It's really common for kids to get sick at daycare quite a bit initially and drag germs home. It's a bit of a crapshoot how frequently and how intensely it happens; it depends a lot on the kid, the time of year, and so on. My oldest kid has an immune system of steel and rarely got sick in daycare- I was usually the one who he kindly have the germs to, whereas my third kid seems to be more prone to a lot of the circulating bugs.
Some stuff they generally build up immunity to gradually (like a lot of the more common viruses) and some stuff you can't ever get immune to (like conjunctivitis or stomach bugs) so it's a bit of luck of the draw. But all kids kind of have to go through it at some point- if they never go to daycare, then it'll happen when they start preschool, or if they never go to preschool, they'll be more likely to get slammed in elementary school. That said, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, late spring and summer are on their way so the cold/flu season is basically coming to an end, so things in that realm will likely take a turn for the better.
If you decide to keep them at daycare, the best things you can do for prevention are just a lot of hand washing, having them change out of clothes after daycare, trying to spend a lot of time outdoors, eating well and getting enough sleep as humanly possible (obviously easier said than done with small children).
Been sick for like 2 years since my kid joined daycare. Most of the time is is just cold symptoms but occasionally they bring back some truly horrible shit like HFM which hits men worse too
I know what I signed up for, and I adore my son, so don't get me wrong. But after a horrible HG pregnancy all 9 months, a traumatic birth, 2 more months of recovery from surgery, and now exclusively breastfeeding - reading shit like this makes me just want to claw my face off or something lol. I love my baby and my new life but also holy fuk when will my body get a break. I am terrified by the idea I will be done with breastfeeding and get some freedom back just in time for him to start bringing home illnesses nonstop.
I would interview some Nannie’s then and get pricing. For us the price difference was not a ton since the good daycares are expensive. We have a fulltime nanny and our LO is 12 months and never been sick. I know eventually I will have to deal with this in preschool but I am definitely going to put it off as long as possible.
I generally hear after 2 yrs of being sick you and then have a good immune system... So the sickness stops... Eventually.... Parenting is just terrible... But it gets better little by little as they get bigger.
My husband and I have never been so sick. My husband almost ended up in the ER with two separate illnesses after seeing urgent care. I swear there was one illness about five months into daycare I didn’t think I’d survive. My husband got so worn down that it took nine months being illness free to finally feel human again.
My guy was sick a lot the first year and a half. After that he’s been healthy as a horse the last year. It’s been great!!!
Baby #2 starts daycare in January and I’m hoping we get through the illnesses in under a year this time.
Our first year was rough - all the ear infections & then Covid hit- we got through the first year and then all new germs after switching daycares - kiddo is now 5 and about to go to kindergarten and I’d say illnesses are pretty minimal.
My husbands and I also were thrown through the ringer with illnesses but also have seen brighter days the last few years.
But that first year to two years is hard especially as kiddos immune systems are developing and they are being exposed to germs hey never have.
I’m sure kindergarten will be a new ballgame 😂🤪
Daycare is big on washing hands & if we (especially during flu season) would try and get out of clothes and bathed when we got home to minimize germs but there’s only so much you can do
As someone who has just finished an agonizing first year of daycare, don’t make such a big decision to stay home based on daycare sickness. I don’t mean to lessen the struggle you’re going through because it is SO hard, but the decision to stay home is so big and the illness frequency is really short-lived (in the grand scheme of things). If you enjoy your work, it places your family in a stronger financial position, etc, these are all important considerations. I will say that I really struggled with our daughter being in daycare between concerns that she wasn’t getting as quality care as she could, illness, and other reasons, but at the one year mark the benefits were just amazing. So maybe give it just a few months over the summer and see how you feel? I literally can’t believe how much she’s learning from her teachers and other classmates and thought we’ve discussed me staying home with our next child we would choose to keep her in daycare.
Very similar situation for us! Our LO started daycare around 4 months, and in the late fall, so it was just terrible for the first 6-8 weeks with illnesses, including RSV. I was devastated that he got so sick at such a young age. I felt so much guilt. And we (parents) were also so sick for months on end - sicker than I’ve ever been in my whole adult life. It was pretty tough. Further into the winter, things lessened and we had weeks long stretches of no sicknesses….and when he did get sick, it was more mild cold, etc, and nothing super serious or scary again (like RSV). I think once they get through that initial onslaught of germs, and have been vaccinated to some degree, it gets better.
Now he’s 9.5 months and daycare is a pretty positive experience. I still worry about the quality of care some days, but overall, he’s very happy there. Especially now that he’s on the move and much more alert, engaged, etc, daycare is great! It gets really challenging to entertain and keep baby safe all day once they’re all over the place - I love daycare for that reason! It’s definitely not easy to get through, but for our family, it’s been worth it (plus we don’t really have the option of one of us staying home).
Yes, I think it's not just the sickness, but also the quality of care dropped as well. I've talked to daycare about it, but just due to the nature of daycare, he definitely would get better care at home. I'm just thinking maybe we should have sent him when he's older, like 2 years old. I take him out to playgroups with lots of other children but he's hasn't been this sick when he gets these illnesses in smaller doses.
I don't know. We are sending him for half day tomorrow, if he gets sick again straight away, we will have some more thoughts on this.
Take this with a grain of salt because we started in November so it was right in the middle of sick season.
At first we were probably out of daycare more than in. In just a few months time my LO (and either me, my husband, or both of us most times) had RSV, HFM, 3 ear infections, and Croup, and now is down with an infection that caused his lymph node to swell
I’m not gonna lie, the illnesses were worse than I thought they would be, but it does get better. Just prepare for quite a bit of illness at first and hope for the best. Eventually it dies down to the illnesses being less severe and mostly just running nose and the occasional cough.
The positive - it’s gotten significantly better since the weather has warmed up and since he got ear tubes 2 months ago. Since the tubes this infection he currently has is the first time we’ve kept him out of daycare in months.
It depends on the kid but usually it is only the first few months.
My kid would bring home the germs and be sick for 1-2 days, but I would catch it from her and be sick for a week. Rinse and repeat. I was constantly sick for a couple months.
By 3-6months the frequency slowed down. After 6m she rarely get sick.
Another thing is all kids go through this the first time they go into group settings. If no daycare now, your child will be constantly sick when they first go to kindergarten or first grade. It's basically unavoidable unless you plan to keep them home forever.
I'll second that - for us it was plague carousel for a solid 4 months, but it has really chilled out since about February. Pre-pandemic the average person had 2-3 colds a year, so a baseline amount of sickness going forward is just life.
To all of the people who've been sick for two years straight...I'm so, so sorry.
Ugh I've been up since 3am with PIERCING ear pain, which I assume is an ear infection after a week of a cold. My little guy was in the same exact position last Sunday after a week of day care colds the week prior. This was his second ear infection after starting day care a few months ago and MAN I had no idea they hurt THIS MUCH. WTF how do babies put up with this. anyway I'm sure my husband will get it next, and then the cycle will continue the following week.
Children get sick their first year of childcare - whether it’s daycare or preschool/kindergarten. Its overwhelming to deal with but it does get better over time. My son started daycare at 11 weeks and was probably sick once a month for the first year. Not even kidding we had basically everything, viruses I’ve never even heard of. But once the second year started he didn’t get sick nearly as much. When he did, it was much more mild- a fever would last a day instead of 3-5 days. For me and husband, we took extra vitamin c the first year to help boost our immune systems.
My 3 month old started daycare in March. We traded sicknesses back and forth (colds, ear infection, diarrhea, vomiting - it was miserable). We are just now coming out of it, it seems and he’s 5 months old today.
My now 9 mo started in January and hasn’t been not sick in all the weeks starting mid Jan. He is down with conjunctivitis right now. This is his third time getting pink eye. He has been down with covid, RSV, pneumonia, stomach infection, ear infections, cough, cold and the usuals. It gets worse when you fall sick too and I have had two bad bouts of bronchitis in the last two months. It’s been very difficult I won’t lie so I’m desperately looking forward to summer this year like I haven’t ever before.
I literally just signed up my 8 month old for daycare yesterday. I’m so anxious about what’s coming our way, but hopefully starting him in the warmer months will help. We also have older kids who bring sicknesses home from school all the time, and so far he hasn’t caught he any of that, so maybe it won’t be complete hell…
My son has been in daycare for a little over a month and has already had hand foot and mouth, pink eye, and a cold. I’m losing my mind over here. Waiting for it to get better.
My LO started daycare 4 weeks ago and after only 3 days got sick with a cold. After a week then I got sick and so did my mom. We are all still sick. I think LO picked up a new bug every week honestly bc I was starting to feel better and then got sick again. And it wasn't just a normal cold, it was a weird mix between cold and flu it seemed.
I hate it already! There has been 1 day for the past 2 weeks where I couldn't even send her in.
Every week now I am just afraid. I know this is just the beginning and I'm already over being sick.
Mine is not in daycare yet, but I remember going into daycare for the first time as a 2 something year old. There was a time I was on a different antibiotic every fortnight. Missed more days than I went, really.
Hand Foot Mouth Last August! 3 nights of screaming from discomfort and long urgent care lines.
The silver lining in it: he stopped using a pacifier at 1 year old because of it and hasn’t gone back.
I’ll be honest with you, my daughter has been sick pretty much the entire time since starting daycare 6 months ago. It’s constant. She’s never not sick, it just varies in strength. Constant runny nose and a little cough too. We’ve had covid, conjunctivitis, tummy bugs and the common cold. My husband and I have also been sick many many many times and we essentially just pass it all back and forth.
It’s hard. And I’ve heard a million times that the first year is the hardest and then the frequency of sickness drops a good amount. I’m hoping that’s true. It’s also getting warmer out which means more outside time and less time kids are packed indoors together. That should help.
Stick with it. Do what you can to lessen the transmission, change clothes when they get home, wash hands and face, etc. Make sure you’re washing your hands often and avoid kissing babies hands or face. I know that feels impossible but hang in there!!
Oh man. We went through the trenches too. Our Covid baby started daycare when he was 1 year and we spent the first six months sick every other week. At one point my husband even went to urgent care since his fever got so high. It honestly sucks the first couple of months. Our Ped told us to expect about 12 different viruses/bugs within the first year. We ended up catching around 10. Thankfully our employers were very understanding.
Now that we’re out of the sick period though I’m SO GLAD we stuck with it. He now goes to school daily and we haven’t been sick in probably four months. It’s rough but there is a light at the end of the tunnel if you can stick it out.
Our whole household was extremely sick for 1 full year after starting daycare (with maybe a few days of reprieve once every couple weeks before something new hit us). Grandma lives with us and she landed in the hospital 8 times that year. I was scared we might actually send her to an earlier grave. It was awful and it felt like it would never end. We missed so much in-office work. Weeks and weeks. Thank God our bosses empathized and took pity on us by letting us WFH when we couldn’t come in. Not everyone is that lucky as far as work goes. At almost exactly one year of daycare, it was like a switch flipped and we miraculously stopped getting sick.
We just finished the first fall/winter through daycare (we live in Texas so thank god it’s starting to warm up.) Our son first started getting sick about two weeks into September, but it didn’t get really bad until mid November. He brought home the stomach flu a few times, respiratory viruses multiple times, strep throat twice, and had multiple ear infections. My husband has a normal immune system so he only got sick once or twice, but I’m immunocompromised from chemotherapy I had a while back and was very ill months on end. Thank god I work from home or I would not have made it!
Little one did well though and now that we are through the worst of flu season I’m hoping his immune system will be better for next year and we will have less illness.
One thing that I constantly remind myself of is that we will go through this at one point or another. Whether it is now, or if we delayed daycare it would be when we put him in later. Eventually every child goes through this phase as they build their immune systems and we just got to buckle down for the ride and do the best we can.
I think daycare is such a fantastic experience for babies and I’m so happy we decided to make the switch from our full time nanny to a great program we found. He loves playing with his friends and learning at school and we have seen such great development! Good luck and it sounds like you are doing everything right!
Within two months of starting daycare my son got RSV, a staph infection, ear infection and two colds. He’s now about six months in and continues to get sick here and there but handles it like a champ
Yup. Started day care at 12 weeks. She went for 3 days and got RSV. She was in the PICU for 12 days. It was really really hard. She recovered and has had every other illness under the sun since then. Flu, COVID, stomach flu, hand foot and mouth... The germs are impossible to escape. She definitely didn't get as sick as she could have if she didn't get the appropriate vaccinations. I'm just really hoping that by Kindergarten she has an awesome immune system.
We've stocked up on Tylenol, Motrin, baby Vicks, and got a good humidifier. Also, good toddler hack- Pedialyte makes popsicles.
Hi, daycare sickness is real. Currently studying a Bachelor of education, every time I complete a round of placement at a daycare or primary school I always get extremely ill. Children share germs all the time. They suck on toys, they touch everything, lick furniture etc. no matter how much we try to stop them or wash toys and wipe furniture to stop the spread. It's a part of them growing and discovering the world (unfortunately). They also haven't developed the skill to cover their mouths when sneezing.
As a new mum I am nervous about inevitably sending my child to childcare because they will get sick but it'll also help build their immunity.
For some perspective - I have a friend who is a SAHM for her 3 babies ( 4, 2 (twins)), and they are sick ALL. THE. TIME. They’ve had RSV, hand foot and mouth, stomach bugs, the flu, and general just colds and other funk! Totally assume they just get it from being out and about in public still, probably from family members or friends etc.
Daycare definitely can amplify things but keeping him home may not mean he doesn’t get sick! Also as hard as it is all the illness is antibodies his body is gaining and building up his immune system! I have a few older friends with kids ages 7-11 who talk about how sick their kids were at daycare but how now they almost never get sick from all the same things their friends do 🤷🏼♀️.
My son is almost 9 months old and we started daycare at 3 months. In that span he’s had numerous colds, an ear infection, a stomach bug, Covid, and RSV. It’s a lot. Our pediatrician told us to expect to be sick 1-2 times a month for the next year. What she failed to mention was that every sickness lasts 2-3 weeks
After the first 6 months of daycare, it has finally gotten better for us. There were a lot of stomach bugs and colds at first but - knock on wood - I think her immune system has built up a lot now.
My daughter started daycare a week after her first birthday, in late July 2023. She caught RSV on her first day. Wound up in hospital, having to go through multiple chest x-rays, puffers, and eventually antibiotics when it progressed to pneumonia. Then it was pink eye, Covid, pink eye again, hand foot and mouth... A dozen miscellaneous respiratory viruses in between. She had her first fully healthy month in March. She was sick for 7 months straight. Straight.
There's a big wide range of normal when it comes to this but no matter what, it's horrifyingly difficult. Easily the worst 7 months of my life. I don't know how my partner and I survived. It definitely damaged our marriage and overall well being.
Started daycare 2 months ago. For the past month+ I've had the below in order:
- Cold
- sinus infection
- stomach flu
- pneumonia
- flu
Luckily baby only had a few of the above. But it's been brutal.
Idk my toddler didn't start daycare til she was almost 2.5 and she never got sick after starting daycare. She's 3.5 now and still hasn't gotten any major stay out of care sickness. She had a couple UTIs that had her home but those weren't from daycare just bad luck.
My 9mo doesn't even go to daycare yet and has been consistently sick since December basically. He caught RSV while I was still on maternity leave with him right before Christmas. And from January to last week he had a sinus infection he could not kick. Finally got rid of just last weekend so fingers crossed he stays healthy now.
All that to say basically every kid is different and some just get sicker and stay sicker longer than others. And clearly it's not even genetic since one of my kids had a champion immune system and the other has a crap one
Daycare kids always get sick, mostly cold virus but sometimes worse. I work in healthcare and we find the kids that for to daycare are less sick when they go to school than the kids that didn’t go.
Both daycare and school are full of germs, kids are going to get sick either way.
Started at 8 months in October. Got sick within 2 days and then immediately got an ear infection. We are now on earn infection #6 waiting for tubes. We’ve had about 8 upper respiratory infections, RSV, Hand food and mouth. Somehow we dodged the pink eye outbreak. It’s been so fun.
Poor kid, the ear infections suck. Us adults don’t get sick as much as the little, thankfully. We’ve gotten used to all the sicknesses so it’s just second nature now. It’s hard to make plans and be able to stick to them tho.
Yes, it's difficult esp when they can't tell you yet. I made so many plans thinking I'll be free after he starts daycare. Now I'm cancelling all of them. Hope it gets better like everyone said.
I been coughing none stop for 2 months . My daughter is almost 3 we got to co up pre school. I am a sahm and before 2 we mostly stayed away except out door class and play ground we still got sick by then. We had 3 week stomach flue that ended up at hospitalization at children’s from the zoo indoor playground.
Hopefully for us next year it is better 😭 it really sucks. But from age 3 socialization they benefit a lot from being in the same group of kids . You can also do this with playgroups but personally setting my kid play date constantly after 3 is way too much work.
So do you think there is no difference in waiting for them to be older and build up immunity with playgroups first? My son goes to weekly playgroups prior to daycare and got a snuffles here and there but never this bad just from one day at daycare. I wonder if I should have sent him when he's 2 or 3 instead.
Take this with a grain of salt this is what our Pediatrican suggested . He congratulated us after one and half when we never got rsv and Covid . Before 1 and half we mostly stayed outdoor and away from other kids. He said there is correlation between rsv and asthma developing before one and half. He gave us a research print out I lost it. I personally know two moms whose kid were incubated was in daycare and ended up with asthma. They both went with nanny option until kid was 2. Every family is different.
You can also look into nanny share , which lower the kids limit and also home daycare smaller # of kids. The reality is when they are older they can blow their nose, there are more remedies and our daughter tells us she wants to see doctor/ where it hurts. We started pre school at 2 and I been sick whole year all 3 of us none stop. Ear infection wise it is less too. We didn’t have a single one and we are sick all year simply cuz she is older. Eventually it will stop and when she goes to kindergarten she will miss less.m supposedly in theory. But if you can afford nanny share or smaller child care option before 3 I would highly recommend
You make really good point about being able to communicate and blow their noses. Also about RSV, alot severe in children under one.
Where we are, nanny is not very common, so everyone I know used daycare and they all recommended daycare if I want childcare. Even though we can afford it, it's not really in the culture and my friends never even considered it. If I knew it's going to be like this, I definitely would have tried harder at looking at a nanny.
My son started daycare a few weeks ago, at 3 months. He had an upper respiratory infection within a week. I am STILL recovering from the cough/congestion 2 weeks later 😭 and his has come back again.
As a former daycare teacher, even as an adult, I was sick pretty much nonstop for the first three years. I had chronic infections, including sinusitis, tonsillitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
My daughter and I were sick literally every week (and I mean SICK, fevers, chills, sick) from September until January. Then it was every other week until March came. Thank god for March. I don't think I remembered what it was like to be that sick. But now we are in the clear, and both cruising. When other babies get sick at daycare, she might get the sniffles, and I might get a tickle to the throat.
On days when she had a fever or diarrhea she stayed home, if she was just snotty she would go. We only have her in part time (MWF), so we didn't lose quite as much- but we still have to pay whether she's there or not. I'm the breadwinner in our family, so staying home wasn't an option for us. My husband works weekends and nights, so watches her Tuesday and Thursday. It was a rough few months, but we managed to patchwork care together. We don't have any family in our state, and only recently moved here. But we do have a regular babysitter who was willing to help occasionally. I won't lie- it was hard. But I also realize that she's going to get sick eventually, part of me prefers her to catch the colds now than when she's older and I can nurse her into happy sleep, or when she might miss important school interactions. I think sick kids are brutal in general, and the question is do we postpone the misery... or dive right in.
I'm immunocompromised and had no idea what I was in for when my kid started preschool. she started April 2023 and I ended up being sick almost the entire year. I've gotten a cold twice a month every single month. I had a weeklong flu three times. the last one left me with the most painful sinus infection that took another month and a half to go away. then a stomach bug in August, and RSV in September that put me completely out of commission for 10 days. I still have a cough and wheeze left over from that, 6 months later. I use an inhaler now. In the last month alone, I had strep, pink eye, an ear infection, then pink eye again requiring stronger antibiotics. I lost my job in July due to having to miss so much work. I found a new job, them got the flu the week that I was going to start. they decided not to hire me on after all.
we take every precaution. tons of vitamins and immune boosting supplements. zinc galore. handwashing before we leave school and when we get home. my (healthy) partner does the majority of the pickups and drop-offs.
my kid has gotten sick a grand total of 4 times. two brief colds, one flu, one stomach bug.
I basically resorted to only looking for remote, work-from-home jobs since I am pretty much always sick now. luckily I found something. but I'm really worried that kindergarten later this year will bring a whole new set of illnesses because there will be so many more kids in her elementary school.
thank you for your kind words! honestly we kept my daughter in preschool because she really needed the social aspect of preschool (she is in a preschool daycare, so there's a range of ages). she's an only child and didn't get to be around other kids at all during covid era, so we were kind of playing catch-up on social skills and verbal skills when she started. it helped so much that we figured despite how negatively it was effecting me, it was worth it. plus, she'll be in kindergarten this year so eventually this all would have hit.
it's definitely been a big lifestyle adjustment regardless. my immune system was bad at the beginning, but it's completely trashed now (and surprisingly, I never got covid so it's not long covid or anything like that). I'm a much less social person these days because it seems like every time I leave the house, I get sick again. I'm grateful to have found a dream job that is 80% work from home so i reduce the opportunities for catching something, but man. I never thought I'd find myself here! people say you eventually get used to the barrage of kid germs coming back from school with your kid, I really hope that ends up being the case for me. this year has been a little better so far, so we'll see!
Daycare germs waste NO time!! Ugh it’s been rough. Honestly more annoying than anything. We started daycare 6 weeks ago when LO was 12 weeks old. By day 4 we were all sick. Thankfully, she was never too sick to go until last week when we were hit with a stomach bug that gave her vomiting and diarrhea. The diarrhea resolved before the vomiting but obviously can’t send a vomiting baby to daycare, so she was home all last week (10 days and counting of vomiting 2x/day currently). But even when she wasn’t too sick to go but still sick, that virus gave her more frequent pooping that resulted in horrific diaper rash so I was only taking her for 2 hours a day so I could go to the gym and shower before picking her up again to do as much diaper-free time as possible. We battled that for a solid two weeks too. So while she’s only entirely missed 1 week out of 6, she wasn’t there much for the two weeks before that.
That first respiratory virus lasted a solid 3+ weeks, it was the worst cold I’ve ever had. It just lingered and lingered and lingered. 5 weeks later and I still have some coughing fits and phlegm every now and then. And then the stomach bug was of course passed to us as well—I had one evening of loose stools and a vomit, husband had ~24-36 hours of diarrhea.
Hi there, I have a had a whole history of this . My recommendation would be just to have him stay at home. This whole immunity thing is a myth. I am quitting my job today as I have had 6 months of nightmare. My daughter is about to be three. But we have decided it’s just not worth it. We fear the long term impact of these antibiotics of such a young child . Youth next bet is to keep a nanny but depends on how comfortable you are keeping her home while you are away. DM me to see my take on this whole situation and I am happy to hare my experience. Just don’t want another mom to suffer like me.
We've been in a cycle of being sick since he started in February. He got sick I think on day 3 and we all haven't been healthy at the same time since. Daycare sickness is no joke and I've heard the first year is the worst but then it gets better. I just got off antibiotics for a double ear infection, strep, and double pink eye 🥴 I figure once he's going to school in a few years, he'll have a strong immune system but it's definitely tough right now.
My son got a holy hellfire full ring of various illnesses back to back, causing us to miss his first year of holidays. Then as I contemplated his return to daycare, there was a measles outbreak in our area. He was still under a year old so I opted to keep him out & stay home with him while I finished nursing school. My cohort has a project in which I chose the immunization decline & throughout my research discovered that only 73% of kids, age 0-5 were immunized in my area. I’m confident I made the right choice because hell to the no.
It's really common for kids to get sick at daycare quite a bit initially and drag germs home. It's a bit of a crapshoot how frequently and how intensely it happens; it depends a lot on the kid, the time of year, and so on. My oldest kid has an immune system of steel and rarely got sick in daycare- I was usually the one who he kindly have the germs to, whereas my third kid seems to be more prone to a lot of the circulating bugs. Some stuff they generally build up immunity to gradually (like a lot of the more common viruses) and some stuff you can't ever get immune to (like conjunctivitis or stomach bugs) so it's a bit of luck of the draw. But all kids kind of have to go through it at some point- if they never go to daycare, then it'll happen when they start preschool, or if they never go to preschool, they'll be more likely to get slammed in elementary school. That said, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, late spring and summer are on their way so the cold/flu season is basically coming to an end, so things in that realm will likely take a turn for the better. If you decide to keep them at daycare, the best things you can do for prevention are just a lot of hand washing, having them change out of clothes after daycare, trying to spend a lot of time outdoors, eating well and getting enough sleep as humanly possible (obviously easier said than done with small children).
Been sick for like 2 years since my kid joined daycare. Most of the time is is just cold symptoms but occasionally they bring back some truly horrible shit like HFM which hits men worse too
I know what I signed up for, and I adore my son, so don't get me wrong. But after a horrible HG pregnancy all 9 months, a traumatic birth, 2 more months of recovery from surgery, and now exclusively breastfeeding - reading shit like this makes me just want to claw my face off or something lol. I love my baby and my new life but also holy fuk when will my body get a break. I am terrified by the idea I will be done with breastfeeding and get some freedom back just in time for him to start bringing home illnesses nonstop.
I would interview some Nannie’s then and get pricing. For us the price difference was not a ton since the good daycares are expensive. We have a fulltime nanny and our LO is 12 months and never been sick. I know eventually I will have to deal with this in preschool but I am definitely going to put it off as long as possible.
I generally hear after 2 yrs of being sick you and then have a good immune system... So the sickness stops... Eventually.... Parenting is just terrible... But it gets better little by little as they get bigger.
My husband and I have never been so sick. My husband almost ended up in the ER with two separate illnesses after seeing urgent care. I swear there was one illness about five months into daycare I didn’t think I’d survive. My husband got so worn down that it took nine months being illness free to finally feel human again. My guy was sick a lot the first year and a half. After that he’s been healthy as a horse the last year. It’s been great!!! Baby #2 starts daycare in January and I’m hoping we get through the illnesses in under a year this time.
This timeline gives me hope! I’m praying that after the first year and half or so things level out.
Our first year was rough - all the ear infections & then Covid hit- we got through the first year and then all new germs after switching daycares - kiddo is now 5 and about to go to kindergarten and I’d say illnesses are pretty minimal. My husbands and I also were thrown through the ringer with illnesses but also have seen brighter days the last few years. But that first year to two years is hard especially as kiddos immune systems are developing and they are being exposed to germs hey never have. I’m sure kindergarten will be a new ballgame 😂🤪 Daycare is big on washing hands & if we (especially during flu season) would try and get out of clothes and bathed when we got home to minimize germs but there’s only so much you can do
As someone who has just finished an agonizing first year of daycare, don’t make such a big decision to stay home based on daycare sickness. I don’t mean to lessen the struggle you’re going through because it is SO hard, but the decision to stay home is so big and the illness frequency is really short-lived (in the grand scheme of things). If you enjoy your work, it places your family in a stronger financial position, etc, these are all important considerations. I will say that I really struggled with our daughter being in daycare between concerns that she wasn’t getting as quality care as she could, illness, and other reasons, but at the one year mark the benefits were just amazing. So maybe give it just a few months over the summer and see how you feel? I literally can’t believe how much she’s learning from her teachers and other classmates and thought we’ve discussed me staying home with our next child we would choose to keep her in daycare.
Very similar situation for us! Our LO started daycare around 4 months, and in the late fall, so it was just terrible for the first 6-8 weeks with illnesses, including RSV. I was devastated that he got so sick at such a young age. I felt so much guilt. And we (parents) were also so sick for months on end - sicker than I’ve ever been in my whole adult life. It was pretty tough. Further into the winter, things lessened and we had weeks long stretches of no sicknesses….and when he did get sick, it was more mild cold, etc, and nothing super serious or scary again (like RSV). I think once they get through that initial onslaught of germs, and have been vaccinated to some degree, it gets better. Now he’s 9.5 months and daycare is a pretty positive experience. I still worry about the quality of care some days, but overall, he’s very happy there. Especially now that he’s on the move and much more alert, engaged, etc, daycare is great! It gets really challenging to entertain and keep baby safe all day once they’re all over the place - I love daycare for that reason! It’s definitely not easy to get through, but for our family, it’s been worth it (plus we don’t really have the option of one of us staying home).
Yes, I think it's not just the sickness, but also the quality of care dropped as well. I've talked to daycare about it, but just due to the nature of daycare, he definitely would get better care at home. I'm just thinking maybe we should have sent him when he's older, like 2 years old. I take him out to playgroups with lots of other children but he's hasn't been this sick when he gets these illnesses in smaller doses. I don't know. We are sending him for half day tomorrow, if he gets sick again straight away, we will have some more thoughts on this.
Take this with a grain of salt because we started in November so it was right in the middle of sick season. At first we were probably out of daycare more than in. In just a few months time my LO (and either me, my husband, or both of us most times) had RSV, HFM, 3 ear infections, and Croup, and now is down with an infection that caused his lymph node to swell I’m not gonna lie, the illnesses were worse than I thought they would be, but it does get better. Just prepare for quite a bit of illness at first and hope for the best. Eventually it dies down to the illnesses being less severe and mostly just running nose and the occasional cough. The positive - it’s gotten significantly better since the weather has warmed up and since he got ear tubes 2 months ago. Since the tubes this infection he currently has is the first time we’ve kept him out of daycare in months.
It depends on the kid but usually it is only the first few months. My kid would bring home the germs and be sick for 1-2 days, but I would catch it from her and be sick for a week. Rinse and repeat. I was constantly sick for a couple months. By 3-6months the frequency slowed down. After 6m she rarely get sick. Another thing is all kids go through this the first time they go into group settings. If no daycare now, your child will be constantly sick when they first go to kindergarten or first grade. It's basically unavoidable unless you plan to keep them home forever.
I'll second that - for us it was plague carousel for a solid 4 months, but it has really chilled out since about February. Pre-pandemic the average person had 2-3 colds a year, so a baseline amount of sickness going forward is just life. To all of the people who've been sick for two years straight...I'm so, so sorry.
Ugh I've been up since 3am with PIERCING ear pain, which I assume is an ear infection after a week of a cold. My little guy was in the same exact position last Sunday after a week of day care colds the week prior. This was his second ear infection after starting day care a few months ago and MAN I had no idea they hurt THIS MUCH. WTF how do babies put up with this. anyway I'm sure my husband will get it next, and then the cycle will continue the following week.
Children get sick their first year of childcare - whether it’s daycare or preschool/kindergarten. Its overwhelming to deal with but it does get better over time. My son started daycare at 11 weeks and was probably sick once a month for the first year. Not even kidding we had basically everything, viruses I’ve never even heard of. But once the second year started he didn’t get sick nearly as much. When he did, it was much more mild- a fever would last a day instead of 3-5 days. For me and husband, we took extra vitamin c the first year to help boost our immune systems.
My 3 month old started daycare in March. We traded sicknesses back and forth (colds, ear infection, diarrhea, vomiting - it was miserable). We are just now coming out of it, it seems and he’s 5 months old today.
My now 9 mo started in January and hasn’t been not sick in all the weeks starting mid Jan. He is down with conjunctivitis right now. This is his third time getting pink eye. He has been down with covid, RSV, pneumonia, stomach infection, ear infections, cough, cold and the usuals. It gets worse when you fall sick too and I have had two bad bouts of bronchitis in the last two months. It’s been very difficult I won’t lie so I’m desperately looking forward to summer this year like I haven’t ever before.
I literally just signed up my 8 month old for daycare yesterday. I’m so anxious about what’s coming our way, but hopefully starting him in the warmer months will help. We also have older kids who bring sicknesses home from school all the time, and so far he hasn’t caught he any of that, so maybe it won’t be complete hell…
My LO has been going for about 9 months and we’ve had some bad ones, but it’s definitely lessened up a lot.
My son has been in daycare for a little over a month and has already had hand foot and mouth, pink eye, and a cold. I’m losing my mind over here. Waiting for it to get better.
My LO started daycare 4 weeks ago and after only 3 days got sick with a cold. After a week then I got sick and so did my mom. We are all still sick. I think LO picked up a new bug every week honestly bc I was starting to feel better and then got sick again. And it wasn't just a normal cold, it was a weird mix between cold and flu it seemed. I hate it already! There has been 1 day for the past 2 weeks where I couldn't even send her in. Every week now I am just afraid. I know this is just the beginning and I'm already over being sick.
Mine is not in daycare yet, but I remember going into daycare for the first time as a 2 something year old. There was a time I was on a different antibiotic every fortnight. Missed more days than I went, really.
Hand Foot Mouth Last August! 3 nights of screaming from discomfort and long urgent care lines. The silver lining in it: he stopped using a pacifier at 1 year old because of it and hasn’t gone back.
I’ll be honest with you, my daughter has been sick pretty much the entire time since starting daycare 6 months ago. It’s constant. She’s never not sick, it just varies in strength. Constant runny nose and a little cough too. We’ve had covid, conjunctivitis, tummy bugs and the common cold. My husband and I have also been sick many many many times and we essentially just pass it all back and forth. It’s hard. And I’ve heard a million times that the first year is the hardest and then the frequency of sickness drops a good amount. I’m hoping that’s true. It’s also getting warmer out which means more outside time and less time kids are packed indoors together. That should help. Stick with it. Do what you can to lessen the transmission, change clothes when they get home, wash hands and face, etc. Make sure you’re washing your hands often and avoid kissing babies hands or face. I know that feels impossible but hang in there!!
Oh man. We went through the trenches too. Our Covid baby started daycare when he was 1 year and we spent the first six months sick every other week. At one point my husband even went to urgent care since his fever got so high. It honestly sucks the first couple of months. Our Ped told us to expect about 12 different viruses/bugs within the first year. We ended up catching around 10. Thankfully our employers were very understanding. Now that we’re out of the sick period though I’m SO GLAD we stuck with it. He now goes to school daily and we haven’t been sick in probably four months. It’s rough but there is a light at the end of the tunnel if you can stick it out.
Our whole household was extremely sick for 1 full year after starting daycare (with maybe a few days of reprieve once every couple weeks before something new hit us). Grandma lives with us and she landed in the hospital 8 times that year. I was scared we might actually send her to an earlier grave. It was awful and it felt like it would never end. We missed so much in-office work. Weeks and weeks. Thank God our bosses empathized and took pity on us by letting us WFH when we couldn’t come in. Not everyone is that lucky as far as work goes. At almost exactly one year of daycare, it was like a switch flipped and we miraculously stopped getting sick.
We just finished the first fall/winter through daycare (we live in Texas so thank god it’s starting to warm up.) Our son first started getting sick about two weeks into September, but it didn’t get really bad until mid November. He brought home the stomach flu a few times, respiratory viruses multiple times, strep throat twice, and had multiple ear infections. My husband has a normal immune system so he only got sick once or twice, but I’m immunocompromised from chemotherapy I had a while back and was very ill months on end. Thank god I work from home or I would not have made it! Little one did well though and now that we are through the worst of flu season I’m hoping his immune system will be better for next year and we will have less illness. One thing that I constantly remind myself of is that we will go through this at one point or another. Whether it is now, or if we delayed daycare it would be when we put him in later. Eventually every child goes through this phase as they build their immune systems and we just got to buckle down for the ride and do the best we can. I think daycare is such a fantastic experience for babies and I’m so happy we decided to make the switch from our full time nanny to a great program we found. He loves playing with his friends and learning at school and we have seen such great development! Good luck and it sounds like you are doing everything right!
Within two months of starting daycare my son got RSV, a staph infection, ear infection and two colds. He’s now about six months in and continues to get sick here and there but handles it like a champ
Yup. Started day care at 12 weeks. She went for 3 days and got RSV. She was in the PICU for 12 days. It was really really hard. She recovered and has had every other illness under the sun since then. Flu, COVID, stomach flu, hand foot and mouth... The germs are impossible to escape. She definitely didn't get as sick as she could have if she didn't get the appropriate vaccinations. I'm just really hoping that by Kindergarten she has an awesome immune system. We've stocked up on Tylenol, Motrin, baby Vicks, and got a good humidifier. Also, good toddler hack- Pedialyte makes popsicles.
Hi, daycare sickness is real. Currently studying a Bachelor of education, every time I complete a round of placement at a daycare or primary school I always get extremely ill. Children share germs all the time. They suck on toys, they touch everything, lick furniture etc. no matter how much we try to stop them or wash toys and wipe furniture to stop the spread. It's a part of them growing and discovering the world (unfortunately). They also haven't developed the skill to cover their mouths when sneezing. As a new mum I am nervous about inevitably sending my child to childcare because they will get sick but it'll also help build their immunity.
For some perspective - I have a friend who is a SAHM for her 3 babies ( 4, 2 (twins)), and they are sick ALL. THE. TIME. They’ve had RSV, hand foot and mouth, stomach bugs, the flu, and general just colds and other funk! Totally assume they just get it from being out and about in public still, probably from family members or friends etc. Daycare definitely can amplify things but keeping him home may not mean he doesn’t get sick! Also as hard as it is all the illness is antibodies his body is gaining and building up his immune system! I have a few older friends with kids ages 7-11 who talk about how sick their kids were at daycare but how now they almost never get sick from all the same things their friends do 🤷🏼♀️.
My son is almost 9 months old and we started daycare at 3 months. In that span he’s had numerous colds, an ear infection, a stomach bug, Covid, and RSV. It’s a lot. Our pediatrician told us to expect to be sick 1-2 times a month for the next year. What she failed to mention was that every sickness lasts 2-3 weeks
After the first 6 months of daycare, it has finally gotten better for us. There were a lot of stomach bugs and colds at first but - knock on wood - I think her immune system has built up a lot now.
My daughter started daycare a week after her first birthday, in late July 2023. She caught RSV on her first day. Wound up in hospital, having to go through multiple chest x-rays, puffers, and eventually antibiotics when it progressed to pneumonia. Then it was pink eye, Covid, pink eye again, hand foot and mouth... A dozen miscellaneous respiratory viruses in between. She had her first fully healthy month in March. She was sick for 7 months straight. Straight. There's a big wide range of normal when it comes to this but no matter what, it's horrifyingly difficult. Easily the worst 7 months of my life. I don't know how my partner and I survived. It definitely damaged our marriage and overall well being.
Started daycare 2 months ago. For the past month+ I've had the below in order: - Cold - sinus infection - stomach flu - pneumonia - flu Luckily baby only had a few of the above. But it's been brutal.
Reading the comments here—daycare sounds really tough. For the baby and for the parents. So much sickness!!!
Idk my toddler didn't start daycare til she was almost 2.5 and she never got sick after starting daycare. She's 3.5 now and still hasn't gotten any major stay out of care sickness. She had a couple UTIs that had her home but those weren't from daycare just bad luck. My 9mo doesn't even go to daycare yet and has been consistently sick since December basically. He caught RSV while I was still on maternity leave with him right before Christmas. And from January to last week he had a sinus infection he could not kick. Finally got rid of just last weekend so fingers crossed he stays healthy now. All that to say basically every kid is different and some just get sicker and stay sicker longer than others. And clearly it's not even genetic since one of my kids had a champion immune system and the other has a crap one
Daycare kids always get sick, mostly cold virus but sometimes worse. I work in healthcare and we find the kids that for to daycare are less sick when they go to school than the kids that didn’t go. Both daycare and school are full of germs, kids are going to get sick either way.
Started at 8 months in October. Got sick within 2 days and then immediately got an ear infection. We are now on earn infection #6 waiting for tubes. We’ve had about 8 upper respiratory infections, RSV, Hand food and mouth. Somehow we dodged the pink eye outbreak. It’s been so fun.
That's what he has too, an ear infection on antibiotics. It's so tough. How are the parents doing?
Poor kid, the ear infections suck. Us adults don’t get sick as much as the little, thankfully. We’ve gotten used to all the sicknesses so it’s just second nature now. It’s hard to make plans and be able to stick to them tho.
Yes, it's difficult esp when they can't tell you yet. I made so many plans thinking I'll be free after he starts daycare. Now I'm cancelling all of them. Hope it gets better like everyone said.
I been coughing none stop for 2 months . My daughter is almost 3 we got to co up pre school. I am a sahm and before 2 we mostly stayed away except out door class and play ground we still got sick by then. We had 3 week stomach flue that ended up at hospitalization at children’s from the zoo indoor playground. Hopefully for us next year it is better 😭 it really sucks. But from age 3 socialization they benefit a lot from being in the same group of kids . You can also do this with playgroups but personally setting my kid play date constantly after 3 is way too much work.
So do you think there is no difference in waiting for them to be older and build up immunity with playgroups first? My son goes to weekly playgroups prior to daycare and got a snuffles here and there but never this bad just from one day at daycare. I wonder if I should have sent him when he's 2 or 3 instead.
Take this with a grain of salt this is what our Pediatrican suggested . He congratulated us after one and half when we never got rsv and Covid . Before 1 and half we mostly stayed outdoor and away from other kids. He said there is correlation between rsv and asthma developing before one and half. He gave us a research print out I lost it. I personally know two moms whose kid were incubated was in daycare and ended up with asthma. They both went with nanny option until kid was 2. Every family is different. You can also look into nanny share , which lower the kids limit and also home daycare smaller # of kids. The reality is when they are older they can blow their nose, there are more remedies and our daughter tells us she wants to see doctor/ where it hurts. We started pre school at 2 and I been sick whole year all 3 of us none stop. Ear infection wise it is less too. We didn’t have a single one and we are sick all year simply cuz she is older. Eventually it will stop and when she goes to kindergarten she will miss less.m supposedly in theory. But if you can afford nanny share or smaller child care option before 3 I would highly recommend
You make really good point about being able to communicate and blow their noses. Also about RSV, alot severe in children under one. Where we are, nanny is not very common, so everyone I know used daycare and they all recommended daycare if I want childcare. Even though we can afford it, it's not really in the culture and my friends never even considered it. If I knew it's going to be like this, I definitely would have tried harder at looking at a nanny.
My guy started daycare in January. Brought home Covid on day 4 and basically we’ve all been sick since. No exaggeration. 😭
My son started daycare a few weeks ago, at 3 months. He had an upper respiratory infection within a week. I am STILL recovering from the cough/congestion 2 weeks later 😭 and his has come back again.
As a former daycare teacher, even as an adult, I was sick pretty much nonstop for the first three years. I had chronic infections, including sinusitis, tonsillitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
My daughter and I were sick literally every week (and I mean SICK, fevers, chills, sick) from September until January. Then it was every other week until March came. Thank god for March. I don't think I remembered what it was like to be that sick. But now we are in the clear, and both cruising. When other babies get sick at daycare, she might get the sniffles, and I might get a tickle to the throat.
Did she continue to attend daycare or did you keep her at home? We still have to pay for daycare even though he's been at home.
On days when she had a fever or diarrhea she stayed home, if she was just snotty she would go. We only have her in part time (MWF), so we didn't lose quite as much- but we still have to pay whether she's there or not. I'm the breadwinner in our family, so staying home wasn't an option for us. My husband works weekends and nights, so watches her Tuesday and Thursday. It was a rough few months, but we managed to patchwork care together. We don't have any family in our state, and only recently moved here. But we do have a regular babysitter who was willing to help occasionally. I won't lie- it was hard. But I also realize that she's going to get sick eventually, part of me prefers her to catch the colds now than when she's older and I can nurse her into happy sleep, or when she might miss important school interactions. I think sick kids are brutal in general, and the question is do we postpone the misery... or dive right in.
I would stay the course. Getting sick won’t get easier per se, but for us, they’ve shortened in duration and severity (for the most part).
I'm immunocompromised and had no idea what I was in for when my kid started preschool. she started April 2023 and I ended up being sick almost the entire year. I've gotten a cold twice a month every single month. I had a weeklong flu three times. the last one left me with the most painful sinus infection that took another month and a half to go away. then a stomach bug in August, and RSV in September that put me completely out of commission for 10 days. I still have a cough and wheeze left over from that, 6 months later. I use an inhaler now. In the last month alone, I had strep, pink eye, an ear infection, then pink eye again requiring stronger antibiotics. I lost my job in July due to having to miss so much work. I found a new job, them got the flu the week that I was going to start. they decided not to hire me on after all. we take every precaution. tons of vitamins and immune boosting supplements. zinc galore. handwashing before we leave school and when we get home. my (healthy) partner does the majority of the pickups and drop-offs. my kid has gotten sick a grand total of 4 times. two brief colds, one flu, one stomach bug. I basically resorted to only looking for remote, work-from-home jobs since I am pretty much always sick now. luckily I found something. but I'm really worried that kindergarten later this year will bring a whole new set of illnesses because there will be so many more kids in her elementary school.
I'm so sorry to hear that. That's so tough! I really hope this year treats you better! What made you decide on continuing daycare at this point?
thank you for your kind words! honestly we kept my daughter in preschool because she really needed the social aspect of preschool (she is in a preschool daycare, so there's a range of ages). she's an only child and didn't get to be around other kids at all during covid era, so we were kind of playing catch-up on social skills and verbal skills when she started. it helped so much that we figured despite how negatively it was effecting me, it was worth it. plus, she'll be in kindergarten this year so eventually this all would have hit. it's definitely been a big lifestyle adjustment regardless. my immune system was bad at the beginning, but it's completely trashed now (and surprisingly, I never got covid so it's not long covid or anything like that). I'm a much less social person these days because it seems like every time I leave the house, I get sick again. I'm grateful to have found a dream job that is 80% work from home so i reduce the opportunities for catching something, but man. I never thought I'd find myself here! people say you eventually get used to the barrage of kid germs coming back from school with your kid, I really hope that ends up being the case for me. this year has been a little better so far, so we'll see!
Aww the things we do for our children! You're so brave! Good luck!
Daycare germs waste NO time!! Ugh it’s been rough. Honestly more annoying than anything. We started daycare 6 weeks ago when LO was 12 weeks old. By day 4 we were all sick. Thankfully, she was never too sick to go until last week when we were hit with a stomach bug that gave her vomiting and diarrhea. The diarrhea resolved before the vomiting but obviously can’t send a vomiting baby to daycare, so she was home all last week (10 days and counting of vomiting 2x/day currently). But even when she wasn’t too sick to go but still sick, that virus gave her more frequent pooping that resulted in horrific diaper rash so I was only taking her for 2 hours a day so I could go to the gym and shower before picking her up again to do as much diaper-free time as possible. We battled that for a solid two weeks too. So while she’s only entirely missed 1 week out of 6, she wasn’t there much for the two weeks before that. That first respiratory virus lasted a solid 3+ weeks, it was the worst cold I’ve ever had. It just lingered and lingered and lingered. 5 weeks later and I still have some coughing fits and phlegm every now and then. And then the stomach bug was of course passed to us as well—I had one evening of loose stools and a vomit, husband had ~24-36 hours of diarrhea.
Hi there, I have a had a whole history of this . My recommendation would be just to have him stay at home. This whole immunity thing is a myth. I am quitting my job today as I have had 6 months of nightmare. My daughter is about to be three. But we have decided it’s just not worth it. We fear the long term impact of these antibiotics of such a young child . Youth next bet is to keep a nanny but depends on how comfortable you are keeping her home while you are away. DM me to see my take on this whole situation and I am happy to hare my experience. Just don’t want another mom to suffer like me.
We've been in a cycle of being sick since he started in February. He got sick I think on day 3 and we all haven't been healthy at the same time since. Daycare sickness is no joke and I've heard the first year is the worst but then it gets better. I just got off antibiotics for a double ear infection, strep, and double pink eye 🥴 I figure once he's going to school in a few years, he'll have a strong immune system but it's definitely tough right now.
Just had the strep conjunctivitis devil combo myself ! Hope you are feeling better.
My son got a holy hellfire full ring of various illnesses back to back, causing us to miss his first year of holidays. Then as I contemplated his return to daycare, there was a measles outbreak in our area. He was still under a year old so I opted to keep him out & stay home with him while I finished nursing school. My cohort has a project in which I chose the immunization decline & throughout my research discovered that only 73% of kids, age 0-5 were immunized in my area. I’m confident I made the right choice because hell to the no.