Yep, kids definitely pick up a lot of viruses at child care.
The most common way diseases pass from one child to another is through direct contact with the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth or eyes. Children spread disease this way most often because of their inadequate hygiene (for example, infrequent or inade- quate hand washing, or rubbing of eyes).
Contaminated fomites, surfaces, toys and utensils in the child care environment may also be vehicles for the spread of infection. Influenza virus,34 RSV,30 rhinovirus, parainfluenza virus29 and CMV35 may survive on non-porous objects for many hours.

My son was the same always got sick and I still had to pay for the days he had off so after about 2mths I cancelled daycare and he never really got sick again until school but after a few time and some probotics he gets sick once or twice a year.

My daught started 3 year old kinder last year and only got sick once. Which was amazing.
This year 4 year old kinder she has been sick 2 times so far but it’s expected from kinders or childcares.
It does get better.

My GP reckons they will pick something up every two weeks. I think he may have been preparing me for the worst but definitely comes in waves. Hopefully their immunity will mean you’re over the worst of it now. It’s tough on you and them when this happens.

Yeah my son was getting sick every second week when he first started,m. It’s now been over 6 months and it’s down to maybe once per month.

100% normal. Gets better as they go along.

We were braced for a period of illnesses when our kids started child care, but to our surprise it never happened.

Child care centres are breeding grounds for sickness. It took me a year to build up a good enough immune system when I was working in a centre (I worked in play group before that and never got sick). I would look into family day care or even occasional care, unfortunately child care centres are so careless with sick kids it’s just not worth the hassle some times. I ended up quitting the industry because of the carelessness.

I get it. Why I don’t send my kids.
But also, sometimes we forget that kids don’t have the option to be kept home. Sometimes it’s a safer environment for them to be there.

My daughter isn’t in preschool so I haven’t experienced this yet myself.
She’s almost 2 and in her entire life she’s been sick 2-3 times.
A friend of mine has her 2.5 year old in preschool which he has been going to for 2 years. He gets sick at most 10 times a year. She took him out for 2 months and he wasn’t sick once, when he went back he was sick again in the first week.

Its a hard one. All you can do really is teach your kids to wash their hands a lot.

my kids got sick a lot initially ( they all stsrted at 9 months at latest) but by 4 months in they were hardly ever sick .Getting their immune system up to speed now is preferable to when they start kindy or pre school, and miss a lot of time during scholastic fundamental building blocks, learning to read etc. A few years worth of studies seem to back this up, but of course, you do whatever yr heart tells you to do. xx

I don’t use childcare but have heard these sorts of stories from friends. Seems like it is fairly common amongst most centres.

I would never let my kids go to day-care if they were feeling sick. I was lucky enough to have my Mum to fall back on if they did seem off colour. She would come to my home as she only lived up the road. Otherwise I would have taken time off from work. It is a way for the kids to build up their immunity but you don’t want it happening too often

My #1 has been sick so many times, and luckily we are in a position to keep him home when he is. I understand people have jobs that are less flexible, or parents have exhausted their sick leave, but it is pretty frustrating when we see lots of snotty kids and the centre sends home notifications about keeping kids at home when they are sick but don’t always follow through with the send-home. Sometimes it feels like we are paying to keep him home more often than not.
I think, no matter where they go, they are going to get some colds or flus.

I’ve just started my almost 3 year old 2 days a week we have done 3 transition orientation days the first day we attended we get alert the next day that chickenpox was at the centre the day we attended, I was disappointed as we had to wait a week to continue orientation thankfully no chickenpox but ended up with a bad cold ????
I’ve attended again since and atleast half the kids have snotty noses I am wondering the same as you is this normal should I look elsewhere to send her I don’t want a sick kid all the time and I won’t send her if she has any sign of illness.

Even when my children went to daycare back in the 80’s, they got sick. Parents are desperate for their jobs and sanity. The only upside of this is, when they go to school, they have better immunity.

Hi, me again! This is my question.

For one, my kids were breast fed until I lost supply and look at the wonder it’s done for them going to child care, that was a ridiculous comment. We are looking at new centres once they have recovered from conjunctivitis ???? I have been to one already and it was spotless compared to ours and it wasn’t overly packed with kids. But I will explore more centres and pick the one that meets my standards and that the kids have a connection with staff.

Thank you to everyone else for their helpful comments. I know it’s not the centres fault for my kids getting sick and how irresponsible parents can be sending their kids when they are ill but it is up to the centre to enforce the policy and keep up with cleaning standards. I personally just don’t understand why you would ever send your kid when they’re sick, but that’s me.

Apart from finger paintings and the odd collage, the unfortunate reality is that the thing your child will most likely bring home from childcare is an infectious illness. Life in a crowded childcare centre is a perfect environment for germs to spread, with little people constantly putting hands in their mouths, sharing toys and spreading bacteria, viruses – and worms!

Child care centres and pre schools are aware of the dangers and most are vigilant about infection control. Regular washing and cleaning of toys, surfaces, utensils and bedlinens, and a strong emphasis on handwashing, helps keep contamination as low as possible. However, kids will be kids, and the combination of unhygienic behaviour amongst infants in close proximity, with children’s greater susceptibility to infection, means that infectious illnesses are a fact of life for the under fives.
What you can do;
* compare different childcare centers on hygiene
* enroll your child when it’s a little older and stronger
*boost your childs immune system
Breastfeed your baby. Colostrum present in the mother’s milk is considered the gold standard in building a baby’s immunity. …
Stick to the immunisation schedule. …
Serve up a healthy platter. …
Maintain a healthy gut. …
Get enough sleep. …
Stay active. …
Make hygiene a habit. …
Have fun outdoors.
Avoid antibiotics unless necessary
Consider to give your child vitamins for immune system

As a Daycare worker, I can tell you its just not the kids that get sick, most of the carers get whatever the kids get! When I first started working I got bronchitis 3 or 4 times a year, never had it before daycare. Now I dont get many germs (luckily).
The problem is parents bring their children in when they are sick, we ring them and ask them to pick them up, some dash in others come when they are done at work (or wherever they are) .
Its true that all children need to build up their immune systems and some children catch more germs than others, but daycare has no control over that as it is all dependent on the parents keeping their children home.
Centres are cleaned every day and if a child is sick we advise the parents to not bring them in, but unless they show signs of illness when being dropped off, we have no idea as to whether they are sick or not.
ps: just so everyone knows we HATE having to wipe snotty noses all day … its totally gross!