10m old, constantly poorly from nursery - normal?

[AmberM2022]

So before i start i do know they say they will catch anything and everything from nursery. But my little one has been at nursery for about 4/5 weeks now and the illnesses have been endless! About 3 bouts of ‘colds’ and bad coughs, a horrendous case of impetigo which left him in hospital, to now straight away getting another old and this morning woke with a sickness bug!
Is this the same for others? I just don’t know what to do to help, so any suggestions welcome!?
I start a new job in 4 weeks which doesn’t allow me to work from home so i’m worrying about having to actually take unpaid time off all the time, so anything i could do to try stop it i will, but i know that’s probs virtually impossible. He’s only 10 months old and has had covid twice, 2x conjunctivitis, 2x ear infections, chest infections, colds, sickness and he still hasn’t ‘got a good immune system’ as people tell me he will build up!
Have others been through the same?

Unfortunately yes. Luckily partner and I juggled all the kids illnesses between us so that overall we took same amount of time off- so one wasn't always hit.

It does it better as they get older and they begin building up their immune system- but this wasn't until after 1yrs in our experience. But until then- we were always nervous if we hadn't had an illness in a week as we knew we were bound to get hit with something that required more time off.

We don't wfh either and it is always nerve racking telling work you won't be in again....but they have to cope and shouldn't be giving you any grief.

It's when they pass it on to you and you suffer worse 😩😩. That's the most annoying!

Bit late to the post but yep, common!

DS started at 9 months when I went back to work and I swear I was off work more than I was in to start with! Coughs and colds, conjunctivitis, hand foot and mouth, sickness bugs, bronchiolitis you name it he had it. Was a pain in the arse!
Thankfully at 3 he doesn't seem to be ill often now runs to touch wood

Dreading when DD starts in jan!

Thanks both! @Basilthymerosemary @febbabies2023
I was just starting to worry thinking i have never even heard of babies getting so many illnesses in such a short space of time! I actually caught his sickness bug over the BH weekend and oh my god did i get it, 1000% worse than him! Awful.
Suppose i’m just worried about starting my new job in a few weeks and making a bad impression if i need time off. But suppose can’t be helped.
I have tried to start giving him vitamins in his water this week but he can taste it and refuses so that didn’t go well haha!

Totally normal but I found that in the long run it all evens out and everyone has to have the time off to cover all the same illnesses. If you don't do the bugs at nursery age, you just have to do it when they go to reception instead. There were children in both DCs reception class that spent the winter term off more than in and then got Chicken pox in late spring (that's another delight to look out for will generally strike in April or May just as you have a holiday booked). It's hard to begin with but once you are over the first hurdle it really does begin to improve.

I'm sorry to hear this. Are you aware that COVID weakens your immunity? Your child has had it twice so his immune system is likely struggling (all that stuff about lockdowns being bad for immune systems is nonsense, there is nothing beneficial about being exposed to viruses if you can avoid them).

Your best bet is to have a serious word with your nursery about their indoor air quality. How much are they ventilating the room? Can they invest in a HEPA air purifier? Can they get kids to spend as much time outdoors as possible? There is plenty of evidence from schools that good ventilation reduces COVID infection (and hence other airborne viruses like flu, RSV, measles, chickenpox etc).

Good indoor air won't stop 100% of illnesses but will help to reduce transmission. If you can afford to take your child out of nursery for the next 4 weeks before you go to work, this can also help to boost his immune system by lowering his exposure to infection and give him a proper chance to recover.

PS I recommend paying for the chicken pox vaccine. Better than catching it.

Defo pay for chicken pox vaccine. That will save you at least a week’s unpaid leave or holiday allowance. Best money I ever spent.

Sounds like he had a lot of illness even before nursery so seems unfair to suddenly blame that. It is usual to catch illness just by being around more children but some are unluckier than others.

I hate all this they are better off catching it now etc bollocks. It’s not better. OP we had our eldest in a similar nursery we pulled that DC out and moved to another nursery. A chain, Busy Bees. It was tonnes better. No where near as many illnesses and I could get my job done! However with second DC we got a childminder and that was ten folds better, more fresh air and less colds.

I would say my second child has a much better immune system than my first because they didn’t get so many viruses and were able to fight them one by one. My eldest has deffo suffered a lot more since nursery than my youngest who went to a CM.

Your baby’s immune system is taking a right battering I would consider pulling them out and giving them a chance to reset/recover. Then consider a childminder or nanny as winter will be awful in your current nursery.

I wouldn't say it's to be expected, but it's certainly normal. Some kids seem to pick up every bug going, others don't. No idea why that is.

Both mine went to nursery full time from 4/5 months and have only been unwell on very rare occasions (other than the usual toddler permasnot). I can count on both hands the number of days they had off nursery. Eldest has had 2 days off school in 3 years (vomited once at school so had to have 48 hours off).

Paid for chicken pox vaccine for both kids.

We also paid for CP vaccine.

@AmberM2022 the first sickness bug he got, we got too! It was bloody awful! So much worse than him, and then when he was better trying to look after him whilst we were ill was no fun either! It's really annoying much not much we can do I think!
Thankfully my second doesn't seem to get ill nearly as much as he did

Thanks everyone. He has actually already had CP - spots came out on our first family holiday to spain back in July, noticed while sat on the plane - absolute nightmare. But he dealt with them very well! But suppose that’s done with (or not at the state of his immune system i’m convinced he will get them again)
If i could afford to take him out to sort of ‘reset’ for the next few weeks i absolutely would but just not an option i need to keep working. I think i will have a chat with nursery about air ventilation and getting outside, i know they do go out but not as often as the older kids at all, and it’s defo not everyday maybe like once per week. I suppose that will be harder too with winter coming up. I do have his name down for another nursery but their waiting list is so so long but we will see!

@AussieManque Yes i do know about the Covid, i have no idea how he caught it both times he wasn’t even really seeing anyone at the time! But when he has had it, it’s been quite bad (in hospital both times)
I have thought about requesting the docs to do a full blood count on him, just to check all ok like with his white blood cells things like that. But i know i’ll probably get a no and that ‘all babies catch bugs at nursery’ line - they say it to me all the time!