Nursery visits to care home

[TheCatInAHat]

Name changed as details are outing.

Our DS (12 weeks) was recently treated for sepsis at hospital. Since his discharge 2 weeks ago I’ve been pretty worried about him catching another bug.

Our DD (3) goes to preschool a few days a week. She picks up the usual minor little coughs, colds, temperatures etc but is rarely really ill.

A few months ago the nursery started taking small groups of children to meet residents at a local care home. The kids seem to really enjoy the visits, as do the residents by all accounts.

As both the nursery and care home environments are typically full of infectious illness I wondered if it’s a risk we could do without just now. I wondered if care home bugs in particular might be the nastier, antibiotic resistant strains.

But I’m aware my risk assessment process is faulty and I’m being over cautious about everything at the moment. AIBU to ask nursery not to include DD on the trips until DS is bigger and stronger?

I would have thought that any residential/care setting would be right on top of infection control to be honest.
Your situation has made you hyper alert to the risk but really - a trip to a cafe or park would be just as risky, if not more so.

I would think that a care home is actually less likely to have infections diseases as the levels of hygiene have to be high to keep the patients/clients safe.

What infectious diseases are rampant in care homes?

Is it summer where you are? I've recently left a nursing job in aged care as I'm pregnant. I was coming into contact with illness constantly and just finding it too hard to be pregnant and getting sick. However it's flu season here and that's my main concern. The people I came into contact with had a variety of respiratory illnesses though and I've ended up sick for quite a while.

I would imagine that anyone who is ill wouldn't be around the children on one of those visits (for the health and safety of the elderly person more than anything). I can totally understand your anxiety though.

That's actually not true about homes and levels of hygiene. There are lots of people coming and going from facilities and illnesses spread quite rapidly. I've seen illnesses in residents in a number of places at high numbers. But like I said, different season here.

Personally I'd be way more worried about DD bringing bugs home from Nursery . Kids pass germs around with the greatest of ease.

Care home residents are very well looked after, and it's actually rare for them to get infections because they don't mix with the outside world very often. The antibiotic-resistant bugs that you're thinking of, live in acute hospitals, not care homes.

And keep in mind that the residents who meet the visiting children would be hand-picked . Nobody with a cough / cold / infected wound would be in the group that meets the kids.

myopinion absolutely loads! I used to practise as a pharmacist and did a lot of checking prescriptions for local care homes as well as care home advice visits and almost every other item dispensed was an antibiotic, antiviral or antifungal.

prick it’s summer here (uk) although there still seems to be some quite horrible coughs and colds about. Don’t blame you for wanting to avoid more bugs in pregnancy. My pregnant friend was recently hospitalised with pneumonia following a cold she couldn’t shift.

Nurseries are way better breeding grounds for germs than care homes so I really wouldn't worry about it. If anyone catches anything it'll be the old folk

I agree with everyone saying there’s a risk to the residents too- possibly a greater risk. I know DD finds it hard to go anywhere without licking something or wiping snot everywhere (despite our best efforts to discourage this )

in your position i would take her out from care home visits.

I totally understand your concerns.

I picked up a very nasty sickness bug while working in a care Home for elderly while pregnant with my first baby.
it was more than a run of the mill sickness bug (it was horrendous) and swept through the entire Home.

I think this has made me over cautious.
I don't think this was the cause for my baby's disability (I was in the early stages of pregnancy when I caught this) but it's always been up there with the "what was it that caused this".

Nursery would have way more bugs than care homes.
But the bugs you get in care homes tend to be the antibiotic-resistant ones.

I'd be surprised if a nursing home had any extra germs than a nursery does. I understand your worry though, I hope everything is better now. I think you just need to follow your gut on this one, you've had a lot of worry and if this makes you worry more I wouldn't say it was worth it right now, wait until things have settled a bit.

Care homes have specific bugs?

Think YABU OP and a bit paranoid. Surly there are more "infectious illnesses" at your DCs nursery? Also, if you keep trying to protect him from germs you will prevent him from building a strong immune system.

Even if you remobe your DD from the visits if there is something to be caught the other children will have been exposed to it and may pass it on

Nursing homes are slightly more prone to MRSA and other resistant bugs! It’s because the residents go in and out of hospital and have frequent courses of antibiotics. It’s nothing scary though - people who work in hospitals also have little children and no extra precautions are necessary :) It’s your decision to make and I don’t mean to scare you; it’s just not technically true that nursing homes have no extra bugs.

My DD works in a care home. They recently had a prolonged outbreak of the noro virus which they struggled to get on top of. Twice she passed it onto me and her DSis (8 months old at the time), and we currently have a nasty chesty cold which she gave us a couple of weeks ago.

DD lives with friends and because every visit results in her passing some illness/bug to us she is not allowed to visit unless she assures me there are no bugs atm at her work and she is feeling well. Sounds harsh but I'm 8 months pregnant and can't take anything for the bugs she keeps passing on.

So I would definitely opt your DD out of care home visits for that reason.

Grey residents at care homes with chronic respiratory conditions for example may have fairly specific bugs that are resistant to some antibiotics. As well as the usual spectrum of viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections.

I would stop the visits. Care homes will have residents who have recently been in hospital and are at higher liklihood of carrying drug resistant bacteria.

YANBU in my opinion.
I have never stopped beating myself up about it.
The fact I didn't take time off work as a precaution when the horrendous sickness was spreading through the entire Home I was working at.
The fact I didn't stand up to my boss who insisted I keep working as the staff were dropping like flies.
The fact I didn't put my unborn baby first at a crucial stage of his development.
The fact I will always be left wondering if that was the cause of his disability.
The fact in not knowing if I had taken time off to avoid this monster "bug" would I may now have my 20 year old son chatting to me about his day at work as opposed to pacing up and down shaking a baby's rattle having never spoken a word in his life.

Please go with your instinct.

Lily really sorry for everything you’ve been through . I’m sure the not knowing if it was a factor has been very hard to deal with.

@Lilyannarose I'm really sorry to hear this. I also felt pressured to continue the role and feel pissed off now that I'm home sick and miserable, that I didn't trust my judgement. Do you mind me asking what you caught?

I agree with PP, go with your instinct. If it were me, I wouldn't send my DD while my DS has just recovered from sepsis.