daycare/building immunity

[mammom]

My neighbor has a little daycare program through a local church. It's three hours on Monday mornings and I thought I would try it to 1) give myself a little break and a chance to do errands without him and 2) give him a chance to play with some people his age (he has a few "friends" but we don't get to see them a lot during the week).

DS went for the first time last week. There was a little guy there who was obviously sick, even though parents are supposed to keep kids home when they're sick. I was there as the volunteer parent for the day and wiped the little boy's nose a few times. At snack time, the teacher said, "oops, I forgot to wash their hands" and proceeded to wipe all their hands with the same wipe (my ds was last, of course!). I kept telling myself, "it's not the germ, it's the terrain!" but of course, he got sick - today is day three of what has turned out to be a pretty bad cold. He actually has a fever, a terrible cough and a really bad runny/stuffy nose. I'm pretty annoyed by the whole thing, to be honest.

I know it's "good" for them to get sick because it builds their immune systems, but is it really THAT good to expose them to that type of environment if it's not really necessary? I know some moms need to send their kids to "school" despite their being sick, but I don't *need* to send him at all. My thought is that he will get exposed to stuff in everyday life without deliberately putting him into a sick zone.

What do you think?

[LadyWuzzy]

well all i can say is last month i was in the hospital twice and my DD who is 6 months old came up to see me everyday and she has never been sick once. she's not vaccinated and gets weekly chiropractic adjustments.

[Gitti]

Originally Posted by mammom

I know it's "good" for them to get sick because it builds their immune systems, but is it really THAT good to expose them to that type of environment if it's not really necessary? I know some moms need to send their kids to "school" despite their being sick, but I don't *need* to send him at all. My thought is that he will get exposed to stuff in everyday life without deliberately putting him into a sick zone.

What do you think?

If you can avoid the common cold or flu it is better IMO because even though you build immunity to the pathogen, you will never come in contact with the same virus again. So, there is no reason for the immunity.

[mammom]

Yeah, I think I might just skip the rest of the sessions I signed up for. This is his worst cold ever (aside from some sort of throwing up thing he had a few months ago) and I'm pretty bummed about it. He is still as sick today as he was yesterday (I was hoping a good night's sleep would help out). The good thing is that his fever seems like it's sticking around this morning, so hopefully it will kill whatever this is and he'll be over it soon. Poor babe!

LadyWuzzy, I forgot that I changed my siggy, so I should've pointed out that ds is 26 months. He's been sick about five or six times in his life - which tells me he is getting enough access to germs. I don't think I need to keep him in any daycare setting where I can pretty much guess there will be at least one sick kid each time! I think Gitti is right - it's not that beneficial and frankly, being sick sucks!

Melissa

[PaytinandAvarysMom]

I used to work in a daycare (for 3 years) and I was sick ALL THE TIME. The kids were sick ALL THE TIME. As soon as I stopped working there I have been sick 3 times in 4 years. I dont think it is worth it just to be expossed to cold after cold after cold.

[QueenOfThePride]

I guess I'm the less popular opinion, but I do think it's good for kids to get sick sometimes. I don't have any hard evidence, but I believe getting sick with minor illnesses teaches the immune system how to work, even for different pathogens in the future.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

The reason that kids in daycare get so sick is the huge increase in cortisol in their systems because they don't want to be there in the first place. Cortisol trashes the immune system.

The same happens to my son, as an adult, whenever he starts a cricket tour. Without fail, he gets sick, but with the way we believe that illness is a positive thing, he gets over it and gets on with it and learns to control the stress.

But littlies can't do that, because while they know they might not want to be there they don't understand stress. Besides which, they can't "manage" the stress since that is the parent's job.

I think the kids that rarely get sick in daycare, are the ones who are least stressed by the whole situation.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Given that it was his first time there, I would expect his immune system to have pretty much shut down.

Next time you try, make sure he has plenty of vitamin C and minerals in his system first, and keep them up afterwards... that will mitigate to some degree the effects of stress on the immune system.

[Deborah]

My daughter runs a part-time day care. Only 3 or 4 children, mostly half days, very gentle, peaceful, quiet atmosphere, organic food snacks, lots of outdoor play, no TV, and so on.

Lately, the kids don't seem to be getting sick very often. Which fits MT's stress theory pretty well, as it is as low stress as day care can reasonably be.

Deborah

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

.

there is daycare, and daycare.

It's not a theory though. It's in the medical literature. They just don't talk about it, after all, like formula feeding, you have to support a mother's choice.

And there is nothing wrong with the right daycare, if that is what a child wants.

What is stress for one person is fun for another.

The trick is being able to read your child, and know when they don't "want" to be there, or can't process it calmly.

[mammom]

That's really interesting, MT. I thought it would be fun for him, and I think it was overall (he played with all sorts of new toys and I never left, although I did have to help deal with the other kids). If I decide to send him again I will certainly load him up with the C/minerals before hand.

One thing that I didn't like, but wasn't surprised by, was the "snack" provided (I packed ds's lunch, but they get a snack too) - it was crappy looking animal cookies and some sort of juice. I was glad it was actually juice (as opposed to kool-aid!), but it wasn't organic and it was juice... DS drinks mostly water (well, and my milk!).

And, QueenofthePride, I agree that it's probably better to get sick occasionally than not at all. However, he can find germs at the bookstore and the zoo and and the park and museums and places we go with friends. We don't need to go where we *know* we'll find snotty-nosed little ones! KWIM? I'm not a germ freak, and I admit I'm not always great about handwashing, so I know he gets exposed.

[LoveChild421]

Originally Posted by Momtezuma Tuatara

The reason that kids in daycare get so sick is the huge increase in cortisol in their systems because they don't want to be there in the first place. Cortisol trashes the immune system.

that's really interesting MT! I have noticed that the only times ds has ever been sick have been times of high stress in our house such as when dp and I aren't getting along or there has been a death in the family. I keep him loaded on Vit C, minerals, probiotics, cod liver oil, etc but stress seems to just outweigh all of that sometimes- he is a very sensitive baby so that may be why.

As far as daycare, I agree that just taking him out and about will expose him to enough germs. I make sure to never use those cart/high chair covers and let him play with and touch any of the kids he comes across. He hasn't ever been sick from that.