A new illness picked up @ Nursery every week ...is this normal?

[Avonsgirl]

Hi, I am a Nanna/ Granny to a 16 month old beautiful Granddaughter. Our daughter went back to work after maternity leave (3 days a week). Our Granddaughter goes to a (good ofsted rated ) day nursery where she picks up a ' new' bug/illness/virus every week (not an exaggeration). If it's not sickness & Diarrhoea then it's chest infection/ cough/ flu type thing. The poor thing doesn't have the time to get over one thing before she has picked up yet another illness. I am genuinely worried about what this is doing to the poor mite. Our Granddaughter has had all of her immunisations and eats (when not too ill to do so) an excellent diet. Is this normal for children to pick up a new illness ' every' week at Nursery? Have others found this? ....and lastly (ball park) how long is this likely to go on for? I totally understand / fully appreciate that children have to acquire illnesses to build up their immunity but surely not a new illness every week. I would be so grateful for any advice/ others experiences on this matter as I'm so concerned. Many thanks to you all.

Par for the course first year of nursery sadly.
Bodies are more resilient than you think. and her immune system will have developed before starting school

Yes was the same with mine. Par for the course with starting nursery I'm afraid. Getting back to work after a baby isn't always as straightforward as it seems with the constant illnesses.
Hope her immune system strengthens soon x

Yes, I'm afraid it was the same for both DS too. I think vitamin supplements have helped a bit but really it was horrendous. It gets better as they develop some immunity and then the first term of primary school seemed like another germ fest ...

It's completely normal!

Yes - first year I was wondering why I bothered with a full time placement.

Yes. It's horrendous. But it does pass! In our second year of nursery now and it's been significantly better.

Completely normal. Better now than in reception year.

I work in EYFS and it is constant. Add in nits, worms, hand foot and mouth, slapped cheek syndrome and chicken pox and we playfully refer to the children as plague bearers.

It is hard for at least the first year and then when they mix going into reception it can sort of start again. Some children do seem more resilient than others but most children are coughing and/or have a snotty nose from late October to late February.

After reception I do think it’s gets a bit better because the environment is not as play based, children have learned class routines and are better at hand washing/blowing noses and disposing of tissues (so many don’t have a clue when they come to us) and less chance of contamination.

Normal, surely your kids got sick?

You can help by taking your granddaughter at weekends if allowed so your daughter can rest, she'll be run ragged right now

Many thanks BookGoblin, I worked evenings, weekends etc until our daughter was 2.5 when she went to playgroup while I worked Mornings etc, she got the occasional illness but boy we were lucky with her amazing immunity. Sadly I wish I could help out but alas live 4 - 5 hours drive away and therefore only see her about every 6 weeks.

Thank you for your reassurance , I can only hope her second year at Nursery will be better. Thanks for taking the time to reply x

I totally understand and appreciate that. What makes it worse is our daughter is a teacher so when our Granddaughter is ill, as in Sickness & Diarrhoea she obviously cannot go to nursery and it's very frowned upon (for obvious reasons) for a teacher to take time off, you just can't win!. Sadly I live over 4 hours drive away and cannot drive so can't just nip over to help out.

Yes, we had the same experience, unfortunately. It's par for the course.

Another to say normal, or at least it was this way for us.
You get a break in summer, and the second winter was easier, the third easier again.
So yes, it does get better. Keep swimming!