Do the school illnesses get better?

[strawberrywhining]

My DD is just turned 4.5 and started reception in September. She was absolutely fine the first term, but in the last 2.5 weeks she's had hand foot and mouth, a cold thing that gave her 40c fevers for 4 days and needed antibiotics, and today she's come home with diarrhoea. My nearly 3yo DS is at nursery and he's had a cold and hacking cough for the last three weeks and now I can hear him moaning in his sleep and I just have the sense that something is brewing. Please tell me it gets better? We have no family close by and I'm feeling a little bit worn down by it all today once you factor in all the other stuff that comes with having 2young children.

In my experience yes, my youngest was ill regularly throughout reception. Ear infections, tonsillitis, chicken pox etc and I had lots of threatening attendance letters even though I only kept him off if he had a high fever or was vomitting. But it was mostly just that reception year, now in year 3 and has 100% attendance this year so far. I do remember though that one parent was campaigning for them to stop using the hand dryers in reception and won by the end of the year. I've recently read about how they can spread bacteria and viruses, and it has made me wonder if the hand dryer contributed to how virulent everything was, makes sense when you look into it, and might be worth finding out if your child's school uses hand dryers. Ask them what measures they have in place to reduce the contagion, maybe you could add a scented hand gel on a keyring to DC's school bag.

Yes, it does get better. I highly recommend Sambucol for kids. Both mine take it from
September to March. It doesn’t prevent them picking up viral infections but it does lessen the symptoms and aids recovery. Would not be without it. Both mine had chicken pox and it was barely noticeable. One is at uni now and still takes it.

I was talking to my mum recently about this because she cannot remember this with me and my brother. Of course, it could be simply that it was 30 years ago and that's the only reason but I do wonder whether the pandemic has anything to do with it - our small children being so much less exposed to illnesses as very small children and then suffering more once they join formal school settings.

Sorry, that probably wasn't helpful but I stand in solidarity with you. Hope it gets better for you.

It did for mine, when they were in yr2 it started to peter out and they hardly got ill from school in juniors.
Reception was awful for illnesses and random vomiting bugs

My DS has been like this since he was around 10 months! He caught Covid at 3 months and I always wonder if that's why he's now so susceptible. But since my mat leave ended he catches EVERYTHING! I was hoping by the time he went to school it would be better as surely he's built up more immunity by then! But maybe not? How were they from 1-3? Hope it gets better soon!

It varies. It's not uncommon for Reception children to pick up everything going for the first couple of terms. However, illness often goes in waves across a school and this year (ie since September) my school has had the really bad cold that takes weeks to clear up (then everyone picks it up again), D&V and chicken pox. Not every year is like this.

Year 1 was a turning point for us. DD had less of the "childhood illnesses" like chickenpox etc and just caught colds and D&V like the rest of us

I find that if she catches a cold now, it doesn't floor her. When she was younger it would be sky high temps, time off work for us, checking on her obsessively in the night etc but now she barely even needs calpol. She's built resilience now.

My one's 18 now but I relied heavily on GPs during DD's formative years because of illness! She was born premature which added a layer to things, but there were times when she spent more time at home than at nursery, and then school.

When your child mixes with a new group of humans, they might have germs that she might not be immune to. She has to experience these to gain the immunity. It evens out as they get older, though even now when DD mixes with new people she might still pick up something, but it's not as bad.

I'm dreading her starting university in September!

Thank you so much everyone. This was really reassuring to read. I was at a pretty low ebb yesterday when I posted. DD is still poorly but i feel a bit more pragmatic about it now. I will take on board all of the advice, especially sambucol and hand gel. And for those who just posted to be supportive, thank you it's much appreciated I had two babies during covid and then have spent the last 4.5 years raising them without a 'village' and it's been quite lonely. For the poster who mentioned Covid lockdowns being a factor, I completely agree.