Please get bloodwork done. This was the case for a friends daughter and she turned out to have a serious illness. She is now recovered but her main symptom was falling ill a lot.

OP here - thank you for all the very good advice even the mold poster. I spent yesterday doing a very deep clean of the house, washing couch cushions, and cleaning out the windowsills from old crud. We do a deep clean once a month and then a regular clean weekly with a cleaner. I'm thinking I might start supplying the supplies for the cleaner and using our house vacuum.

I bought probiotics and vitamins for my son, his pediatrician is retiring, and so he's going to get a new one anyway.

I am replying to this PP. I know what a CBC is, but I'm not sure what to ask for with the other ones. Can anyone explain what this means? And yes, I did all vaccines but rotavirus because my son could not have live vaccines for the first year, I took Humira. I volunteer at my son's school and saw him PUT A LEGO PIECE in his mouth!!! Agh. I need to work more with him 1-1 about hygiene but don't want to give him anxiety.

CBC
Lymphocyte subset panel
IgM, igg, igA levels
Pneumococcal 23 panel ( do not skip this one)
Check titers to things like mmr and varicella assuming you did vaccines to see if they even worked. <---- yes we did vacccines, all except rotavirus.

Have your house tested.

Around this age we thought my DD kept getting a stomach bug. Turns out she was lactose intolerant. We cut dairy and switched to lactaid milk and the amount of stomach distress decreased greatly.

What does he do when he is home?

Maybe he really isn’t very sick and just wants to be home? If he doesn’t have a fever and is eating/drinking and not in bed, he is well enough to go to school

Anonymous wrote:This is definitely normal for a kid that didn't go to daycare. That said, our kids go to school sick.

It’s not. I have three kids that went to stayed home with me and are rarely sick. As in, they’ve maybe thrown up 1-2 times each from a bug, maybe a couple days total missed from school due to illness, and never had antibiotics or a sick visit to the doctor…and they are in middle and high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure the stomach bugs aren't some sort of food intolerance?

Yes, that needs to be ruled out.

Or anxiety. Anxiety in kids often manifests as GI symptoms

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all for the excellent suggestions - I do have pets, the house gets deep-cleaned once per month, but our carpets definitely need to be replaced. We don't mask at stores, but that's a good idea. I might try to start doing that. My son does have a very good social life, but getting sick every two weeks is really, really dragging me down. I've asked his doctor, and she said: "Kids get sick in September and get better sometime in May."

Absurd. Time for a new doctor.

+1 and most of the illnesses are not keeping kids or of school. As PPs are saying, runny nose and mild cough etc is common and drags on. A day of an ear infection, 2 days for strep like once a year. Not 40 days.

I do think that Covid set a new standard for what to keep your child home for and some families haven't really gone back on that. I know I end up feeling guilty sending my kids to school with a cold and that someone is giving me the side-eye! But I a lot of the 40 days is due to stomach issues, fever etc. then I agree with the others here that this really need to be investigated further. It's not normal.

Anonymous wrote:Not normal.

First- if you're keeping him home for every cough, are you sure you're not overreacting based on his history? Obviously that's not an answer with the stomach issues, but I would consider it for some of the lesser things.

The stomach issues could be food or environmental rather than illness. Are you having tests done each time to confirm bacterial or viral infection? If not, I'd look hard at the other possibilities.

If you're sure it's all illness, I'd talk to your doctor about possible immune issues. Not being able to fight off routine bugs at this point is concerning.

+1

Was wondering the same. Definitely am not saying that is what is happening, but make sure that isn’t the case.

Also, is it at all possible that he is exaggerating some of the less concrete symptoms? Like complaining of vague stomachache or headache or tiredness? One of my 3 kids is this way…I fell for it at first but had to get tougher on him as he got older. (He is in high school now and does not have any chronic medical conditions nor has he ever). I think he just liked staying home sometimes. Again, am NOT saying that is what is happening here or suggesting to ignore real illness.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not being in daycare delayed his immunity.

STFU. It is fake news.

Plenty of kids were not in daycare and aren't experiencing this. I'm so sorry, OP. It does seem beyond typical so I agree with other posters to do a little more medical testing. Otherwise suggestions from pp recommending resting reading time and considering IXL are great.

Anonymous wrote:Not normal.

First- if you're keeping him home for every cough, are you sure you're not overreacting based on his history? Obviously that's not an answer with the stomach issues, but I would consider it for some of the lesser things.

The stomach issues could be food or environmental rather than illness. Are you having tests done each time to confirm bacterial or viral infection? If not, I'd look hard at the other possibilities.

If you're sure it's all illness, I'd talk to your doctor about possible immune issues. Not being able to fight off routine bugs at this point is concerning.

You can figure that out thru a stool sample. You need a good Dr who would want to see if a couple of these GI infections are actually infections. We did this recently (other circumstances) but that made clear it was not Chrons/allergy/autoimmune.

My kid went to daycare. I have an autoimmune condition that has some (though not high) tendency to be inherited. Separately, my kid has cough-variant asthma cause by URIs, and continues to mask at school (as I do at work and anywhere else I am in shared air) out of preference not to get sick.

My kid has not missed anywhere near this much school. I agree that something is wrong.

The repeated mentions of GI symptoms make me wonder whether this kid has been scoped. Has he?

The non-water product that works on norovirus is called hypochlorous acid. You can get it in a sprayable liquid or in a gel that has consistency very similar to hand sanitizer, though with no alcohol smell. I carry one or the other--I have way more reason to avoid norovirus than I do to avoid most things killed by alcohol-based sanitizers.

My kids did not go to daycare. One of them absolutely never gets sick and one (the “sickly” one) missed 10 days this year with influenza and vomitng. 40 days is not normal and I think you should ask for a full work up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not being in daycare delayed his immunity.

Why do we always blame the mom? My kids never went to daycare and weren't sick that often! I agree with others..check with your pediatrician

'merica, Amiright?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He needs to wear a mask at school.

This. He needs some time to recover and so does OP. Wear a mask, teach him to wash his hands or use sanitizer whenever he can, and maybe ask for a referral to figure out what is going on.

I'm prepping for a cruise; my first and learned that hand sanitizer doesn't stop norovirus so OP, your son needs to wash a lot, not touch face/food unless hands are clean. Until you get the blood work results.