To ask if the first winter in childcare is as bad for germs as everyone says?

[childcaresettling]

Particularly if it’s a small setting (5-8 children total each day, goes two days).

no other new starters so they’ve all done at least a year in childcare. My LO is nearly 2, so went to baby classes etc last winter but I’m sure that’s not the same

So I have an idea, can everyone share how disruptive it was to their work (or not), how often they were off and if it really was like everyone says?

So I would " budget" missing 25% of their planned hours for illness.

Nursery was like a petri dish for my DS. He caught all kinds but it built up his immune system.
You play it by ear and if you have to sort alternative child care /take days off, then it's just par for the course.

Brace yourself. DS26 started nursery at 7 months in January. By Easter he had had four colds, three stomach bugs, two bouts of conjunctivitis and one virus that looked initially like chickenpox but wasn’t. The pattern was one week there, next week ( or most of it) off. After Easter he was fine - scarcely had a day off in the next three years, but that first term was tough.

Mine went to a small setting (childminder) and it wasn’t too bad but my friends with kids in nurseries seem to have had loads of time off! But then some kids are luckier than others with bugs even as they get older.

The first winter is hardest but they get easier every year after that. I'd agree with the planning for 25% absence 💐

I believe it’s an average 7 bouts of illness in the first year. That was about right. My youngest was a bit beyond that - but shes less robust than my eldest even now at 13. I think I got about 50% of them. Horrid days

It wasn't for us, but we were with a childminder rather than a nursery. It was about the same as being at home.

Thank you everyone. Further to that do you typically catch much of what they get? 😬😂 I’ve always worked in schools anyway so would hope I have my own sort of Immunity but hard to say

Had to quit my job. Sorry. It would have worked better though if my husband had any flexibility (he hasn’t) or if we had family around to help out.

My daughter went to a huge nursery and never got unwell there. It really does depend on the child!

It's worse.

Sorry.

For my first born (Dec baby) he started a large nursery setting in the Sept and his first winter and year was horrific. Absolutely horrific, not just for him but also for me because we both caught a new cold every week. He’s now coming up on 6 and has an immune system of iron, he’s never ill.

My second born started a much smaller nursery setting when she was 10mo in a January, and her first winter nursery season was actually fine. A few minor sniffles. She did catch HF&M and chicken pox though, from nursery, all mildly and over warmer months, and despite this never passed either on to my son!

Wasn’t great for either child, but one was definitely much worse than the other. Same setting, so there are other variables

Planning for 25% is a fairly sensible suggestion. Particularly with an autumn start.

Whether you'll catch it all depends on you. Basic hygiene goes a very long way. Hand washing, cleaning surfaces properly. Not letting them stick their fingers in your mouth.

Yeah sorry op, brace yourself x

Every 4-6 weeks i had to take several days off work in the first 12-18 m. It was pretty horrid. Plus the week plus time off when chicken pox and HFM makes an appearance.
It wasn’t as bad with second child who’d had more exposure at home before they started

Both DC went to nursery from just over a year old, 2 days a week, larger setting than you’ve mentioned and it was nothing like that. They missed very, very few days of nursery. DC2 caught chicken pox when he was 3/4 but that was about it other than the odd runny nose/cough which didn’t require days off

My “baby” is 26 years old and I still remember that first year of him being in nursery.

I have never been so ill in a single year before, or after.

And ear infections really bloody hurt. But aren’t as bad as when you are glued to the loo, while throwing up in the bidet trying to persuade your now PERFECTLY FINE 2 year old to bring the house phone to the bathroom to get daddy to come home. Except he couldn’t come home cos he too was puking so violently that driving was out of the question.

If I had to do it all again I’d be bunging down the Vitamin D3K2 like it was going out of fashion, munching on liver for the iron & B12 and using that stuff that allegedly kills germs while they are still at the “party in your nostrils” stage. Both DH & I were/are freelance so it was a double whammy of all the extra childcare money going out, plus lost income due to one, or both of us, coming down with the latest lurgy DS brought home. What little was left over went to the pharmacist.

Was a setting with more than 5-7 kids though. Closer to 12-15. And the second year was less awful, and so on and so forth for each following year.

But fuck me, that was a rough re-entry to work and I’d had zero warning, so was completely blindsided by it.

We never had this issue. But I do think my DS has some super strength immunity - no idea how!! He’s 8 and I can count on 1 hand how many times his missed school/nursery.

Nursery was fine for us and during the time my dd attended (3 years) she had about 5 days off in total. I followed NHS & nursery guidelines and didn't keep her off "just in case", only for d&v, fever, infectious illnesses but not if nhs said it was past the point of needing to stay off.

She was very used to being amongst lots of other children, we did baby/toddler groups every day, went to soft plays, baby raves, and had all the recommended habs plus chickenpox jab which the NHS didn't fund back then.

Depends on the child.

DD1, no issues at all really.

DD2 I hoped would be the same, but she caught everything! And was a vomiter, so would throw up with a fever, with a cold, with chicken pox.

In terms of you catching it, again it depends. DH catches basically everything (and he is not a “man flu” person), I catch hardly anything - I’ve never caught a vomiting bug from the children, DH has caught every single one. Although once we both caught a virus flu thing from DD2. She was mildly ill for a day or so - we both felt like we might actually die. I could barely get out of bed for several days. DD1, as usual, didn’t catch it at all.

Our daughter started nursery when she was 1 and was continuously snotty and ill for the next 18 months. We caught norovirus once a month for 6 months in a row that year. Most nurseries have a 48 hours exclusion policy following a high temperature or v&d. She missed so much nursery, it was an additional kick in the teeth in top of the cost.

I did night shifts to cover sick days the first years. It was pretty bad during winter. But some of their small friends were never sick.

Yes. Sadly this is a truth. It’s brutal I’m afraid.

Sorry @childcaresettling but in my experience it went on for first 5 years. Tapers off slowly over that time but it is awful while you are in it.