cold since then. He is still around other kids 2 days a week, but I think it really helped getting him out of that envirement. His little body needed some sort of a break and he just wasn't getting that there. Good luck!!

Regardless of if she is in daycare or not she will be exposed to germs if you are taking her out in public which you cannot avoid. My son was in daycare and had a spell around the 18 month to 2 year mark where he was sick with ear infections and stuff. Once he turned 3 he has not been sick other than with upper respitory colds. He gets stomach bug or cold now and again but he is not too bad, he is almost 9. What we do in our family is wash our hands and take our shoes off at the door after we are out (espically during cold and flu season). When we get home from daycare, work, school etc we change our cloths, wash our hands well. I also carry hand sanitizer around, or even just a plain babywipe to wipe hands off is good. We just welcomed a baby girl into our family in October and we have not managed to get her sick yet. Other than a slight cold around Thanksgiving we have been okay. We have been out and about also. Hang in there it will get easier as they get older and the immune system is more devolped.