When do nursery illnesses end?

[Cafeaulait27]

I’m sure there are loads of threads on this but my son who started nursery at 1 yo, 2 days a week from end of September is ill all the time and we get it all too. He’s had everything and so have we, and each illness seems to overlap with the last so he’s never 100%. Having said that, other than having a runny nose and coughing he is pretty happy during the day, it just affects his sleep at night. He used to sleep through every night pretty much until he started nursery so it’s been quite tough on us all.

he is very happy and settled at nursery however out of the 2 days a week he has been going since September he has been sent home ill 7 times, which I think seems like a lot. 3 times it’s been because he has vomited after his breakfast, and the rest because he has a temperature.

i know everyone goes through this when their child starts nursery but please can someone reassure me and tell me this will end?

I feel like he has been sent home a lot but can’t argue with the nursery’s reasons for doing so. But is he getting ill more than a normal child? Or is it normal for them to be sent home this often? I dread to think what it would be like if he was full time.

At the moment I feel like I’m paying for a nursery place only for him to not be there half the time…

is this just normal? When will it end?!

For DD1 things got better after a year, to the point that she hasn't seen a GP in 8 years now. DD2 is still in the thick of her first year so I'll let you know! It's hard but normal unfortunately

Hold on - it will get better soon. Mine was the same, 2 days a week from Sept from 1yo. They'd get sent home ill at the start of the week, go in for their 2nd day then pick up a new bug and spend the following week off ill too. Rinse and repeat. It did start getting better around Spring though,then illnesses restarted when new intake joined the following September.

It sounds bizarre, but he probably needs to go into nursery more. (I know it's expensive).

My DS1 went to a childminder PT and it was a nightmare for settling him, with illnesses etc. We made the decision to send him full time (I also needed the break TBH) and everything settled down quickly after.

That being said there is a lot of bad stuff going around currently. My kids are in primary school now and there has been an endless cycle of D&V, nasty colds and even Covid since they went back in September. We had rolling back to back illnesses with one of them home probably every 2-3 weeks.

Hi @milkymeg thank you, good to hear about your older one!

does it really take a year to settle down…?! I was hoping it would get better as we go into spring!

i was starting to feel a bit like they think I’m an easy one to contact because we don’t live far, often myself or my husband are working from home and of course when they call we come over as soon as possible. But then I think, well they can’t be making it up that he’s been sick or has a temperature surely. And of course I’m not going to not pick him up if he’s ill. But it makes me wonder what other parents do.

Im probably getting defensive and thinking it’s just me all the time but maybe it happens to all of the new babies until their immune system gets better. it’s just tough!

Perfectly normal I’d say.

It is different for every child. My oldest only ever got the odd thing, but my youngest picked up a lot of illness and bugs. This continued til he was 3 ish, but it did reduce frequency from about 2.5 years of age.
If it is any consolation neither has had much time off since they started full time school (and they are teenagers now).
I remember those days clearly though.

I have a one year old and all his NCT friends go to nursery. If he’s only been sent home 7 times since September, you’re doing phenomenally compared to them!

A couple of them have talked to their doctors, but it’s a horrible combination of first year immunity picking up and COVID meaning everyone else’s immunity is lower than normal and more things are doing the rounds.

Depends on the child and the nursery. Mine has been going for 2.5years and has only been sent home twice, but she rarely gets temps and never vomits. She seems to pick viruses up with only mild symptoms. We are very lucky.

Vomiting once after breakfast wouldn’t warrant a send home at our setting, unless the child was otherwise unwell in themselves. If they are well in themselves they get sent home after three vomits and/or diarrhoea. What is their sickness policy?

We found the first winter at nursery brutal.

It was a little better over spring and summer.

The second winter was almost as brutal (but not quite).

By the third winter she was pretty much immune to all disease, and is rarely ill with generic bugs these days.

We are enjoying a period of good nursery health now (frantically knocks wood) after one thing after another, I was at my wits end. Seven months for us, DS was 10 months old when he started going 4x a week.

@Follycastle I agree on the sickness. I have pushed back each time this has happened and say ‘surely it’s just his breakfast?’ But they say they inspect it and if it’s loads/projectile/more than just his breakfast in the sick they send home.

I did find that annoying but on each occasion they have actually ended up being right, as when I’ve collected him he’s gone on to vomit at home.

it’s strange though as this never happens at home, he rarely gets temperatures and has never vomited other than these times where it’s started at nursery.

I always put him in thinner clothes for nursery, because although they say to layer them up it’s always quite hot in there. I often wonder if he’s just got overheated!