To take toddler with constant colds to park/softplay?

[ThePoisedOpalBird]

Just interested in other opinions as we are at the time of year where my toddler has a constant cold until April!

Is it okay to take him places like the park, soft play etc when he has a cold?

He pretty much has constant snot, cough and sneezing from September-April. Last winter I was pregnant so we didn't go out a lot. Now he is a very energetic 2.5 year old who needs to be doing stuff to stay happy.

I just wanted to check it is acceptable to take him out places when he has a cold? I don't have friends to ask what they do with their kids.

So any input on if it is socially acceptable to go park, softplay etc with a snotty, sneezy, coughy toddler please!

Luckily other illnesses like D&V he rarely gets!

If parents stopped taking their sick kids to mingle with other kids, maybe they wouldn't BE sick all winter. Stop spreading it around!

Maybe the park if he’s not having fevers or being sad with it. Definitely not soft play.

This is what we do. If they’re properly unwell and too ill to go to nursery we wouldn’t take them out, but a cold or cough where they’re otherwise fine then yes we take them to soft play and anywhere else. We wouldn’t do anything if we didn’t.

Park yes. Softplay NO. Don’t be selfish. And utterly disgusting snot pouring kids all over the place with and parents do nothing. He can run in the park or anywhere else

People who deliberately spread infection are irresponsible messing with other people's health and livelihood. A kid with snotty remnants of a cold is different. You need to decide if he's likely to infect anyone else or not.

I treat soft play like I would sending him to nursery. I wouldn’t send him with a fever, feeling rotten or a bad cold, and he wouldn’t enjoy it in those conditions even I did bring him. But a mild cold I might, and colds in toddler groups are really common in winter. I’d probably prefer to be outside if it’s dry because that’s what mine prefers especially if a bit off kilter.

So my son just has a constant snotty nose, slight cough and sneezing from September - April.

So he is basically always in a 'snotty remnants' of a cold so in theory should be fine to go softplay, zoo etc.

The jist I am getting is if he is happy, playing, no fever and fine to go nursery then he is fine to go anywhere else.

Not the point, but I’ve only ever been to soft play once in my life and I never plan to again! I don’t think you’d be missing out much!!

Of course its fine - its a cold.

Get on with life.

Wow really? We love soft play. He would happily go everyday if we could!

It's just the immune system firing up. I'll bet he will not have any problems with snot/colds later in life. You just have to get used to the 'snail trail' nose to ear!

The ones who don't catch/share will have lots of colds later on.

Everyone keeps telling me this and I really hope it is true!

Indoors no
Outdoors yes

Are you sure it’s not an allergy?

If he's well enough for nursery I'd take him wherever. You can't not go places for 6months!
Kids that age just have constant snot, it's par for the course.

Any sign of a temp or him actually feeling ill and subdued, keep him home

I have no idea. Doctors wont consider allergies as its always from the start of cold and flu season so they say its normal and wont consider refering for allergy testing and I can't afford private.

Oh yeah 100% he stays home if he is proper ill although thats only ever been 3 times.

As long as OK in himself then I would take him regardless.

DS2 had constant colds as a baby because he had an older brother in nursery we still attended places as long as no fever and he was happy in himself.

We did find giving him sambucol everyday (you can get it in gumming form or liquid) helped massively reduce it though!

You are the second person to recommend that supplement so I have ordered some to be delivered tomorrow!

A cold is quite a wide ranging thing.

A fever, huge amounts of snot, hacking cough etc then no to soft play.

Milder symptoms with no fever, bit bunged up but not walking round with snot down their face then fine.

In an ideal world people would keep toddlers at home or just let them play outdoors if they were ill.
In the real world, however, pretty much everyone would take their toddler to soft play with a mild cold.

It's made a huge difference to us kids barely ill now even with them in school/nursery!

Soft-plays are a Petri dish anyway, if everyone kept their toddler away with a cold they'd all be empty.

And then they'd end up with shockingly bad immune systems and get sick all the time when they start school.

People need to stop seeing colds as a bad thing for toddlers!

Have you looked at mould and spores as allergens, especially as he's ended up needing an inhaler in the past