Shall I hold off nursery for my 2 year old?

[MumOfTwoBeans]

Hi, my son has just turned 2. I was thinking of enrolling him into nursery after Easter to help him with his speech and so he can mix with kids and get him out the house

I have a 7 week old daughter though and I’m worried about her getting sick if I send him since I’ve heard about nursery kids getting sick constantly which is putting me off!

Shall I hold off for a year or so? My daughter will only be 3 months old at the time so I worry about covid, chicken pox and mumps etc

What would you do?

@ThepicofmyhairymingeprovesIamsober they can get plenty of exposure to germs at playgroups etc, exposure to dirt is good, viruses not so much. I would argue our belief that getting kids voluntarily infected in nursery with every virus going is misguided. We get limited immunity to COVID, colds etc from infection, so the longer you can delay your child getting sick, or the more things you can protect them through vaccine-induced immunity, the better.

One good thing we can learn from covid is that we need to be better at cleaning the air we breathe. Respiratory illness is largely airborne, better air can help reduce risk (not 100%, but reduced viral loads help).

What is your nursery's/school's policy/approach to ventilation, do they have HEPA filters? The more they take clean air seriously, the less infection your child will suffer from. Just like we clean tap water (learning from cholera outbreaks), clean indoor air is the next big public health step we need to take, if we learn anything from covid. We as parents need to be pushing for this change. Nursery/school does not have to be a merry-go-round of illness after illness, we've just accepted it as such.

Cleaner indoor air also has cognitive benefits: high levels of CO2 and PM2.5 and NOx impair brain function.

Yes but baby won't be 7 weeks old when OP is considering sending the eldest. I just wouldn't be waiting until baby is near 1 like some people are suggesting. My eldest was in full time nursery when my second was born and DS2 has had a much milder introduction to illness and hasn't been anywhere near as sick when he has had any bugs. DS1 was in A&E several times for croup in his second year when he started nursery because his immune system had never been challenged

I'd hold off, because he will bring everything home - vomiting bugs, RSV, chicken pox, strep A, worms, nits - things that are harder to treat for a small baby.

Also, because you don't want him to feel pushed out by his new sister. The dynamics can be quite sensitive when they are little.

I'd hold off until his free hours at 3.

The nursery place is free since he’s entitled to 15 free hours, not sure if that makes a difference but a lot of people are mentioning waiting until he’s 3 and gets free hours