He is ALWAYS sick. Frustrated.
My DS was born in August 2010 and has been in daycare since he was 12 weeks old. For the first year, he literally never got sick. Of course, he was in a room with only 2-3 other infants at the time. We moved to a new daycare in August 2011 and since then, he's literally been sick every other week. Five ear infections in 5 months, bronchiolitis, respiratory infections, adenovirus, and most recently, pink eye. My poor baby has been on and off antibiotics for the past 3 months. I know this is partly due to the fact that he's around a LOT more babies now. He's in a toddler room with 10-12 other toddlers any given day. He's exposed to more germs. I get it.
I tell myself that this is building up his immune system, it's typical for kids to get sick, etc. but I can't help but get frustrated. The daycare has a strict sick policy and they are a very clean, well-respected place, so there's not much else they can do.
But I am seriously close to pulling him from daycare and hiring a nanny.
Can someone give me perspective, encouragement, or advice? My pediatrician said that my DS is just "at that age" where he's prone to catch viruses. Since he walks, plays, touches other babies, etc. he's more prone to "catch" germs.
Anybody else go through this?
Re: He is ALWAYS sick. Frustrated.
Sigh....'Tis the season, right?
Very frustrating. Where you live also plays a huge part in it. And your Dr. is right. He's more active and touching everything. He is also at the age where he is still putting his hands in his mouth.
Sounds like your daycare is doing all they can (sanitizing the toys, etc) I try to make sure to take few precautions at home too. We take off our shoes and both wash our hands as soon as we come home. I also try to run his toys through bleach and water every once in a while too. I rotate his paci's in his crib, dispose of his cups more frequently (since they are now the hard spout disposable ones. I used to boil everything in hot water every couple of months).
I hate when people tell you better to be sick now then in kindergarten. I always think to myself, will my neighbor's kid who stays at home be to the doctor's as often at the age of 5 as DS was his first year at daycare? I think not.
Hang in there girlie!
It's going to happen sooner or later. If you pull him out of daycare, he's probably going to have the same spurt of illnesses when he starts preschool or kindergarten.
We use an in-home DCP who's a bit of a germaphobe, and I suspect moving on to preschool will be a rough transition for us. But on the upside, most people say the first year in a daycare/school setting is hard but it gets significantly better after a year. At this point, you're almost half way through that painful transition year so I would stick it out.
THANK YOU! Great ideas re: rotating his pacis and cleaning his toys with bleach. I'm going to have to be more conscientious about these things.
By the way--I had to laugh at your siggie. I've called my DS "Little Dude" since he was born.
They might not be at the dr's as often b/c illness is often less scary for a 5 year old than an infant, and a 5 year old has been exposed to some illness whether they attended daycare or not. BUT our kids should still be at an advantage. My sister was sick non-stop her first year of teaching KG after not being in that type of environment for years and now she is fine. Our kids will have the constant exposure to germs so I think that will be a benefit once they get to be school aged :-)
That's my point.
Also new school + new kids = new illnesses. My guy is going to still be sick in Kindergarten too.
I totally get what you're saying though. But making that comment doesn't make me feel any better when my DS has a fever and has been up all night.
My LO was the same way. From 3-8 mos he was in daycare and hardly ever sick. Now it's constant. All bets are off once they become mobile and can touch each other and the same surfaces. Also, when he got a cold when he was really young, he would just sleep it off. Now he wants to be up and around and that makes it worse. Lastly, I used to be able to have him sleep on an incline when he was a baby and didn't roll all over. Now, forget it, and he gets ear infections more often.
I feel your pain. Hang in there!
All I can say is I feel your pain, hang in there and it does get better!
My Henry has been in daycare (in-home) since 12 weeks, too, and was sick CONSTANTLY from like 6 months through about 22 months, especially in the colder months.
Now that he's two, though, he's been healthy for a good four months or so (knock on wood!) and I'm hoping that he's better able to fight things off now that he's a bit older.
FWIW, I also breastfed him for a year - didn't help much!! But it does get better. And I'm praying my next little guy isn't quite so sickly! But I think it's fairly inevitable with daycare ....
Thanks for the perspective, ladies. It helps to know that I'm not the only mom struggling with this.
ENev-your Henry is a DOLL.
Yes, minus the first year being free of illness. DS was born August 2009. He started fulltime daycare October 1 that year. OMG, it was awful. Every week was at least 1 illness requiring immediate pickup, doctor's appointment, antibiotics, and/or breathing treatments, plus 1-2 more days at home for fever/diarrhea/vomiting to subside. The stress over who was going to take off from work was worse than the stress over a sick baby.
It will get better, if you can manage to keep your job and your sanity through the rest of the winter. My niece was constantly sick at that age, too, even though my sister is a SAHM.
DD -- 5YO
DS -- 3YO
Every post I made about this, people would do the "it's building her immune system!" and "she won't be sick so much when she goes to school!" thing and it made me crazy. Most things my daughter got aren't necessarily things that older kids get, and/or they are things you get repeatedly (i.e. stomach bugs). DD was sick ALL THE TIME, and every time she got a cold, it turned into croup for her. The only thing we didn't get, strangely, was pinkeye and ear infections. Anyway, we DID pull her out of daycare when her little bro was born. For us, it has been a GREAT decision. He has hardly ever been sick and neither has she since we pulled her. She was sick so much it affected nearly every trip and holiday for her entire first year and a half. I'll see what happens when they both go to school.
Good luck.
I'm sorry - Sounds a lot like DD1's first year in a DC center. She had ear infection after ear infection (she ended up getting tubes, too) and there wasn't a week that DH and or myself didn't have to take off work to take care of her. This winter isn't so bad so far (KNOCK ON WOOD!) - She's had the sniffles on and off since November or so, but only 2 real colds. I've been told it'S the first year that is really rough on their immune system. Hang in there Mama. As they say: this too shall pass
Ditto what some other PPs said about now vs. preschool/Kindergarten. Eventually they'll be exposed to these germs, whether it be now or in school.
Both our kids were sick quite a bit their first year/year and a half and I was just recently feeling like we've rounded a corner since neither has been really sick this winter (knock on wood!). Previous years they would come down with something every month in the winter. (FWIW--We did end up getting eartubes for both kids and I think that helped a alot since they both developed ear infections every time they got sick).
Hang in there! it does get better, I promise