9 month old - Infections

[mats01_99]

Hi all. My 9 month old has been in the creche since early Jan. In that time she has picked up a sinus infection for which she was prescribed antibiotics, within ten days of this passing she picked up an ear & throat infection with a touch of conjunctivitus for good measure thrown in. She was prescribed Augmentin antibiotics for this. She finished the course of antibiotics last Tuesday and now it looks like she's picked up another. Coughing an awful lot during the night, temperature registered 99.4 this morning, symptoms very similar to the last set of infections. My question is, how many times can a baby be prescribed antibiotics? and is it normal for them to be so prone to infection?

[redcrx]

Im not sure how many times a baby can be prescribed antibiotics but of course those things are no good for the common cold which she may have.
I have every sympathy for you and your little one, my son picked up numerous 'nursery bugs' and doesnt even go to nursery. He had 'slapped cheek' 'hand, foot and mouth' and lots of coughs and colds. Not once was he prescribed anything (other than being told to give him calpol and ibuprofen), even after 4 days of a temp between 103-105.
There are a lot of bugs around this winter as there have not been any long cold spells to kill them off. After having one infection the immune system is low as well, thus making it easier to pick up something else.
Is she teething? My son has been known to get cold like symptons, runny eyes, earache and slightly raised temp when his teeth are coming.

[mats01_99]

Thanks for replying redcrx. She is teething so this is probably part of the problem. It has been hard to tell as she wasn't sick at all for the first 7 months, and then the teeth started to arrive just as she started the creche and this coupled with her Mummy going back to work has knocked her sideways.

[redcrx]

My son was same.Fine for first year and then got every bug that was going around. I work from home so hes not surrounded by kids his age but he still picks things up.

Dont know if this may help or you may already have been told but when my son has these fevers we were told that he could have 3 doses of calpol and 3 of ibuprofen a day and that because they are different base drugs (ibu and parecetomol) they can both be used. We alternate them through the day to get best coverage. ie. calpol 12am ibu 4am, calpol 8am, ibu 12pm, calpol 4pm, ibu 8pm. We find this really helps keep his temp down and helps with whatevers aching.

[spudqueen]

It's perfectly normal for children to pick up anything doing the rounds, especially when in a new environment. When my children were at primary school we moved 200 miles away and for the first term there was one of them off at least one day every week. It will all settle down soon.

[winny]

Redcrx quite correct they will get everything and anything for few months then seem to be ok. Teething wont help as their defense low anyway. Provoiding it is not the same re occuring problem I wouldnt worry. Make sure the doctor knows how many anti biotics thay have had and they will tell you when to worry.
Regarding the paracetamol/Ibuprofen You can give upto 4 paracetamol and 3 ibuprofen doses in 24 hours.
Dont forget to count any you give in the night in the 24 hours. Providing there is at least 4 hours between paracetamol doses and 6 hours between ibuprofen doses.
I usually give both at once in the beginning to really hit it and then stagger them to keep levels up similar to redcrx. Write the times on a piece of paper ensuring the correct gaps and it is less confusing. This method is quite safe to do for 48 hours when the child should be responding or at the doc anyway.
Be careful not to give cough mixture containing either drug as well it is an easy mistake to make. (17 years in pharmacy has proved that!)
Hope that a help.

[redcrx]

winnys reply reminded me. I always keep a piece of paper to hand and i keep a record of what medicine Ive given and at what time (at 3am when no-ones slept its easy to confuse the two bottles) and also i write down all the temperatures as i take them. Then if i do need to see the GP i have it all down on paper.

[AniseedTwist]

I've nothing new to add to what everyone else has said, but this sounds just like us too. My 1 year old's had one thing after another (colds, ear infections, temperatures, and most recently chicken pox) since she was six months old, so it's been a busy winter for her! She seems to catch something new whenever she mixes with other children.

We haven't been to any playgroups for a few weeks and she's been very healthy and the happiest she's been for ages, so it's kind of tempting to just keep her away from other kids... But that's a bit sad for her, so we'll probably go back next week. It's a dilemma really; healthy energetic baby or sociable but sickly baby?!

Throughout all the bugs the only time we were prescribed antibiotics was when she had a 'piller-box red' ear infection. I think it depends on the doctor and and varies ever such a lot depending on how they feel about prescribing them. It's best to talk it over with them if you're concerned.

[zingara]

Hi our daughter of 16mths began nursery when 6mths old. 3 hours of being there we were admitting her to hospital with a fever that we couldn't control, since that day every 2 weeks she is ill., with 5 visits to the hospital and 3 actual admissions. (1 child in the nursery has had over 20 admissions ) I have asked the nursery to be more vigillant with their cleanliness ie not allowing parents into baby rooms with shoes, suggesting that the carpets are hoovered and toys are cleaned more regular. After discussion with my doctor we Have decided to change our daughter's day care providers in the hope that it may make a difference to her health. My doctor had his child at the same nursery and experienced the same problems as us, he then changed nursery and his child was never poorly again. I'm not suggesting you change your care provider, we just felt we had to try something to help our little girl. Anyway, I'm sorry this doesn't answer your question but our doctor was concerned about the amount of antibiotics our daughter has been prescribed, much of the medical input has been out of hours. I think some doctors give medicine 'just in case' but how do we know when to give it or not. We even came away with ventolin and a spacer unit 1 day! I hope your little one is soon well and virus free.