MORE ABOUT FREQUENT ILLNESSES IN CHILDREN
Signs and symptoms
The first step is to decide whether a child is actually ill more often than most other children. Some reports show that the average, normal child between one and 12 years of age may have as many as eight illnesses per year. Other figures show that a first child will seldom be ill during the first year; then the child will have increasingly frequent sicknesses as he or she begins to play with other children and attend school. An infant with older brothers or sisters will be sick the first year as often as the other children are. To decide if your child is ill too frequently, compare the number and seriousness of the illnesses with those of the child’s brothers, sisters, and friends.
Home care
How much your child is exposed to illnesses depends somewhat on you and your circumstances. Over-protectiveness and isolation from other children can lead to emotional problems that could be harder to treat than physical problems. On the other hand, overexposure to other children who may be ill can lead to almost constant minor illnesses, especially in very young children. Keep older children who are ill – yours and the neighbor’s-away from infants. Isolate any ill child from your other children as much as is practical.
Precautions
• Frequent illnesses that could interfere with normal growth must be investigated. If the child stops gaining height or weight or begins to lose weight, see your doctor.
• Repeated pneumonia in the same part of a lung must be evaluated by your doctor.
• Frequent lower respiratory infections with a prolonged cough can be a sign of cystic fibrosis or asthma.
Medical treatment
Your doctor will help you decide whether your child is ill more often than others of the same age and under similar circumstances. If so, your doctor will seek the cause through a variety of tests. These tests may include a sweat test, measurement of immune globulins, blood count, sedimentation rate, chest X ray, sinus X rays, nose and throat cultures, and allergy tests. You and your child may be referred to an ear, nose, and throat specialist, to an allergist, or to a medical center for thorough investigation of all immune mechanisms.
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