CM Club: do/did your own kids get ill constantly due to your job???

[HappyMumof2]

I'm starting to feel really tired of my kids being ill all the time.......

they are normally very healthy and hardly ever ill.

However, since I have started childminding, dd has had chicken pox, conjunctivitis, a throat infection and now they both have a sickness bug and ds has the throat infection.

Is this normal in the beginning and did you find that they began to build an immunity (as I think I have) or does it continue like this?

I really, really need to get tougher with my sickness and exclusion policy, I know this is my problem. Did you find you became 'tougher' as time went on?? (I am only on my first family btw!)

I have been minding for 10 yrs or so.It is a part of the job which i don't feel has gotten any better.I have a really strict policy for sick children but although parents agree to it and sign they still bring their kids.My mindee who left in February gave me and my 3 kids a horrible stomach bug cos mum brought her on the 23rd of December when she'd been sick twice during the night.We ended upin bed all xmas eve and xmas day and had to tell our family to come and pick up all the food and take it away with them. and When she came back her exact words were "u are a childminder and it's an occupational hazard".If she hadn't been going anyway she would have had hernotice there and then.So hard to deal with eh?

Thankfully, my family are older (youngest was 8 years old when I started) so have managed to miss catching whatever is going around. I've also been fortunate not to have picked up any real nasties from the children (just the usual colds) in the 11? 12? years I've been minding.

my kids have had all those things except conjunctivitis so far this year. They too are normally healthy. We are today on our 2nd sick bug of the year.I started minding last september and cant work out if its to do with that or just a bad year for bugs.

Thanks for your replies. Seems it's not just us then

it's gutting really, when your kids have always been so well.

I've been minding since November teddyedwards, so I'm hoping it's the first year that will be the worst (wishful thinking maybe?)

With my next parents, I'm determind not to be a pushover though. I think the problem is if you take them once when they are ill, they just expect you to do it every time........

Should we have flu jab do you think? My doc thought so when i saw her for another reason today I think maybe since Christmas it has been a bad year for viruses as friends working in public services have had just as many tummy bugs, colds or 'just let me die' lurgies as me, mindees and parents. Roll on summer.
Do you take any remedies, echinacia, CO Q10 or use essential oils?

I am a teacher - so get lots of bugs both from the kids and also from ds as he is in nursery. My top tips:

Make sure everyone washes their hands a lot.

If you get a kid that's had V&D then take a double dose of probiotics for 3 days - take the normal dose everyday. The really expensive ones with lots of bacterial strains are worth the money.

In NZ you can also get some good bacteria for throats which you do for 3 days once a month. It's no good for viral stuff though.

I don't take anything atm, other than multivitamins but I think it might be a good idea. Hopefully when the weather picks up, things will improve

I get tummy bugs and the odd cold, ds doesnt get alot, he get the very infrequent cold/fever but it doesnt often bother him. He is starting nursery so that might change.

I think the hand washing thing is the key. Although i dont go overboard on bleach and stuff ,i do religeously wash my hands when handling food, and i think being mummy and the main sick clearer upper i wash them more than my partner, who has now gone down with the bug. I am hoping i will avoid it this time as i did last time -6 weeks ago, because i do wash my hands. He takes the p*s but its not me who is puking and sh**ing everywhere YET!

Yes, I'm very thorough with hand washing. My kids are both a lot better now, thankfully and I haven't had it. I do think as a mum & cm you become really tough where germs are concerned!

I also spray my changing mat with Milton and clean out potties with milton, sounds a bit ott but I feel better doing it! I also use Dettol Spray (sound a bit weird now, don't I?) and I make sure mindees have seperate bedding, flannels etc which I wash at the end of the week

I think its just been a bad winter for it.
My kids have had the odd cold and a very mild D&V bug - mild compared to most others who had it that is, but one of my mindees has been picking up everything going. He had had colds, tonsillitis chest infection, conjunctivitis, D&V and yesterday i sent him home with hand foot and mouth. All this since September!!!
i think that with time the children become immune to all the colds etc going around, so it depends to some extent on what they may have been previously exposed to.
Since my children have mixed with loads of others at playgroups etc from day one they are quite tough now, but they have had their fair share of illnesses. 2004 was a bad winter for us.