How Often was your dc who started preschool sick this year?

[Rox5266]

My ds started preschool in December. He has been sick every other week since he started! Colds, fevers, strep, stomach viruses etc.....He had never been in day care or such so this was his first exposure to so many other kis and their sickness. But come on! : He is CONSTANTLY getting sick! : He used to get sick only a few times a year -his 1st year of life he had 1 cold! What has been your experiences this year with new preschoolers?

[mamatoady]

my dd was in preschool in sept and oct and I ended up taking her out because she got sick the first week and never got better. It seemed like she'd be horribly sick by friday and she'd be a little better by wednesday but then sick all over again by friday. She also was bringing everything home and my 5 month old was constantly sick too. I said screw it, I can handle a sick preschooler, but not a constantly sick 5 month old. It took until mid december (1.5 months not being in school) for both kids to be healthy again.

sarah

[sallyg6]

DD had not started preschool but we did start doing a bible study once a week, where she is in a class with a bunch of other children. She's been sick a lot, though mostly just colds, sniffles, etc (and one bout of stomach flu). I don't think she was ever sick during her first year of life (but then, I rarely made it out of the hosue ).

I agree, that it seems so ridiculous for them to be sick so much but...

Sara

[Peony]

I have been taking DD1 to a weekly story time since she was 1.5 years old, that place was a petri dish for germs, I can trace most of our illnesses back to there. DD1 started pre-school in Feb and she stopped wanting to go at the end of last month, but we got several colds from there.

[Literate]

Other than a few colds, we haven't had any trouble. I've been surprised. My dd is in her second year now, but the first year was ok, too.

Our preschool makes every kid wash their hands before they enter the classroom and before snack. Do they all do that? (One would hope.)

Although one day I got the dreaded call "Come get DD, she's running a fever." Is that embarrassing! But it was one of those fevers that come out of nowhere and then disappears. Still, I felt like the Bad Mom.

[JBaxter]

DS started in Sept. He has his first nasty cold/fever. I couldnt even find our box of tissues this morning.

[Cinder]

My ds started pre-school(special education class) in November and has been sick maybe twice? He's never sick, and when he does catch something he gets over it super fast.

My dd started pre-school about 3 weeks after him (normal pre-school, she was jealous her little brother got to start school before her), and a week hasn't gone by that she hasn't gotten sick...but, eh, that's not much different than how it was last winter, she is just always sick, never anything serious, last winter (no school, ds was in early intervention) it was stomach bugs, she had something like 7 stomach bugs between november and January...and then her first ever ear infection and pink eye...this winter it's been upper respritory stuff, colds, viral bronchitis, and her second ever ear infection...also when she catches a cold it seems to hang on forever for her.

[bobica]

dd's first year in daycare (2.5 y.o.) she had chronic ear infections/fluid. she wound up getting tubes last december. this year she's been MUCH healthier but had the flu and another super-high-fever bug.

I, OTOH, have worked with kids for YEARS and i've had my worst year since i started! I have had viral pinkeye, many colds & bugs, and an intestinal virus that i thought would land me in the hospital this year seems to be extra buggy around here.

[AarenLisbeth]

Oh my gosh, I feel like we finally just licked it. DS started preschool in the fall and the bugers and mucus were never ending!! This is a child who has only had one fever before in his life, not that he hasn't been exposed. . .

But then we also had crazy upheavel at home w/ my second pregnancy ending 3 1/2 months too early, so I also contribute a lot of the sickness to the insane new reality we have all come into.

[Calidris]

DD (3) started in October - she had 3 colds in 2.5 months, but the first DP had, then I got then she got, so it probably didn't come from school, the second she definitely got at breastfeeding group meeting (she was playing with a toddler who had a bad runny nose, and was sneezing). The third probably came from school, but it was just a mild runny nose/cough thing.

[delphiniumpansy]

My 4 year old started preschool in beginning of March and has not been sick since. During fall and winter, she had two colds and one ear infection, every time following a visit to an indoor play area like a museum. I can verify illness source as others got ill from same visits. We quit going to those places and illnesses stopped.

Preschool is much better! None of her preschool classmates have been out with illness in the two mos she's been there, as far as I know. I drop her off daily so I see them all. Small class so easy to count.

[RedWine]

We are homeschoolers, but our friend's preschool-age daughters are always hacking, sniffling, etc. We don't play with any kids who show obvious signs of illness, so we haven't seen them much this past winter.

I wish more parents would keep their kids home when they are obviously sick!!! : Yes, it may be inconvenient to the parents, but come on!

[Literate]

I was thinking about this again, and I remembered that my first year of teaching high school, I caught everything. I even had mono! (which got me out of hall duty for a few months, so that part was good.)

I think unless we live in a bubble our whole lives, there will be years where we are exposed to the icky stuff and it affects us more. All we can do is wash our hands as soon as we come back home and wait for the nastiness to subside. But hey, it's spring! Soon this will pass!

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Last year my dd started pre k. She got sick within a week and not only her but ds stayed sick till school ended last year. Literally only having days between each illness. Mostly upper resp. things. Considering that my dd had only been sick a handful of times in her life before this despite having asthma it was a big deal for me and I cried over it. My poor ds has had to deal with more sickness than she ever did this early in her life. She brings it in and he catches it.

I thought for sure we were on that same road when she started K this year and they both did stay sick the first 2 months but thankfully they havnt stayed sick this time. But both do get sick about once a month still.

This is something that drives me buggy about groups of kids but I guess it is a necissary evil

[CarrieMF]

Not alot, maybe 1 cold. But the kids have all been exposed to many germs since birth so they built up their immunity early. As a family we get a cold 1-2 times a year. When we do feel sick I increase their vit c, garlic & echinacea. IT's gone in a day or 2.

If your kid(s) didn't have a chance to build up immunity by being around germs then once they are exposed they will get sick.

I started babysitting kids when my oldest was 9months old. Now it's a casual basis but I think I've only had 1 year that I didn't babysit since I started and she is 8.5 now.

The girls were their most sick in their first year, usually from 9-12months. It was only colds and they were not severe and didn't last long. That was before I started the immunity building stuff. Nobody in the family has had antibiotics since 2004 for sure and there hasn't been a flu here in 4.5 years(and no flu shot either).

[edamommy]

I was a sahm for ds's first three years. And although he was a preemie on o2 for MONTHS he was not sick, not ONCE during those years. Fast forward to my first year back at work w/ him at preschool full-time. He's at home "sick" about 2 times a month. Some of those days are really mental "hooky" days where he says he's sick but he's really not, he just needs a mommy day. And luckily I have a job that understands that. But one of those days is always too much coughing or runny nose days. The cough/runny nose has been constant while being in preschool during the winter. ugh

[mommy68]

My youngest DD started daycare as an infant and picked up everything that first couple of years. She had to have tubes in her ears for constant EIs and got chicken pox a month before the vax, and has been through a lot of other illnesses. Your child may be more prone to certain illnesses for the first year or two, depending on how often they are exposed to stuff. I'm thankful my children all got it out of the way before they turned 3. They say that age 3 is the magical age for daycare children to stop getting sick as often in daycares and each year that improves greatly. I've found it to be true with all of mine.

Maybe if you can wait until your child is age 3 or older then they may not get sick as often.

[Mom2Joseph]

We went through this too - my DS was sick CONSTANTLY! Getting over one thing only to catch another...and the bonus, give it to our infant DD! I was disgusted but it only lasted a few months. We were at the homeopath's every flippin' week for a while there but now they are both absolutely fine. No problems at all now. I think what helped most was switching from colloidal silver to kid -e - well becaues they had built up a little tolerance to the silver. We tried the kidewell and haven't had a problem since.

I understand your frustration. I really was so mad that I was going to take DS out but he loves to go and needed the break from DD so we kept him in. Now I'm glad we did. Hugs!

[Sharon, RN]

My ds was never sick as a child. Started K @ 4, got his first ear infxs, colds, etc. It was like a germ factory. 1st grade was a little better (maybe kids were better at washing hands?), but it seemed like DS was still sick alot.

2nd grade seemed a little better, but then we pulled him out in October. I will say, since he's been out, he's only had 1 illness that it seems he caught from me. Bad mom! lol

I don't know if there really is a solution. You can drill the importance of handwashing to your own, but you can't really do anything about the other children or teachers.

[bobica]

i'm back. sick again i have a nasty cold & post nasal drip. ugh. this is officially my worst year yet.

when a child needs to go to the bathroom from my session, when they come back i always check their hands. if they didn't wash, i squirt some soap on them & send them back they're getting the point!