First winter in daycare

SmallCityLiving

is it normal for babies to just constantly be sick? I have 8 month old twins and it seems like as soon as they start getting better, they get sick again. Luckily it has just been colds and pink eye so far but I'm worried about the constant coughing and inability to breathe at night with how stuffy they are.

I BF too which I was hoping would help but doesn't seem to. I know it's good for their immune systems in the long run which is great but should I just expect constant runny noses this winter?

groovygrl

Yess.... sorry. It doesnt happen w/ all kids but is definitely not abnormal the first year. My twins were 5 months when they started DC in January that year. Lots of runny noses & ear infections and then more the next winter though the 2nd winter was not as bad by any means (except the occasional HFM or stomach bug but those cycle through at various times of year).  The twin thing is tough b/c they piggyback each other (at least in my house) and so it would be one, then the other, mine were generally not sick at the same time/day which was good in some ways but hard on the work schedule. I guess it prob happens w/ sibs too though maybe the older one is likely to have more immunity, i dont know.  Sleeping is tough, after a lot of ear infections we got smart when they were 2 and did saline drops & nosefrida pretty much every night when they showed any signs of runny nose to try to fend things off.   Vicks, humidifier & nosefrida were our main defenses.  Also we learned that we needed to just take DD in if she had a stuffed up nose for a bit and then started waking up crying a lot, b/c it was frequently an ear infection & a few times we waited it out & realized that if we had just taken her in in the beginning we could have gotten the antibiotics and everyone would have been happier...
GL!!!!

ridesbuttons

Yes. I remember asking my doctor about this and he told me I could expect my child to be sick the first two weeks of the month and the last two weeks of the month. His phrasing.

It lasted 6ish months (it has been a while so the timeline is a bit fuzzy) and then it stopped.

The boys are in elementary school now and I think between them they have missed maybe 3 days of school in total. They are rarely sick.

Mustardseed2007

DD has only gotten 1 real illness - a stomach bug. But has had a runny nose and cough pretty constantly and 2 ear infections (side effect from constant congestion). She's 9 months and yeah, it's normal.

By contrast, her brother was cared for by  family for the first 2 years of his life and was ill once at 8 months with a cold. When he started DC he was sick constantly - runny nose, cough, a few ear infections, and 2 bouts of pink eye close together.

However he's only been very ill 2 times after a year in day care - once after catching his sister's stomach bug, and once from catching HFM (which I'm pretty certain he got at a non DC kid's B day party rather than at DC).

I'll agree that winter is worse.

NADA-H

well then when the hell can they take their shots, I don't mean to hijack this post but my baby has the cough, she had an infection and is now good but the cough is taking forever to clear out and they won't give her her shots until she has no runny nose or a cough..since it's the winter and she goes to DC I don't know when/if that is going to happen soon. she was supposed to take them at 4 months and she is now 10 days shy from being 5 months old and the cough still persists 

djm31012

totally normal. DS started daycare at around 9 mos and it was the fall. He was constantly sick throughout that winter, even in the spring, but by the summer it was almost non existant.  The first year is hard, I would say prepare yourself for colds, etc through the first year. Anything less is a bonus!

CarrieB.

I don't know why your baby couldn't get shots while having a runny nose. My kids have gotten vaccinations while sick.

My kids are home w DH during the day, so no daycare experience, but once DD1 started preschool this fall we've all basically been sick on and off. Colds, stomach flu, now some kind of weird respiratory virus with itchy eyes. I'm also still breastfeeding the baby at night. She's 13 months and I think it does help. She doesn't seem to get as sick as her big sister.

groovygrl

Oh I forgot to mention that we (MH & I ) got sick too... LOL. So much to look forward to! But like others have said, kids who got to DC tend to be sick less during the school years, when IMO it matters more if they miss. But, it is more stressful when they're babies since you are never quite sure how sick they are!
To the pp with the dr w/ no shots policy, that is a pretty ridiculous policy. cold & runny nose is not a contraindication for vaccination, I would question it a a little more and maybe refer to the VIS forms for whatever LO is due for.

To make OP feel a little better- I actually have only been called to pick up my kids from DC twice ever for illness/fever (they're 5 now) so while they were sick it was frequently either so obvious that I knew to keep them home (and weirdly mine have always tended to be sick on weekends...???) or it was not something that required keeping them home. So the sicknesses are not always very serious, more just the never ending snot. Get a nosefrida if you dont have one for sure.

Leap08

NADA-H said:

well then when the hell can they take their shots, I don't mean to hijack this post but my baby has the cough, she had an infection and is now good but the cough is taking forever to clear out and they won't give her her shots until she has no runny nose or a cough..since it's the winter and she goes to DC I don't know when/if that is going to happen soon. she was supposed to take them at 4 months and she is now 10 days shy from being 5 months old and the cough still persists 

hmmm... I don't know. This seems odd. Our doctor always did shots on schedule as long as they didn't have a fever. That means sometimes they got shots when they had a cold.

I feel like both of my kids had a permanent runny nose the first winter they were in daycare. It's much better now that they're older.

vvvvvfee

yeah, it's unfortunately pretty normal. my DS didn't get sick too much his first winter, but he was the only baby in an in-home daycare with 5 toddlers, and the DCP did a good job keeping the other kids from touching him so they didn't spread germs. last winter, when he was 15 months, DS started at his current, larger daycare, that has about 20 kids, and that winter he was sick CONSTANTLY. so far, this fall/winter has been much better (knock on wood!). DS has only had a couple of stuffy noses, and nothing that has required a doctor's visit.

the fact that you're BFing is great, that should help at least a little bit with your LO's immunity. if you aren't already, make sure you wipe off or wash their hands when you pick them up. boogie wipes are great. give them steamy baths/showers before bed to help with decongesting. saline nasal spray also helps if they'll tolerate it.

p.s. this paragraph from the book toddler 411 made me feel better about DS's constant illnesses last year:

Here are some startling stats. Are you sitting down? The average number of viral infections that a young child gets per year is EIGHT. Each of these illnesses lasts seven to ten days, on average. And most of those illnesses occur between October and April. That gives toddlers a grand total of 80 days of illness in a six-month period. Yep, that's an illness about every other week.

momofcatan

Even being home with me her first year, DD had an on and off runny nose and one virus with fever her first winter. Now she's in DC and the runny nose and cough has already come and gone once, I expect it will return. Fx it doesn't get much worse.

MickeyM04

I vote normal.  This will be our first winter in DC.  DS started last Feb, at the tail end of winter, and DD is just 7 months.  DD has had a runny nose/cough for about 2 months.  As soon as she starts to clear up a bit, one day she wakes up and it's a whole lot worse and I realize, shit, she probably has another cold before the last one cleared up.  No joke, she has had a runny nose/cough since October.  DS started DC in February and didn't have a full week until sometime in April.  He had a cold after the first week, which turned into a double ear infection and pneumonia.  Then this summer even, he missed probably 3 total weeks of DC with all the random fevers he had, and HFM.  Based on my experience with DS, who probably in 10 months of DC has missed 2 full months, when they have a cold with no fever, I thank my lucky stars.

NADA-H

for those who answered me, thanks. It isn't just the runny nose but runny nose and cough combination that they won't give her her vaccines because of...I'll try again on Thursday, she barely has both and If I don't get her to take her vaccines this time I will see another doctor because it doesn't make sense!