Picking up every germ at daycare! To pull DD out or not??
fish000
member
Can anyone please give advice about their experience with their toddler getting every germ from daycare??
I currently have my DD in daycare one full day per week, just for her own development and to give me one day to myself to get some errands done. BUT she seems to pick up every germ, so is sick ALL THE TIME! And then passes it onto me too - so often we skip daycare every other week to recover. I am pregnant with my 2nd, in my 3rd tri - so looking after a sick toddler at the moment seems like it's more trouble than what that one day is giving us back. So, I'm thinking of pulling her out to save us all the sickdays!
QUESTION: Does anyone have any experience in whether they noticed their toddler reduce the number of sicknesses they got once they pulled them out of regular daycare.
What makes this tricky is:
1) it's really hard to get toddlers back in to daycare in my area if I change my mind later (about a year waiting list!).
2) Once the newbie comes, I might need that one day one-on-one with him.
3) My DD seems to enjoy the day at daycare (although she cries when I leave) - when I pick her up she has always seemed to have a lovely day with painting/craft and playing outside. Plus I think it's healthy for her to have a day away from me (for a little independence - she's quite clingy ATM.)
PLEASE - NEED HELP TO MAKE OUR LIVES A LITTLE EASIER (AND HEALTHIER) AT THIS EXHAUSTING TIME!
Re: Picking up every germ at daycare! To pull DD out or not??
You can't keep your kid in a bubble...they will encounter germs at the library, grocery store, the mall, the playground, etc.
I kept my daughter in daycare 2 days a week as a SAHM for the first 4 months after having DD, and it was awesome to have some one-on-one time with the new baby, as well as giving my older DD an outlet to go play.
I would not pull her out. Wash hands more often.
To answer your question, I pulled her out in April (switched to a one day a week nanny to watch both girls) and we haven't been getting sick any less than when she was in daycare.
Good luck to you!
In my mind, it will happen now or later. Right now she is catching every germ in the book, but when she enters preschool or kindergarten, she will have some immunities built up. If you pull her out now, she will just catch those germs later and be sick at that point.
When DS was in daycare, he didn't get sick all that often. It was a smaller daycare with only 6 kids. Maybe you can find a smaller daycare and reduce the instances of sickness that way.
keep her in.
My DD was in no school setting until Kindergarten, and the same happened. She missed 17 days because of strep, flu, ear infections and 399 fevers (it seemed like that). She was literally sick every other week. The same happened in first grade. And she's never sick once she gets out for the summer. I'm hoping 2nd grade is better.
But if it doesn't happen now, it will when she re-enters for "real" school. And I think missing so many days of grade K/1 is worse than daycare. Get it all over with now when she's younger... then hopefully her immune system gets stronger as time goes on.
I would keep her in. I was working when my kids were young so both were in daycare. The first year they were in daycare was miserable, they were sick all the time. I did end up pulling DS from daycare because of illnesses, but his was much more than just some little bugs from daycare. He would wheeze whenever he got so much as a cold and as you know, in daycare they get a lot of colds. Things got so much better for DD after her first year in daycare.
DD is 6 now and hardly ever gets sick. She just finished kindergarten and she got one minor cold the whole school year and didn't have to miss any school. Of course, I can't say for certain that she gets sick so infrequently because of her time in daycare, but I know it didn't hurt.
ETA: DS was a lot less sick when I took him out of daycare, but again, he had other issues going on.