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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that you should stay home if your baby has a cold

115 replies

lucindapie · 27/10/2011 07:18

I went to a mums and babies group for first time two days ago, the leader of the group's baby had a cold, and was sneezing and dribbling snot all over the place, now I've woken up with a sore throat, headache, generally feeling crap!
i know she was the leader of the group so kind of had to come, but could she not have got a substititute so her baby wasn't spreading germs everywhere!
In her words the baby was 'getting over a cold' but I don't think this applies if he is still contagious! I am so pissed off.

OP posts:
Dialsmavis · 27/10/2011 07:20

YABU. You can't stay in when a baby has a cold, the world would grind to a halt!

Twunk · 27/10/2011 07:20

Yabu. Babies always have colds, you'd never leave the house.

MinnieBloodBar · 27/10/2011 07:23

YABU. It's a cold. In winter. If you hadn't caught it from this baby (and you easily might not have) you'd get another cold from another human sooner or later.

notevenamOoOooOoooosie · 27/10/2011 07:24

Such is life, tbh. It will be like this for the next... well, DD is nearly 5... so many years!!

EverythingsNotRosie · 27/10/2011 07:24

If we stayed at home everytime DD has a cold, we might as well hibernate! Actually, that sounds rather nice...

Kayzr · 27/10/2011 07:25

If I stayed at home every time one of the DSs had a runny nose or a cold we'd never go out.

Tinkerisdead · 27/10/2011 07:25

Oh lordy yabu. You'd never go out if you stayed in when your child gets a cold. And inevitably you catch it too. And at pre-school it really ramps up. Stock up on the snufflebabe and karvol capsules you're in for the long haul.

RunWorkCook · 27/10/2011 07:33

YABU. Last year my two both had colds constantly (there was not a single day where we weren't wiping rivers of snot) from September to March- that's a long time to stay home! I am fully expecting the same this year and have stocked up on the tissues.

ghoulionine · 27/10/2011 07:39

YABU on 2 counts, a cold is a cold as other have said and if the world had to stop every time a child has one it could come to quite a stand stillSmile+ if leader had stayed at home on that ground, no doubt she would have "jockingly" been told in the next session that "she let all the mums down by closing the group for one morning because of a silly cold!" Been there , done that...

FearTricksPotter · 27/10/2011 07:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Shutupanddrive · 27/10/2011 07:42

Yabu, colds can last weeks and weeks. Are you suggesting they stay in the house all that time?

bigkidsdidit · 27/10/2011 07:45

If it's a normal cold (and not swine flu or somesuch), by the time you get symptoms you are no longer shedding virus.

So YABU

Melindaaa · 27/10/2011 07:45

Yanbu. I have never taken my children out when they have been snotting everywhere and obviously coldy. It drives me crazy to go somewhere and children are coughing and sneezing and wiping snot everywhere.

I have six children and it's been one of my biggest parenting gripes over the last 18 years, especially now when a simple cold for one child can make my premature twins so ill.

BOOareHaunting · 27/10/2011 07:46

YABU.

DS was totally snot ridden as a baby often still has a runny nose constantly now @ 7!

It's hard to tell what's a virus (cold) and what's his allergies. I usually work on the theory of they're well enough to be out then go out.

Megatron · 27/10/2011 07:46

YABU, it's a cold not the black death. Everyone has colds this time of year, especially with the temperatures going up and down all the time like they have lately. People can't stay inside every time they have a cold or the whole bloomin country would grind to a halt.

HairyGrotter · 27/10/2011 07:48

YABU.

It's a cold, life goes on.

macdoodle · 27/10/2011 07:50

Get a grip

exoticfruits · 27/10/2011 07:51

People will have colds all winter-much better to get exposed and work up immunity. You can't keep babies in a bubble and it isn't good for them.

OriginalGhoster · 27/10/2011 07:53

Is this your first child by any chance? Grin

Hope you feel better soon...

Original poster
lucindapie · 27/10/2011 07:53

sorry did not mean literally stay in exactly! But just not go to social places where there is close interaction with others, e.g school, playgroups etc,
until they are at an age when they can blow their own noses and keep control of their germs!
having a newborn, means this is actually one of the first autumms i have managed to avoid colds, as everyone has been kind enough to stay away if infectious! It just made me realise how nice it was and I guess i wanted to escape the germs a little longer.
I mean why should spreading germs be acceptable?

OP posts:
pinkthechaffinch · 27/10/2011 07:53

It's anti social and selfish

agree with melindaa, a simple cold often leaves my 2 v poorly with post viral asthma for weeks on end.

Plus little ones get better quicker with lots or rest and quiet IM humble OP, not being dragged around toddler groups and such like. Yes, it's boring for the mum to stay at home but better that then spreading germs everywhere.

macdoodle · 27/10/2011 07:55

Hahahha wait till you hit nursery or school and the rot starts. You are being ridiculous.

mummytime · 27/10/2011 07:57

YABU do you take time off work (did you..) every time you had a cold?
Children do spread dieseases, because they interact so much more closely and haven't built up immunity yet. However you can't stay at home for every little cold, or they wouldn't go out for most of the winter months.
I'd suggest instead of moaning you buy: Vitamin C (super strength), Echinacea, and maybe Vicks "First response", as well as lots of cold medcines and maybe some for tummy bugs too (they spread like wildfire near babies, and you don't have a clue they have it until they are sick over you).

BalloonSlayer · 27/10/2011 07:59

I'd stay away from mum and toddler group if my DC had a cold but that's because I hate the places and for me it's Any Excuse.

However, no one likes running them and the airy "oh why doesn't she just get a substitute" makes me snort. Round our way, when one M&T leader gives up the group has to be on the verge of shutting down before anyone will grudgingly take over. (Don't blame them, wouldn't catch me running one!)

Melindaaa · 27/10/2011 08:01

My twins currently have a slight cold which probably wouldn't bother most other babies, one of them is fine, a bit snotty but happy. The other was up four times last night wheezing, coughing and needing his inhaler.

I have no doubt that this cold was caught from another child at soft play last week whose mother was laughing about how 'every single child in place was full of cold and snotty ha ha'. Well actually, no they weren't. My babies were fine. And now one of them can't crawl across the room without stopping for a rest because he is breathing so hard.