... to ask how often your toddler in nursery is ill?

[princesspippa]

DD is 18 months, she has been in a great nursery four days a week since she was one. In that time she has been too ill for nursery five times, 2 x ear infection, 2 x D&V, now chickenpox. Is it normal for toddlers to be ill this much??? I feel sad about it as most importantly I don't want her to be ill and also it is stressful for DH and me to have the time off work . Can't afford to work any less at the mo. Would love to get your thoughts ladies, thanks

Kids will always be ill a lot the first 6-12 months of starting in a childcare setting - they have no immunity to all the bugs. Hopefully by the time she is two it will all settle down and she'll be ill a lot less frequently. My 18 month old DS is also often ill, since he started nursery in June he's had chicken pox, hand foot and mouth, viral diarrhoea bug, endless colds, one bout of a flu type things, etc etc.
On the other hand my 4 year old DD now never comes down with anything (although she did catch chicken pox off my son in the summer).

Unfortunately it's quite normal for them to be off a lot when they start nursery. It's a nightmare I know, but just one of those things you have to ride out.

I have also found that now my two are 6 and 3, they aren't too bad although there are some things they all seem to get like D&V when it's going around.

All that in 6 months? It does seem like a lot to me, tbh. It's almost once a month. Aside from colds (and we get more than our share of those... Maybe one a month), my 3yo dd is rarely ill. shes only had d&v once since starting nursery back in spring last year.

Ah, ok, have just seen other posts. Sounds like it is normal then. Ignore me

I think most children go through a phase of having illness after illness. Builds up their immune system !

Better now when they start at school in many ways.

It does depend on the child, and often the season, but yes it did seem quite frequent when they were little. Remember, chicken pox rarely comes back (unless you're one of the unlucky ones) so hopefully thats done with now.
It was pretty much guaranteed that my DS1 would be ill (usually chest issues and roaring temps) over the cold seasons when he was a baby/toddler. DS2 was often ill with eye and ear infections. It has lessened as they have gotten older. This year (fingers crossed) they have been fine so far. DS2 is in his last year of nursery (4). DS1 is nearly 7.

I have a 3.5yr old and 5yr old. They went to nursery from about 1yr and they both were ill a few times in the first 3 months or so. High temps, D&Vs etc.
But after that initial period they were only ill once a year...always around March/April early spring for some reason.
Yeah so it is normal in the early months of nursery.

Hmm. My children seemed to catch more germs from nursery than school. But there could be all sorts of factors in play - my DD was a nail biter/finger sucking 3 year old at nursery, spent all last winter ill with one thing or another. This year she is a 4yo in Reception at school, who doesn't put her hands in her mouth or face, and she's got the hang of good hand washing = so far, only one cold!

Some things to check - what's your nursery's policy on illness? It could be that they are letting other children come back to quickly after illnesses, or they might tell you that they are fed up with parents seeming to send children in when not well, but it happens! Are they enforcing hand washing, both for staff and children? (Even my 16mo DD is happy to accept having her hands washed)

Do make sure your little one is getting enough sleep to help her recover and ward off further illness, and where necessary, supplement vitamins and minerals. Chicken pox there is virtually nothing you can do to avoid it, as contagious just before the spots break out too, it is such an efficient spreader. And I didn't think ear infections were 'catching'.

It must be incredibly frustrating having to keep taking time off like that, and yes it does cause stress, hoping things settle down for you soon :)

It felt like all the time when they first started. Actually similar when they started school and mixed with a whole new set of germs.

DS was horrendously ill between 1-2 years old, he started nursery at 15 months.
Tonsillitis
Rotavirus
D&V x2
Pneumonia
Conjunctivitis
Plus colds and fevers

I had to take so much time off from uni they nearly kicked me off the course. Sadly lots of illness seems normal.

It does seem normal. DS started nursery just two mornings a week at 7 months and seemed to not do a whole week for months! Then he was fine until starting nursery school at 3 and he was properly ill (as in, the best part of a week off) about 4 times between September and Christmas. And then once more after Christmas.

Nurseries are like one big soft-play centre. All the babies I knew who were put in daycare were ill very regularly in the first six months. One had conjunctivitis three times and her mother rarely did a full week at work during that period. It was very upsetting to see actually.

When dd started nursery at 15 months she seemed to catch every illness going. She's been ill from catching bugs at nursery more times than I can count (at least 4 episodes of d&v, chickenpox, HF&M, colds, countless conjunctivitis etc).

It slows down as they get older but it still seems like she gets ill alot 2.3 yrs).

5 month old has got ill alot as well even though not in nursery, just from dd bringing home germs.

Very common Im afraid...... in the end I actually moved DS from nursery to a CM for this exact reason. He was ill literally all the time. MOved to a CM where there was a mother and daughter running it (so more than just the 2 /3 little ones you get with one CM) and he was literally only ill again twice until he started school. Now I know it could have been coincidence but I just couldnt bear how ill he was getting. Moving to a CM, and therefore much smaller amt of children, made a big difference to us.

Some people will tell you it's a good thing - builds up their immune system. Bollocks. I'm in my thirties and have never had conjunctivitis, rotavirus, d&v bugs or an ear infection. You don't have to get them. The problem in nurseries is that children are not kept away until they are fully recovered and no longer contagious. Parents, understandably, don't want to take several days off in a row in a regular basis so they send them back once they seem to have "perked up" a bit.

DD has been at nursery for nearly two years. In that time she seems to have had a runny nose virtually non-stop!

However, she's only been too poorly to go in on four occasions - once with vomiting, once with chicken pox and the other times with some sort of unspecified bug. It sounds like we might have been lucky though.

DS was ill literally 50% of the time he went to nursery at that age, with all the different diseases noted above. We sent him to a childminder the following year and he was hardly ever sick, and then only with standard colds. Went to preschool the next year and again, sick quite a lot, including CP.

We just moved to Germany, where they seem practically religious about hygiene and staying home if you're sick, so I'm curious to see how often he gets sick here.

I moved my todler from a private nursery becasue of their inability to ask parents to adhere to the 48 rule re vomiting and diarrhea, as they are more inclined to keep parents happy by letting them return whenever suits the parents.

After three rounds of norovirus ( bloomin awful much worse than normal D and V) and numerous D and V bugs, enough was enough.

DS has had three D&V bugs that lasted a week each (was awful), endless colds, conjunctivitis and I can't think what else. It's just part of nursery I think. It's slowed down though. Trouble is he gives it all to me!

Dd1 was ill quite a lot during her first year of nursery. She had tummy bugs, an eye infection and the odd cold, however it did settle down and the nursery were v strict on the 48he rule.

My nursery were rigorous about the 48 hr rule and dd still spent most of the first 6 months off with d and v, norovirus, one cold after another. Was in tears by the end of the winter as being threatened with HR for so much absence. By the 2nd winter though, not one day off sick.

DS been in nursery a year now, first 10 months a nightmare. Cold after cold, chickenpox, hand foot and mouth, conjunctivitis x 2, D&V x 3 and croup. But since he had croup in November he's been fine apart from the odd sniffle (touch wood!).

I asked my doctor if it was normal to be ill so much, he said yes - nursery is a 'virus soup' for the 1st year they attend, but look on the bright side, they'll hardly ever be off school because they'll have built up their immune system early.
Every cloud and all that

My DD was off about 6 times in the first 3 months, she brought EVERYTHING home. She hasn't been off for over a year now.

Oh and after the first 3 months she had colds continuously and other things (can't really remember now) that didn't require time off until about the first year mark.

I used a childminder at that age and they didn't get ill very much. They started nursery at three instead. But that said my kids still don't get ill much and I have no idea why, but I know we are lucky.