How do I stop my kids getting sick so often?

It’s natural to worry if your children keep picking up colds and tummy bugs at nursery or school. When you’ve got youngsters, it can seem like a cycle of back-to-back illness. Dr Jenna Macciochi, an immunologist and mum to two young boys, explains why it

CATCHING colds and tummy bugs is a normal part of childhood

But it’s understandable to worry when your kids get poorly. “That’s a normal anxious response of all parents,” said Dr Jenna Macciochi, an immunologist and university lecturer with 20 years’ experience of immune system research and mum to two young boys.

“And it’s perfectly normal to get a few bugs a year, even as an adult – about four to six mild, selflimiting infections is very normal.

“For children it’s a bit more. It’s normal for your child to get maybe eight to 10 infections a year. Nothing serious – we’re talking colds, flu or a sore throat, maybe a tummy bug.”

Children’s immune systems are still developing, she added. “We’re born with an immature immune system – it needs to kind of learn and develop as we age. For kids, particularly pre-school age kids, this process is really still actively happening.”

As kids tend to spend a lot of time in close quarters together, they have greater exposure to bugs. This doesn’t mean we need to keep them cooped up at home, but it’s helpful to accept that it is part and parcel of parenting.

That said, there are things that can help. “No matter how many times I tell my kids about hygiene, they’re never the best hand-washers,” said Macciochi – and this is another big reason why kids get sick so much.

Good hand hygiene is one of the most important things we can do to reduce the spread of infections, so encourage your youngsters to be thorough, consistent hand-washers every time they use the bathroom and before preparing or eating food.

Macciochi says that while we often talk about “boosting” immune systems, we’re better off understanding how we can help set kids up for long-term healthy immune function.

And she says there is a “window of opportunity” that occurs mainly in the first three years of life (“it trails off after age five”) where our diets can make a big difference. During this period, our gut microbiome (the eco-system of microorganisms) is still developing and, Macciochi says, this “is really a big educator of our immune system”.

It’s not always easy with kids

– who Macciochi acknowledges can be “intrinsically fussy and stubborn eaters” – but a balanced diet can “feed” the microbiome and help make it as diverse and healthy as possible. “For kids, I don’t think you need to think about probiotics and fermented foods so much, but try to give them a varied diet with as much fibre as possible,” she said. “Often people think about fibre as being like All-Bran or just cereals, but fibre is mostly fruit and vegetables, beans, pulses and legumes. “Think about diversity of plants as much as possible, as that’s so important for the gut and will help them support immune development in a healthy way.” We can support immune development further, says Macciochi, by encouraging kids to roam in nature too. “The environment we live in does play a part in our microbiome,” she said. “So I would recommend trying to get your kids out into green spaces. “Let them play, get dirty, breathe in fresh air – and then wash their hands before eating of course.

“Get them into parks and green space as much as possible.”

Macciochi suggests “avoiding antibiotics unless they are strongly suggested by the doctor. But I think most GPs nowadays know antibiotics should only be reserved for bacterial infections that really need them.”

Antibiotic overuse is a serious global health concern, as bugs can become resistant to them. They can be bad news for the gut microbiome too, damaging “good” bacteria as well as targeting the nasties. Your pharmacist or GP will be able to advise on medicines for kids and soothing symptoms.

Some kids will naturally fare worse than others with coughs and sniffles, but you can always get things checked out with the doctor if you’re concerned.

Macciochi said: “If you did have a child that was tending to really get sick a lot, it might be a red flag for a problem that hasn’t been discovered yet.

“This could be vitamin deficiency, or an immune deficiency – some people are born with part of the immune system not working properly due to a genetic abnormality but it often doesn’t get picked up for a while.”