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Original poster

Nursery vs Child Minder

12 replies

SL80 · 17/07/2022 08:04

Hi all keen for anyone to share their experience on this subject incase I am overreacting,

I am seriously considering taking our daughter out of nursery and opting for a childminder due to the amount of sickness she has experienced. She started in Feb 2022 at 10 months old. Since then she has been sent home 4 or 5 times due to a temperature and has experienced three ear infections, a virus and general sickness/upset stomach.

What is making me consider this now is that we have been away for 2 weeks in Greece and she was absolutely fine, her continual snotty nose cleared up, no stomach upsets (that we thought might happen with eating new foods etc abroad). We returned this week and within one day of her being back at nursery she was vomiting and her snotty nose has come back.

Of course at this age I expect some levels of bugs etc but it seems every week we have notifications from the nursery of cases of Diarrhea, sickness, chickenpox etc.

Is this the same with childminders or are things a lot less??

OP posts:

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HollyBollyBooBoo · 17/07/2022 08:13

Unless you're concerned about hygiene at Nursery I'd say this sounds fairly normal, young kids have to build up their immunity. I think DD and I almost permanently had some sort of cold or bug for the first year of her being at nursery.

RedWingBoots · 17/07/2022 08:18

Depending on the CM they will have older school aged kids there due to doing school drop offs/pick ups, small kids with older school age siblings and/or their own school aged kids.

So your child will still get sick.

Whether it is at much depends on the mixture.

Oh and plenty of CMs have pets which oddly may help your child get sick less.

2020firsttimemum · 28/07/2022 20:00

I think this is completely normal and I assure you it will settle down
When our little one started nursery at 9 months he was ALWAYS being sent home for something. Felt like I spent more time at home with him than at work.

But eventually, probably about 8 months or so in (I know it seems like a long time) he stopped getting ill all the time. He's now 2 and I can't remember the last time he was sent home for being ill!

For context he goes wed-Fri 7:30-6pm

De88 · 30/07/2022 19:36

Totally normal wherever they go I'm afraid- it will lessen and stop once they've built up some immunity. Although in our experience one of our childminders was happy to keep ours even if they were ill, as long as all the parents agreed it (which we did).

LetintheLight · 28/08/2022 06:40

Had ours with a CM with 3 other little ones for 2 years and was pretty east going. Started nursery 11 months ago and it’s been tough going with bug after bug after bug and another flare up this weekend across the class it seems

Caneparrot · 28/08/2022 07:03

We went for a childminder with the thinking that she has a higher threshold for making them stay home if they have a fever - she’s happy to give calpol and have a chilled day with the other boy if ours isn’t feeling quite right. Have heard stories of nurseries sending home at the first throat clear or low grade fever with teething and I just couldn’t drop my job that often (HCP). Your child will still get bugs though, which is no bad thing as otherwise you’re just pushing it further down the line!

ellesbellesxxx · 28/08/2022 07:10

So normal! However by the third year it really settled down (second cut short due to covid) then my son only missed two days of reception for pcr tests, he wasn’t unwell once! My daughter had to miss a week due to covid but even she only missed two days apart from that.

Simonjt · 28/08/2022 07:15

Its normal, remember if it isn’t happening now it is all being saved for her first year of school, you can’t stop it, you just delay it.

BertieBotts · 28/08/2022 07:33

I've had one in nursery and one in childminder. The one at the childminder got so many fewer illnesses. And he didn't get them later at school either.

It might just be luck but that's what happened in my family.

Truthseeker456 · 28/08/2022 07:33

My daughter was the same. Moved her from the nursery and they eventually got shut down due to hygiene ( and other things ) . Bit give away for us was that every day she would be sent home without shoes, coats etc. At her new nursery always is fully dressed and nothing missing from her bag.

WhatILoved · 28/08/2022 07:35

Hi
I'm a childminder and I'd send her home with a temperature too but not snotty nose etc. Some children are like this I'm afraid. They pick up everything. However I rarely have to send kids home. This will be a mixture of parents being good and keeping kids off when ill and also the fact that I'm really diligent about hygiene practices. I properly clean the areas of my house when children have left every day. If I have any kids that are mouthing toys they get washed and toys will probably get washed more often than nursery ones- they are not paid enough in nurseries to put in extra hours cleaning. We also spend a lot more time outside than an average nursery would. I believe this keeps us healthy. Next time you go to nursery check that their windows are open etc and do ask if your daughter is washing hands enough. If she is in nappies they may be changing her bug not washing hands. Also ask if they are changing the bed sheets etc (each child has their own sheets at mine and washed weekly)

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 28/08/2022 07:36

I think if sounds a tad extreme personally. How cleans the nursery ? I’d look for another nursery- tbh I prefer a nursery setting, just a personal preference.

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