Can any mums help me out on how to prepare for this?

[Haop]

Lone parent. Baby 13 months and will be in nursery Tuesday to Thursday. No family support in a practical sense. I’ve been told basically either me and/or DD will be ill for months.

What can I do to prepare? I’ve thought about always having second set of bedding ready and clean, lemsip, paracetamol stocked up etc.

Would you get DD the flu spray or whatever it is as a vaccine? I’ve had a flu jab.

I am worried I will lose my job and as ex is paying the grand total of 84 pounds a month I don’t know what we’d do if I’m not employed. We’d definitely lose our home.

I think people are exaggerating. I've had three children all go through nursery and only picked up the odd case of conjunctivitis or sickness bug. Nothing out of the ordinary.

I agree with a pp about getting the chicken pox vaccine, one of mine was very poorly with that. Other than that it's just pot luck really. Good diet and vitamins may help! Mine have only had the odd day off here and there.

Was going to say chicken pox vaccine, but see others have. It seems very variable. Our DD has had a lot of time off since she started nursery. A couple of times it’s been whole weeks, other than that 1-2 days. But in total a lot. I’ve never been ill enough from her to miss work though. The only time I’ve missed is being at home looking after her. If you can wfh and flex to work when they nap and in the evenings, it’s manageable.

DD was off sick a couple of times in however many years? Not much. Once was noro which we all got. One random
bug. Quite a few random 24-hour things where we worked around it, doing hours in the evening and weekends. In reality I know of very few kids who were always off, so you may get lucky.

Definitely stock up on medicine, temp gun, all the things. Get the flu vaccination: always get vaccinations! Get the chicken pox one too.

You’re entitled to unpaid parental leave so if possible, use that if it’s a big, week off type illness and save up to cover the loss of earnings; annual leave and being great at your job so your employer wants to work around it and let you have a poorly kid asleep on the sofa while you do some work, and catch up on the rest of work in the evening.

@Unexpectedlysinglemum i do have the means to do this and I think work would actually allow it… are you purely doing it to avoid the winter illnesses? It’s hard to decide isn’t it…

I don't think it's necessarily true at all, and you're really catastrophising. Make sure you both take Vit C and D supplements, and eat a wide range of fruit and veg. Get chicken pox vaccine. Talk to your work in advance about what leave is available if you need days off to care for baby. See if you can WFH or make up hours in the evening or during naps.

You have probably had most diseases your child will get, but they can't go to nursery with chickenpox, measles, norovirus, flu. Make sure your jabs and your child's are up to date. Take vitamins and make sure they wash their hands.

They do pick up things but it’s better from them to catch things now and build up immunity before they start school. My DD went to nursery for 2 years and was off probably 4 times so not loads. Mostly it was just mild colds and runny nose. I definitely recommend the calpol plug in. You can get it at boots

https://www.boots.com/calpol-vapour-plug-and-nightlight-lavender-and-chamomile-plus-3-refill-pads-10307206?cm_mmc=bmm-buk-google-ppc--supplier_funded---_-&gbraid=0AAAAADrIajWz5ahIoq9N0P0nGJaxrcSzu&gclid=CjwKCAjwysipBhBXEiwApJOcu5teScMValwJ82HsIGFy1q8qhmYALCrhWxfm8Zt9OFCW1k7NT-oc8BoCa_gQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I think a lot of the posters here who claim their kids "were never sick" were those who alway sent their kids into nursery with a snotty nose and cough! Plenty of parents are subjective in what they consider sick. Some only consider their kids ill if they can't get out off bed or on the verge of A&E. It's mind-boggling how many will happily bring their kids around the shops or on holiday while they have hacking coughs and snotty noses.

OP, the first year is going to rough. Get as many jabs as possible. Chicken pox is a worthwhile investment because if your child comes down with it then you lose at least 2 weeks, which could well jeopardise your job. All other colds and fevers might take a week or so to clear. The upside is that many viruses won't affect adults as badly (or at all) due to existing immunity. Slapped cheek, rotavirus, roseola, hand food & mouth, croup, chicken pox are all things that kids go through once but won't hit again. Covid was actually one of the mildest infections for us, despite DD being too young to be vaccinated.

If you do end up at the doctor, try to get them to prescribe a full spectrum of things that you can use at home. Eg. Small children often get congested and have breathing problems with any type of respiratory virus. There's a low dose asthma spray with a nebuliser that works well against severe congestion. Same for steroid medication or suppositories if they wake up with croup. If you have the right the meds at home then it could spare you a trip to A&E or ambulance ride. Nose drops can also be a lifesaver. Getting rid of congestion helps to reduce the chances of a blocked nose turning into an ear infection (which will add more days to your sick leave).

Another tip is to drastically reduce all your plans during the first year of nursery which involve some kind of pre-booking (hotels, flights, trains, tickets to shows etc). There will be no guarantee you can attend anything and you save yourself the stress of losing money due to late cancellation. Plan and book everything spontaneously when everyone is healthy.

DD only had one sickness bug in the two years and never caught chicken pox, although there was a few cases of it in her class

My two weren't ill hardly at all during nursery (or school so far) so try not to worry until it comes to it.

I was one of those people last winter whose DD caught every bug going. We were both permanently poorly almost from October to March. Constant colds, a sickness bug, weird rashes and my personal favourite, conjunctivitis.

Do lots of batch cooking now with lots of veg, take a good multivitamin, I’ve started having an actimel each morning. Stock up on calpol for toddler and day nurse for you. Make sure you have the odd lazy day to rest and good luck!

I think the first winter is the worst then they build up a bit of immunity.

Sambucol is your new BBF. It's horrifically sweet and sticky so give it just before food and clean teeth afterwards. It literally gives them an iron immune system.

My little one started nursery in January this year has been home / off sick less than 10days in total.

Carers leave is protected if you do need to take time off to care for your little one but you may not get paid so look into any support you may be entitled too. So maybe don't take any of your annual leave until they are settled just so have that as a back up

If you have a HR department talk to them

Our nursery had an traffic light system of when they could go in so keep that visible if yours have the same.

Calpol plug in, snuffle babe vapour rub, saline nasal spray, humidifier/de humidifier, calpol, baby nurofen, decent thermometer

She'll pick up every illness going, doesn't mean you necessarily have to keep DD home.

Dd caught everything going for a whole year. She had a week off for chickenpox, four days for norovirus, two for an ear infection and a week for tonsillitis. Constant colds and bugs but they were the only times she couldn't attend nursery. They were spaced out as well.
Most bugs you can send a child to nursery with

Should add that she actually only has a handful of days off despite being almost constantly poorly, mostly to do with the rashes as they thought it was chickenpox. Otherwise we just had to battle through the working day feeling like crap.