Kids and Daycare

T

Touchdown Tommie

All-Conference
My 9 month old daughter started daycare in August and it has been roller coaster ride with her being sick. She is a big healthy baby...well besides being sick...she eats well, but it just seems like she cannot be sick for more than a couple of weeks. Is this normal for an infant in daycare? Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

 
my son got really sick the second week he was in daycare. He will get things every once in a while. But most of the issues were before he was 18 months. THe little ones slobber all over every thing. Things go from one kids mouth to another. So passing germs and illness will happen.

BUT with that said. If your little one is sick often (once a month or more) I would ask the center what they are doing to sanitize and clean. Let them know that you are concerned about the number of illnesses you have had.

But if it has just been a few times over the last 5-6 months then she is probably just getting her rounds and developing that immune system. It sucks. I feel you. My son caught the Roto virus on like his 7th day and we ended up spending 7 of the next 8 days in Childrens Hospital. It was not a good start to our childcare experiance. But it should get better as she ages.

 
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I don't have any experiance in this matter but I think small children have litte to nothing in the way of an immune system so they get sick easy. I'd make sure the daycare is sanitary and clean.

 
Depends on the daycare. Some daycares make it a strict policy that sick kids are removed as to not infect others. I would talk to your docter and then talk to the teacher or director of the center and voice your concerns.

 
By exposing your child in daycare you have exposed them to more germs than normally exposed to at home. Should not be a surprise. Wait till you get to Kindergarten and beyond...Be prepared for your little one to be ill at the beginning of school, then again after winter break then again after spring break at a minimum. It is just the way it is these days. You are not doing anything wrong just be prepared. Teach them wash their hands, never share drinks stuff like that. You can't protect them from everything. That is one of the hardest things in being a parent.

 
Thanks for the comments! It has been interesting since August...she had tubes put in (that is genetic thanks to me), strep throat and now pneumonia. I believe the strep turned into pneumonia b/c the doc gave three consecutive shots with no oral antibiotic. It also does not help that I am a teacher and bring home all kinds of crud on a daily basis...especially since I teach K-8 students.

Thanks again!

 
This may sound like a strange question, but was your daughter breast-fed? Infants get a ton of immunological coverage from Mom during breastfeeding, and if she wasn't, she's not getting that immune boost from formula. We went through this because my wife couldn't breast feed. The first year my daughter was sick all the time like yours. After about a year of this her immune system caught up and she's rarely been sick since.

It's tough when they're so little, but hopefully this won't be a permanent situation. Good luck.

 
Had the same issue with my little one in her first year of daycare, nothing ever serious just viral, cough and runny noise and the occasional fever, being a new parents our first thing to do was take her to the doctor and every time the doctor said it just needs to run its course, but there is nothing you can do to stop it short of staying home with them.

 
I worked at a daycare for 3 years. We did clean A LOT and sterilized almost everything everyday, even several times a day. But kids spreading germs to each other is unavoidable. It seemed that the kids under age 2 got sick the most, probably because of their weaker immune systems. I don't recommend anyone putting kids younger than that in daycare, but I know it's not a choice for parents 99% of the time. Even I got sick more than usual working there. I'm not sure there's much you can do, besides making sure the daycare is doing their job of cleaning and keeping kids from chewing on the same toys.

 
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