Constant ill toddler work issues

[Crazylou]

My 2 year old has been extremely ill since 1 year old in and out of hospital various occasions with infections, work have said am taking too much time off, can they force you to leave or go part time if that's an option,

Very difficult situation for all of you. Is this an illness that is going to be resolved , or is it likely to be long term? I sympathise with you, but also see how hard it is for your colleagues and managers. Is there a possibility you could take an extended unpaid leave of absence until your child is stronger since I assume you have used up all your parental leave and holiday entitlement. an alternative might be going part time if they would agree to it and you could share the care for your sick child with a partner or relative.

How much time have you taken off, and are you sharing with your child's Dad?

Is her dad doing his share of taking time off?

Hi,

Can you go part time? My son was like this but I had already dropped my hours down to 18.5hrs a week. He as admitted to hospital twice (pneumonia) and had constant bugs. He went to nursery from 10 months old and caught every bug going!
It does get easier. Your lo will develop a strong immune system but the early years are tough. My son is 13 now and a strapping young man.
Is a career break an option?

He's had 20 chest infections / pneumonia 3 times, catches 3 viral infections at a time which has been so bad that he's had breathing difficulties that he's had to be admitted to hospital due to him struggling, he had to get adenoids removed due to being constantly blocked up with mucus affected his ears aswell with fluid, he's still getting 3 viral infections at one time and has now started taking seizures with them, every month he is so ill, it's like every 3 weeks am having to take time off due to ambulances during the night, either 3 days at a time or a week if he is really bad, his dad is shift pattern he helps out and takes time off especially when he's admitted to hospital as we are both worried as he's been that bad that he went blue struggling for oxygen, we've requested for his immune system to be checked for any underlying conditions, we have no family that stay close to us, my partner works for railway so he can't leave work immediately due to the train, so it's myself that has to leave work right away when we get phone calls from nursery

Last year I discussed if I could work at home when required as it's not a big company, they did suggest it themselves but now they are not considering it as the owners wife has now doing some work at home remotely aswell as the owner, so it's only really calls and deliverys and some office work I deal with now, he said he just needs someone to be in office for deliverys and calls

You're taking 3 days or a week off every 3 weeks? That's unlikely to be sustainable for your employer. Are you taking any of as annual leave?

Yes it feels like that every month I seem to have to take a few days, or a week depending if he's in hospital, only some as due to type of company they close office for two weeks over Christmas and new year so that's set days, so I only have 10 days left as the others are public holidays,

It sounds like one of you does need to stop work until his underlying health problems are resolved. Sorry

Oh op I feel for you and DC. Dc2 was like this. It was like a cycle, One week getting ill, one week full blown illness (hospital admissions, the lot), one week recovering, one week healthy. It was like this until he was 5-6 when hecsuddenly seemed to get stronger. He has had colds etc since but not pneumonia etc.
I had to be a SAHP during this time though, partly out of necessity and partly out of fear as he used to go down hill rapidly.

At the end of the day whilst they may be sympathetic on a personal level, they still have to operate their business. I wouldn't call this level of absence reasonable, and they'd be within their rights to dismiss you if it carried on, although alternatives such as part time working could be explored depending on whether that is something they could accomodate.

Have you thought about home based childcare, such as a nanny, so he is not coming in contact with so many bugs. They may also be able to care for him when he has low level illnesses.