Here are the options in case my post is too long to read:
Aibu: take him out of nursery, it's not fair to make him be ill all the time and it's not worth getting into trouble with work.
Yanbu: all kids go through a first winter of hell. It's not worth taking him out of a place he knows and loves.
Hi all. I just don't know what to do. DS is 18 months old and has been going to nursery for 6 months. It took him a while to settle but now he loves it there and is very attached to the staff in his room.
The nursery is quite busy (22 children in his room) but I like their facilities and I really like the staff.
The problem is that ever since he has joined nursery he keeps falling ill. I know this is supposed to be normal in their first year but it's been relentless. He seems to do one or at most two weeks at nurseries and is then off for a week. We've had Norovirus, several eye infections, RSV, tonsillitis, bronchiolitis and other non identified viral infections. Apart from a constant cold. At the moment he has got an ear infection, an eye infection and some sort of unspecified viral infection affecting airways making it difficult to breathe. All at the same time. Dh and me are tired of the constant worrying and neither of us can really afford to take more leave with his frequent absences.
Dh wants to take him out of nursery and put him either into another nearby nursery (smaller rooms with fewer children but I didn't like their facilities as the rooms just seemed very dull and drab) or with a child minder. I'm not keen on either. I worry about him having to go through another extended settling in period just to leave him somewhere that just isn't that nice. In detail:
Current nursery:
Pros: he loves it, the staff are amazing, bright, large room with lots of different toys, lots of stimulating activities, they will never close, don't have to look for something else
Cons: fairly crowded, he's ill all the freaking time
Alternative nursery:
Pros: fewer children in a room
Cons: smaller, darker rooms, toys looks like exactly what we have at home, staff seem nice but the place was horrendous before a management change.
Childminder:
Pros: fewer children, might be easier to settle in
Cons: difficult to find in our area, have to keep ds at home if childminder is ill, might have to provide food ourselves, not sure but maybe they don't do so many different activities?
Nanny:
Pros: only Ds and his own germs, D's doesn't have to get used to different place, maybe the nanny could cook for us as well, don't have to get Ds ready or spend time on dropping him off.
Cons: very expensive, Ds would be at home and probably interrupt WFH, no other kids for socialising, no variety in activities that nursery provide, maybe not as well qualified and with all the checks that a nursery or Ofsted registered childminder provides?
Sorry for the length of this post. I just don't know what to do. Ideally we would take him out of his current nursery now and then put him back in summer when hopefully there are fewer germs around. However there is no guarantee he will get a space again.