What to Do About Recurring Illnesses

Does it feel like your child is always sick? Here’s why they might be prone to repeated bouts of colds, ear infections, strep throat, pneumonia, or other ailments—and what you can about these recurring illnesses. 

If you're a parent, you might notice that your child gets sick over and over again. Sometimes it might feel like they're sick every two weeks. That's because kids are exposed to a lot of viruses and bacteria—often for the very first time—which makes them vulnerable to catching everything.

It's normal for young kids to have quite a few colds, ear infections, or gastrointestinal upsets in a single year. "Children have an immature immune system," says David W. Kimberlin, MD, a pediatric infectious

 disease specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "The number of normal sicknesses a child can have is astonishing."

Even so, you might wonder why your kid get four ear infections, while the neighbor's toddler skates by with just one. Why does one child vomit regularly, while another barely spits up? We asked the experts to help us explore the mystery.

Here's what we found out about seven common childhood conditions, and why some kids seemingly always get sick with recurring illness.

Common Colds

The common cold can be a near-constant companion for young children, with some studies indicating that kids can catch as many as eight colds per year.1 It's no wonder then that it can feel like little ones have a never-ending runny nose during the cool-weather months!

Although a cold is usually harmless, it's considered a viral infection of the nose and the throat. Symptoms include cough, congestion, runny nose, and sneezing. Colds are spread easily in school and daycare settings, and it's possible to catch one through direct or indirect contact with infected individuals.2

What's Normal

Five or six colds per year is average; eight to 10 is still in the normal range.

What's Not Normal

A cold with a fever that lasts more than five days; difficulty breathing (beyond a stuffy nose); a cold that lasts more than 10 days.

Why Your Child Might Be Vulnerable to Colds

There are more than 100 viruses that trigger the common cold, so many young kids fall prey to continual rounds of sniffles, sneezes, and coughs, says Preeti Jaggi, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Plus, if your child is in daycare, they'll be exposed to more of these nasty cold bugs at an earlier age.

Some cold-prone kids may also have a genetically active immune system that reacts more strongly to viruses. Still others may have an immune