Is it normal for baby who attends nursery to constantly be unwell?

[user242526]

Hi,

DD (11M) started nursery in September and has been constantly unwell. Is this normal? She loses her appetite whenever she catches something and she's lost quite a bit of weight compared to before she started nursery ...

Thanks

Yes, she's building her immune system it's the baby version of Freshers Flu.

It'll happen again when she starts at a new mass education venue but as she's already caught lots of things her immune system will be better off at fighting things off whereas children who have been at home will end up catching everything and being off school alot.

Yes, sadly its very normal

Yes, it's totally normal.

I don't think it's usual but also not unusual. Mine weren't off for anything other than chickenpox in 2/3 yrs of nursery. They did start a bit later than yours though.

Maybe get her on some immune system supplements.

Yes. It does get better.

First 3 months for both my children were just full of bug after bug. They do build up immunity and unfortunately there are also more viruses in winter

It will improve! And when they start school you'll find they have a pretty good immune system (or we've been very lucky!)

It's normal to a certain extent, but bugs and viruses affect some children more than others.

Mine have only ever caught colds and once or twice a 24hr bug from nursery. They started a little later though between 13 and 15 months.

Yes, although we had this in reception instead because covid happened when my child would have been in nursery. Every autumn term now we might get a cold but nothing like the onslaught of germs we had the year he first started school.

I would say yes. Last winter for us was brutal and felt like one thing after another. Christmas at home provided a bit of respite and Jan was ok and then we had another rough couple of months until spring where things seemed to improve. As others have said it does build their immune system as long as they can recover from each thing. Can you feed her up in between or try and load more calories into meals for example I now give weetabix for breakfast with some nut butter and banana mashed into it or if I'm really struggling I'll make a fruit smoothie with oats and nut butter in

I would say this is very normal, but how much weight are we talking?

Yes

Unfortunately yes. My twins were constantly ill from October to March in until they were about 2 when they got a little more robust.

Yes. double whammy of shit because you pay, they get sick, you need time off work, and repeat for ages

I worked in a baby room for years and sadly it’s extremely normal. Hope your little one feels better soon.

Yes, totally normal, when my eldest started nursery we (I caught most too!) had one bug or another every single month for a year.

Being unwell a lot can happen for some kids; mine v rarely though but I think we were fortunate as some of their friends seem to catch everything going - but the weight loss sounds unusual, worth going to health visitor just to check them over ?

Is your DD happy at nursery? When babies get stressed they're more susceptible to illnesses.

If it's unmanageable you could always try a childminder will less kids = less bugs