Pull 16MO from nursery because of sickness?

[McNorious]

Hi all this is my first post.

Has anyone pulled their child from a nursery setting and switched to a childminder because of constant sickness??
Did it help? Or was it no different?

I have a 16MO girl who has been in day care nursery for the last 6 months and has suffered sickness from the get go. She has CMPA but no other health conditions. Within the first 8weeks of starting day care she was hospitalised with bronchiolitis twice (two 10day stays)
Every other week from September she has had every virus going including Chicken pox, Strep, ear and throat infections, umpteen gastro bugs and colds. All this is coupled with the fact that she’s a very poor sleeper. it’s been really really hard on everyone.

I understand kids need to build their immunity and it’s all a process but my other child was never this ill during her day care years.

I am considering switching to a childminder to see if that helps. What’s your experiences?

Yes I would switch. A home environment is likely to be kept cleaner plus less children in the setting. Unfortunately some nurseries are grim due to being so busy and often short staffed and things aren’t kept as clean as they should be. I’m not talking spotless but just basic hygiene.

I worked in one setting where they tried to save money on paper towels but using a normal towel hung up for all the children to use but it was changed once a week so was filthy 🤮 we had a lot of stomach bugs till that idea was shelved

Some children just do pick up every bug going

also doesn’t help when other parents send their kids in when sick rather then keep them at home /take a day off work

yes in a smaller environment hopefully be less bugs

I also think due to covid many children have a less immune System as didn’t see people for months

other then dd health - are you happy with the care there

if she has had the big ones of chicken pox and step then it may just be a case of winter bugs and Jan to Easter term be better

DD went to a childminder for about 2/3 months before covid and it was AWFUL. Constantly ill. CM was v relaxed on illness policy it turned up, kids could go with diarrhoea and she didn't bother mentioning when they started coming down with chicken pox.

Then she did 2 years of nursery and was constantly sick for about a year and a half of that. The last 6 months she was ok but then we had to pull her for something else.

CM might not necessarily be better than a nursery, varies a lot

I agree CM may not be better.

My son was ill for the first 6 months also, now it's the normal winter viruses he gets and the odd thing over the summer.

We got a nanny... it was life changing ... not least because if DS was ill, she still came. DS also had allergies and food intolerances.. being able to ask his nanny to take him to see the osteopath and non urgent appointments took the load off me too. I was also confident that his diet was being strictly adhered to which was important for me.

From a childcare providers perspective it's not always down to the setting but parents who continue to send in their sick children.
I am a childminder and pride myself on my hygiene and sticking to my sickness policies. I always alert all parents when any other child comes down with an illness. However parents do not always show me the same courtesy a classic example, 2 months ago my youngest (8) had picked up worms from somewhere I did the responsible thing in treating the whole family and alerting all of my mindee family's and this is when it was discovered a child had already started treatment and the parents didn't want to tell me incase I refused care. I explained I wouldn't have refused care however I would have restricted play resources such as sand / play doh and would've alerted other families.
I understand that for working parents it's hard when children are sick to keep them home and care for them but it's the responsible thing to do.

Pro's for childminder would be a smaller setting also probably better communication regarding any illnesses going around.

Cons if the childminders sick then they close.

Pro's for nursery they can remain open if there are staff off due to illness.

Cons more likely to be germy.

I also think due to covid many children have a less immune System as didn’t see people for months

This is an important point.

My DD has been at her CM before she was 1 and at a nursery as well since she was 3. Her CM did this for other children when DD was younger, plus does wrap around care for school aged children.

My DD was sick twice before starting nursery so she couldn't go to the CMs, and then sick a lot for the first term of nursery with coughs and colds.

However this winter she has been ill a lot with coughs and colds in both environments even though the number of children at her nursery and the number of older children having wrap around care at her CMs has reduced.

Basically the smaller number of children she is in direct contact with are sicker.