How many holidays do I need for nursery bugs?

[ZaHaK]

My DD starts nursery next month at 11 months old. I don’t go back until November, a month after she’s started. I’ve accrued all of this years holidays plus carried over some from last year and will have next years holiday too.
How many do you think I need for my nursery bugs?

I will be working 3 days a week.

Most of them

One of mine didn’t need much time off, maybe 5 or 6 days in a year.

The other was off for 3-4 days a month.

To start with, all of them. It does get better.

All of them 😭

My dd went 3 days a week and had about 25 days off from nursery ill, with a great more falling on my day off or the weekend. It was absolutely brutal in winter (she started in October). She’s been there a year now and had hand foot and mouth twice, 3 stomach/sickness bugs that spread round the family, endless high temp/cold illnesses, conjunctivitis, threadworms (I think my older child probably passed that one on), a few viral rashes.

I’m a teacher so couldn’t save or use up annual leave, so my dh took the brunt of it and had little leave left for nice days off. Save up all the days you can is my advice! Especially if you don’t have family who will help out.

My older one wasn’t as bad when she was at nursery though!

Mine probably had about 5 days max she was too ill to go or sent home over the entire period she was in nursery

I must be very lucky I have never used a day’s leave to look after a sick child. They’re at high school now

I def got my mum to help sometimes (not loads) but there were times I just told my employer my kid was poorly and although I didn’t really work I probably managed to keep on track of my emails. Admittedly I have always had some wfh flexibility.

they both got chicken pox once and I went to stay with my dm and we muddled through

nowadays if they are ill they just have a duvet day and I work as normal (upstairs) and just go down every hour or so.

Are your work going to be flexible with letting you change which 3 days you work occasionally? Can your partner also take time off when the baby is sick? Any other support like grandparents?
Mine have always been quite healthy and don’t get sick much so used to set aside 3 days for sickness (so 1 week off when I worked 3 days).
DH also could take time off and my parents used to do an extra day sometimes if I wanted to work a 4 day week to make up for missing a day.

I needed 12 days in the first six months, because quite often the baby got better and then I got sick. HFM - baby was fine but I was too ill to go in; RSV and COVID, baby was projectile vomiting due to blocked nose so automatic 48h exclusion; norovirus is a 48h exclusion from last bout of D&V plus it took out me and DP a few days later.

It got much better through the spring and summer. Find out your nursery's policies for coughs, colds and fevers - if they exclude for a cough or cold, you will need a lot of days.

Though if you have a partner, they should be taking half the sick days too!

My kids have been back to school for nearly 3 weeks and ive been ill for 2 of them 😂 xx

Is it your first DC? If so I’d be prepared to take a lot of leave to begin with. If it’s your second or there are other children in your household it may not be as bad as they will have already been exposed to a lot.

We used a childminder which I think helped as they just had the same small number of children each day so limited exposure. I was also happy to send them to the childminder to be looked after when they were feeling a bit poorly because I knew she could adapt the day for them (longer naps etc).

I honestly only remember one day DS was too poorly to go in.

It’s very variable. I’ve got 2 kids. One of them gets ill once or twice a year and it lasts for a day or two tops. He’s never had a fever to the best of my knowledge. I think I had to use 1 or 2 days of leave total for sickness the entire time he was in nursery.

The other catches everything going and loves to vomit and throw off a temperature of >38 degrees no matter the bug. He’d had 2 days off childcare within the first few months I reckon.

You probably have a fair idea what camp your DC falls into assuming you’ve been to groups etc.

Really hard to say. Mine were all just before or during lockdown. The after period was absolute hell. I don’t think I will ever recover from that.

However, I think whilst it can be bad, it is unusual for it to be that bad. (All of us at that snap shot with kids were same).

Same. My daughter has been going to her childminder since January and has only just had her first day off on Friday when both she and the childminder were sick with Covid.

We had loads of time off during the first winter. DD got various fevers that lasted a week plus the odd stomach bug. There is also the exclusion period after fever or vomiting where you have to keep them off even if well again. Consider the chicken pox vaccine if you can’t take much time off as it has a long exclusion period.

You might also need time off if you catch the illnesses badly too. It can be hard to recover from things when you are up all night with a sick child. At least if we were both sick at the same time I could take sick leave instead of annual leave.

I do have an elder child.
this is a new nursery with 22 children ranging from the age range 0-2 years with max 12 babies. It’s part of a private school so they clean it periodically throughout the day.
I cannot wfh often and they won’t allow me to if I have a sick child - manager thinks how can I be working if I’m looking after sick child?
My husband works away, is a contractor so loses money if he doesn’t work so it’s on my really.
We live away from family.

Do you have the option of carers leave? Seems unfair to have to take annual leave if your child is unwell.

Saying that, mine has only missed 3 days due to illness since starting nursery a year ago so not too bad.

The first 4-6 months you basically just pay for them to go in and get I'll and then your off work with them but then after that it does get better. Think most kids in the baby rooms at nursery just have constant coughs and runny noses 😵‍💫

Barely any. I think I took two days in total in the 3+ years of nursery. DH took a similar amount.

All of them. Our DD started at 11 months old. The first winter is the absolute worst (but good for immune building) for bugs and illnesses. Be prepped with the Calpol, burfen, nasal spray, humidifier and the thermometer! 💖

Responses are varied.
I wonder the people who said hardly any… what factors contributed to their child being hardly poorly or off?

Do you know why that is?

Get her the chickenpox vaccine. When lo got it he couldn’t go back to childcare for 20 days 😭

Look at the NHS guidelines it tells you how long they need to be off based on what they have, also check the nurseries policies. Last year my son was basically sick all winter and it ruined his Christmas, I wish I had sent him in new years.