Nursery germs

[lisa270988]

I'm so so worried and anxious about my my little boy who is almost 4 starting preschool just 2 mornings a week and all the germs he will catch! Everyone says how bad it is!! Please Everyone share there experiences I hoping not Everyone have a awful time! I have huge health anxiety and this is really stressing me

Our son went to nursery for a whole year before starting school and attended 3 long mornings a week (8-1). He didn’t have a single day off, didn’t catch many bugs apart from mild colds occasionally. He was vaccinated against chicken pox when he was 1 though.

With respect, nothing he catches there will kill him. Do speak to a doc about your anxiety as it’s not normal. Hope you’re ok tho as this can’t be easy for you

Tbh our DC didn't really get that many illnesses from preschool, it was mostly from their cousins lol 😆 We had expected more, maybe lucky, but try not to worry and just take a week at a time. Xxx

how is his immunity going to grow?! you do realise every germ and illness is a chance at making his body stronger for the future?

Honestly it's something that you need to ride out, I remember lump in my stomach every time i picked them up from nursery worrying what they caught this time. But looking back it really wasn't so bad. My eldest went through what felt like one illness per month when she started private nursery at 3, few more in Reception but she's only ever had antibiotics once for bad tonsillitis. Since then she's had maybe one or two stomach bugs and she's now 13. Her and her younger sister tested positive for Covid when their dad had it with virtually no symptoms- no temp and not a single cough between them. It's overwhelming when theyre little and stressful when you work but each child is different and it really doesn't have to be that bad. Having said that dealing with my own anxiety (I've had CBT) continues to help me when theyre unwell. Ask for help if you feel overwhelmed with health worries. All the best to your little one x

you actually want him to catch all the germs, let him play with mud etc. this will build up his tolerance and immunity so he will suffer less growing up. I know it’s hard, but youre actually helping him to get a bit dirty and mix with germs. He may get a lot of colds and sneezes and no doubt pass a few on.
Also don’t buy anything antibacterial, I learnt that this stuff helps cause bacterial resistance amd apparently should be banned. Normal cleaning stuff is fine.

My son went full time to nursery at 10 months and I’m pretty sure he was solidly unwell for a year. All the usual stuff. Nothing serious. Also the extras like hand foot & mouth, severe tonsillitis, endless rashes, giardia (I reported the nursery to public health England for this one!), D&V a few times, conjunctivitis, strep.

He had soooo much.

However he’s been as healthy as a horse since because his immune system is now a BEAST.

Now 8 and can count on my hand how many times he has been unwell after that first year or so. When he is, it doesn’t really take him out or down too long or require time off school (sniffles etc). In 4 school years he had one week off sick in Y2 which was for proper diagnosed flu (that was a hospital trip as temp was 40 for a week and very poorly).

It will happen. Get him vaccinated and don’t panic - it’s normal and very good for them to build their immune system for more serious bugs when they’re older as catching those things as an adult is far worse (my DH seemed to get all the random extras from him).

Meant kindly but go to the GP and address your health anxiety as that’s the issue really. Him getting germs isn’t a bad thing at all. It will help his health long term.

@lisa270988 We are all coming in to contact with circulating viruses every day. As adults, we have been encountering them since we were born and have developed immunity to most of them. That is why most elderly adults are rarely troubled with colds - over the years they've seen them all so it takes something new to affect them.

Children are born with some immunity that they were given in the womb. As they become older, that maternal immunity wears off and they start building their own, through the infections they acquire through being with other children. As they grow, they become immune to things they have already encountered.

When they perhaps leave home and live around other young people in university halls or similar, there is another surge of infection - fresher's flu - when new viruses from areas other than the home one, are encountered. Again, the young people quickly become immune to them, as they did as young children.

Now clearly, @lisa270988, you have a fear of normal childhood illnesses and it is not entirely irrational because you probably fear for your family's health. Try to reassure yourself that this is a normal part of child development and essential for your DC's future health. Take normal precautions at home with hand washing and wiping down surfaces if there are DV bugs around, but be prepared for illness to happen and try to stay relaxed about it. It will be far more harmful to DC in the long run, if you try to prevent what is normal priming of their immune system (and whatever measures you take will probably not work anyway). You can do this ❤️

My DD never caught anything! There’d be kids dropping around her and she was fine. Your boy could be the same.

My dd was at preschool twice a week last year and it was ok, definitely not too awful. Lots of colds over winter as you’d expect and a couple of cases of sick bugs. I can only hope that this winter is the same now she is in reception. We have another baby now and I do really hate when they are poorly!