Wolfson court nursery - recent spate of illness.

[DonInKillerHeels]

We have one DC in the baby/toddler room, and we are increasingly concerned about levels of illness. I know children catch things from each other. But he's had two bouts of D&V separated by 5 days. Last week DC had violent vomiting on Thursday night; I assumed it was a typical childhood virus and kept him home on Friday. He was 100% better this morning, but 2hours after coming home this evening, very lethargic, he threw the entire contents of his stomach up again. I'm now wondering if it's food poisoning.

I absolutely don't want to be paranoid. But are there any other nursery parents out there with DC with D&V? A lot of the other babies were behaving strangely at pick-up, apparently staging a lie-in.

There is a lot of D&V about at this time of year, there are notices up in all rooms of the nursery I now use. I had a child in the baby room at WC earlier this year and his D&V lasted for 10 days, this was 48hrs after an apparently teething, but very unwell looking child had been dropped off by the parent vomited all over the table during lunch (I was in the room for a settling in visit). Subsequently half of the room was off with D&V (including the teething child).

The virus is transmitted in their breath as well as d&v and the baby room is going to have the most frequent occurrences as they are on the floor or mouthing toys. I ALWAYS keep my child at home for 48 hrs after the last D or V incident even if they seem fine. Unfortunately too many parents send their child into nursery either because they've had a "one off" incident or less than 48hrs after the last episode.

I wouldn't have thought that it was food poisoning but you could raise your concerns with Karen. Also, does your child have a toy or comforter or dummy that they take to nursery that could be contaminated, or maybe they've been in contact with someone else's?

Mine is in a different room so I don't know about illness in the baby room. But I do remember this time last year when he was in the baby room DS was ill constantly - we had about 4 or 5 months of non stop stomach bugs or colds or ear infections. If it was food poisoning I would expect the problem to be in all rooms, and as far as I know the other rooms are ok.
Could it just be that this is the first winter your DC has been in close contact with other kids and is catching everything? That's what I put it down to with mine. Sorry I don't know if you have any other children so if your DC is in close contact with a variety of other children already then my theory isn't much good.

PS Rotavirus is really nasty and the first time they catch it it can take up to two weeks to clear. Subsequent attacks are meant to be milder until immunity builds. Hence the problems with D&V in baby rooms. They're also contagious before they look ill (unlike normal winter vomiting bug) so there's no avoiding it unfortunately.

Thanks so much everyone. Remarkably I find this comforting - especially that the other rooms are not having any problems - it sounds like it is probably rotavirus. Having been born in summer, this is his second winter, and also his second winter at nursery, but Wolfson Court is a much bigger nursery than his previous nursery (and, I do have to say, more laissez faire about hygiene). Poor baby; I guess he will come through it with a stronger immune system!

I just wanted to say that this is a common experience at nursery. I have two boys, one who went to Patacake and one who is still there. They picked up all manner of bugs during their first 2 winters. As an OP has said, it's just the nature of babies and nursery. On the plus side, my eldest in his last year picked up one small cold, and so far this year my youngest has been well. I know other children who have not been in a nursery setting when young, so when they get to school pick up all the bugs going. Obviously neither situation is ideal for anyone, but I try to find the positives, which is that by the time my kids reach school their immune systems are pretty strong, so they don't miss much studying. My eldest has had about 3 days off school ill in the last 2 and a bit years.

As Hooferoo says, I think it can be a positive thing that they catch all this stuff now, hopefully making the school years less virus-ridden. I'm just waiting for chicken pox to come calling now.
Whilst DS was constantly catching things last winter, his non-nursery friends were a picture of health. Now those friends (2.5yrs plus) are all catching everything from toddler playgroups etc and I find that DS has a much milder version of whatever they've got if he catches something. A totally non-scientific observation - but it backs up the idea of getting all the bugs over and done with.

PS: I like the slightly relaxed attitude to cleaning up at Wolfson - I know the place is properly cleaned every evening, and a bit of dirt can't hurt. Far rather that than have a child constantly asking for clean hands or things to be swept up! Suits my lazy housework style nicely :-)