Objective To understand the distribution, drug resistance and change trend of Streptococcus pneumo-niae (S. pneumoniae) infection in children in a hospital. Methods Sputum, blood and cerebrospinal fluid specimens of pediatric inpatients from January 2012 to December 2017 were cultured, bacteria were isolated and identified, antimicrobial susceptibility testing and result judgment were conducted according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) M100-S28, data were statistically analyzed. Results A total of 2 384 strains of S. pneumoniae were isolated, 54.32% of which were isolated from male, 45.68% were from female, 63.38% of children were 0.5-3 years old, 21.10% were ≤ 0.5 year old, 15.52% were >3 years old. S. pneumoniae accounted for 18.08% of all isolated bacteria, according to the quarterly statistics, the proportion of bacteria isolated in the fourth quarter (20.62%, 839/4 068) > first quarter (18.77%, 762/4 059) > second quarter (18.42%, 557/3 024) > third quarter (11.11%, 226/2 034), but difference with the change of quarter was gradually narrowing. Resistance rates of S. pneumoniae to erythromycin, compound sulfamethoxazole, clindamycin and tetracycline were high (73.21%-99.62%), while resistance rates to levofloxacin, chloramphenicol, cefuroxime, cefotaxime, amoxicillin and penicillin were low (0.19%-33.92%), no S. pneumoniae was found to be resistant to vancomycin, quinupristin/dalfopristin, linezolid and moxifloxacin. Conclusion S. pneumoniae is mainly isolated from children with respiratory tract infection, most infection occurred in children aged ≤ 3 years. Difference in S. pneumoniae isolation rate with the change of quarter is gradually narrowing, and its time distribution characteristics becomes less and less obvious. Amoxicillin and penicillin can be used as first-line agents for treatment of S. pneumoniae infection in children.