Should I keep my toddler off nursery when my new baby arrives?

[Anxiousmumlife]

My 2nd baby is due in October and I am considering keeping my son off from nursery between October and January as a way to limit winter bugs getting in the house with a new born and him restarting properly in January. He is 2 years 3 months old, has settled in to nursery well but I feel I can see what will happen he will just bring back one cold after another and I dont want to be going to the hospital with a new born constantly having chest infections, respitory distress and all sorts. Has anyone else done this?

If you can afford to send them then I would. How many days do they attend? I'd try and get a nice balance between keeping dc1 in a routine and stimulated, time for you to rest and bond with baby and the financial impact.

Keep your DS in nursery. I say that as someone who had norovirus the day after giving birth to DD thanks to DS bringing it home from nursery. Dealing with a vomiting toddler and a newborn was hell, but we got through it. DD did catch bugs off him, but was fine and I'm hoping she'll have a stronger immune system as a result.

The reason I say keep him in nursery is you won't lose the place, it will keep him in his routine and you will be able to spend quality time with DC2. When DD was tiny she often ended up just getting plonked on a play mat so I could entertain/sort out DS. Nursery days have been a godsend for bonding time. He only goes 2 days a week so I still spend plenty of time with him.

She doesn’t need ‘days’ to meet her new sibling. They’ve got a lifetime together. I think you over estimate how much interest small children really have of their baby siblings. What she needs is her own independence and development being prioritised.

No, I think a few days at home with her baby sibling will be lovely. She loves to ‘help’ and I suspect she’ll be quite excited. It’s more for me really. As for her independence she is a full time nursery goer so I’m not too worried about that

I am so glad I kept my toddler in nursery- not only for my sanity but also because he enjoys it.

My baby is a bad sleeper so the only chance I have to catch up on sleep is when toddler is at nursery - when I’m napping when baby naps. It would be horrendous on zero sleep and then having to entertain a toddler!

Go easy on yourself and keep things as they are.

We did have his because dd was born slap bang in the middle of covid, and there was no way I wanted to risk a newborn (remember, it's a completely different mindset now - I'm talking about the middle of 2020 when Chris Whitty was on telly scaring the bejeebers out of us every day).

DS was actually off nursery from February 2020 until March 2021.

He suffered absolutely no ill effects. He was about 2 1/2 when I took him out and pretty much nonverbal. By the time he went back he had an excellent vocabulary and really into numbers and just learning in general.

I would have had to have him out for around 3 months anyway as I had a c section and couldn't drive.

He quickly made lots of friends when he went back and was much more sociable. He also has a really good relationship with dd.

You do what you think is right for you.

@Anxiousmumlife if you can breastfeed loads and loads! I had three dcs closish and my eldest would have been in preschool when I had a newborn and toddler and I breastfed all until 16 months and they honestly never caught anything off their brothers as breast milk is full of antibodies and adjusts milk when encounters viruses.
Good luck op!!

Expect twice as many bugs from when your baby arrives. Keep the toddler's usual routine going.

I have four DC and had four ill at once for a short couple of years, winter vomiting bugs etc.

Best to just accept they get unwell from time to time and it's easier to cope with.

Good luck 😃

From a different perspective I sent my toddler part time. It scarf money obviously. I think it was nice for them to have days at home with the baby. I also was able to focus on them a bit an take them to toddler groups etc. Babies are kind of boring.

We had a new baby in October last year and a 20 month old at nursery and we continued to send him. We didn't get any additional illnesses surprisingly. Also, I found incredibly tough caring for two children under 2 so I was very glad of the nursery days.

My days with toddler in nursery are lifesaving op, I often refuse to schedule anything on them so I can nap when baby naps (baby is not good at routine or sleeping at night, just like all my other babies). Your health will need it!

I wouldnt keep him off till January but I would possibly keep him home for a few days to bond with the baby.
Ds carried on going to nursery when his brother was born the baby never caught any bugs that his brother brought home everyone else in the house did.

My youngest was born in December and I’ve got a son in school and a son in nursery. In theory I could of stopped middle son going to nursery but I didn’t because he loved it, it maintained a routine for him and it gave me one on one time with youngest. Youngest caught a virus leading to bronicholitis at 6 weeks from my middle son (who also had bronchiolitis), he did get the once over at hospital because of his age but no admission needed and got over it pretty quickly. Sure, keeping my toddler out of nursery may of prevented that. What it wouldn’t of prevented is my eldest bringing home chicken pox and then passing it down to his younger brothers when youngest was 9 weeks old. Or the sickness bug my eldest brought home from school. I can’t exactly say right no school for x amount of months to prevent germs. It is what it is and from my experience, nursery will be needed both for your toddlers routine and your own sanity.