my 14 month old has been ill with many virus's since Nov 2006, then he caught chickenpox before xmas and now has a tummy bug . During all this he has been teething too as he has 16 teeth now, and that didnt he lp his health. He lost about 4lbs over that time and I know that he has not made that up as he is not well enough to recover before the next illness sets in. He is off his food and isnt walking yet, and is just a small baby,he was born at 4lbs 10oz at 36 weeks. Could this be the reason he has such a weak immune system , and is there anything I can do to boost his immunity? how long can he continue to be ill before it affects his physical development? he is happy and active most of the time.

My daughter is 4.5 years old, former 25 week preemie with a host of pulmonary and airway issues (she had a trach for upper airway obstruction for 3.5 years). My daugther was always sick, but we always had a reason, until recently. I finally got a specialists attention and they suggested some immunology testing for IgG, IgA, IgE, IgM, titers, C3 and C4. All of her Ig tests are normal, IgG is on the low end of normal. She has low titers to strep pneumo (for which kids are vaccinated with Prevnar) and tetanus. We are in the process of administering the Prevnar x2 and will then redraw titers. My girl is always on an antibiotic, she just can't kick anything, even if it starts viral.

She has just finished a prophylactic antibiotic and we had 4 completely healthy weeks (she too lost about 4 lbs in December during an extended bout of pneumonia that eventually landed her in the hospital, but has since gained it all back and then some).

It might be worthwhile to sit down and list all the infections you kiddo has had in the last 6 months or so, how long it's taken to rebound, treatments, etc. and then present it to your pediatrician and possibly inquire about immunology testing.

Good luck.
Jen