somebody told me this about preemies... wondering if it's true...

[Llyra]

Somebody I know told me recently that they saw an article that mentioned that children who were low-birth-weight babies (whether preemie or otherwise) may have lifelong reduced immune function. I'm wondering if anybody knows anything about this-- I'm not finding anything googling around, but then again, I haven't been all that persistent.

My DD2 was 4 1/2 pounds, which isn't very low-birth-weight, but is still small. She was born at 36 weeks 6 days, but she was also a twin-- Twin A, so she had her brother on top of her.

Anyway, her immune system is a trainwreck. Seriously-- this kids catches EVERYTHING that comes her way. Say we get a cold-- the rest of us get a sniffle, maybe some coughing, maybe DS gets a little fever. DD2 though will be laid out for ten days miserable. Or stomach bugs-- I might feel queasy for half a day, the other kids might throw up a few times and have some diarrhea. DD2 barfs her brains out for three days, and then has two weeks of diarrhea, gets dehydrated, etc. We all had flu this year-- guess what? DD2's ran to pneumonia, a marvelous antibiotic-resistant pneumonia that landed her in the hospital, which of course then led to a solid month of antibiotic-related diarrhea and a massive yeast infestation.

She's had all kinds of tests and bloodwork. I've been assured by multiple medical professionals that there's nothing WRONG with her. She just gets sick a lot. She has no developmental problems, or anything like that either. I suspect sometimes that she's gifted, actually. No allergies, either, and no reason to suspect any.

So I'm really wondering if there's any truth to this idea that it might be because of her low birthweight. My other two kids were both average sized babies-- DS was just short of seven pounds (also born three weeks early), and DD2 was 7 1/2 pounds, born at term.

I had a rock-solid immune system as a child-- my mom says I never caught ANYTHING the other kids had. But then again, I also now have a chronic autoimmune disease, so who knows?

And in the meantime, how do I help my poor DD2? She's my best eater, too. Her diet is fantastic. Are there supplements I can give her, for example, that might help her resist a few of these infections? I'm dreading next winter...

[sapphire_chan]

I read somewhere that believing you have a good immune system actually strengthens it. So whatever supplements you give her tell her that it's to help her body be better at not getting sick.

[Bokonon]

I believe it. I was 37.5 weeks but only 4 pounds, and am fairly healthy but have always gotten lots of colds. My kids were both preemies, 3 and 4 pounds, and get sick a lot, but (knock on wood) never anything serious.

[sbgrace]

That's interesting!

My twin A was officially IUGR. He was 5 lb 4.5 ounces at 38 weeks and his twin brother was 6 lb 9 oz.

Twin B (the larger) is my immune system guy.
Twin A has major allergy issues so I'd consider that a faulty immune system and he was that way from birth literally. But immune system/illness wise he's been pretty typical and much better than his twin.

[KimberlyD0]

Well I've deffinitly heard it about preemies. Especially in the first few years. See it too with some of my friends LO.

It wouldn't suprise me if low birth weight in general can effect it.

[MaryMarg]

Haven't read anything to support this, but know that DD born at 33 weeks (and weighing 4-13) has always gotten sick more than I think she should based on her great diet and good preemie birth weight. It is really frustrating. We use probiotics and see a homeopath to help her overall. I totally agree with PP RE believing things will help. We have begun focusing on the power of our own beliefs in the last few years and have been amazed at the results. Best wishes...

[momofmine]

You say she has no allergies, but I think that sometimes certain things, if we are sensitive to them, can make us more vulnerable to getting sick, because it's sort of like the full bucket theory. So I believe that someone can have an intolerance or sensitivity and, while it doesn't manifest as a typical allergy, it weakens our system anyway.

For example, I test positive as being allergic to dairy, on both traditional and non-traditional allergy tests. I can eat some dairy, and I don't get symptoms when I eat a little bit. But if I were to eat dairy every day, or eat a lot of it, I would get a full-blown sinus infection. And sometimes even if I just eat osme, I will wake up the next morning with the beginning of pain in my ear, sinus pressure, etc. (I don't eat it much but I am not super careful to avoid it.) And when I was a teenager, I got repeated strep throat, literally like ten or more times in less than a year, which finally culminated in removing my tonsils which did...absolutely nothing! I still kept getting strep and getting sick. Then I was tested for allergies, and I showed being allergic to cats, mold, and dairy. My room was in the basement, and we had a cat, and I ate dairy. When I removed the allergens (mostly just removing the dairy, because there were only limited things I could do about the basement and the cat issues), I never got strep again.

Another thing you might think of is trying some supplement to boost her immune system. Maybe a naturopath could make a suggestion. I think I read about astragulus in the Aviva Romm book? And, I've never tried this supplement, but our previous homeopath, who knew a lot about nutritional stuff too, recommended Epi-Cor and Epi-Cor Jr (the Jr one for the kids), by Vitamin Research Products.