Hello!

My 2yo daughter goes to long daycare three days a week, and seems to get sick a lot. It’s often a cough, which either turns into a bad cold and a chest infection, or just hangs around as a nasty cough for weeks on end (up to 8 weeks sometimes). She’ll often then have 1-2 weeks healthy, then its back to being sick again (meaning no sleep for any of us as she coughs and wakes through the night). She doesn’t have that much contact with other kids when she’s not at daycare, so I’m very sure she’s picking it all up from there. We take her to the doctor each time of course, sometimes she gets antibiotics, other times not, and she has a preventer inhaler that she takes every day. My questions are: do other kids get sick this often from daycare, and for this long? Has anyone got any nighttime remedies for coughs (dry and wet coughs – she gets both)? And has anyone tried moving their child from long daycare to family daycare (or some other care option) and noticed a difference in how often they get sick? We (and particularly me!) are to the end of coping! Thanks for your help. Do you have any tips for managing sickness from long daycare?

Posted by anon, 10/09/13

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  • No difference in daycares at all family or not. Germs are everywhere and my son brings sickness home every week! My baby ends up sick the majority of the time too from him passing it on! It is like a no win situation. I kept getting told their immunity will just get better, i try and practice good hand washing skills as soon as we leave daycare all hands washed and everything including bag etc sprayed in glen 20 as soon as we get home bath time, then dinner then bed.


  • she will be getting a stronger immunity though


  • Teach her about hand washing and staying away from sick people. Encourage her to eat healthily and get plenty of sleep too.


  • Unfortunately that is one of the joys of daycare not much you can do :(


  • sadly the more our kids are around other kids, the more they get sick. They are so close with the other kids and none of them really know personal hygiene yet so spread a lot of germs easily. The only good thing is your child is building resistance to these things slowly and as she gets older wont get as sick so often


  • my daughter would always get sick too – it was horrible


  • I don’t think it will matter if you change her – she’ll probably still pick up things.


  • might help her to have her immune system prepared for starting school


  • how did you go? :)


  • How are you coping with it now?


  • I think its quite common for your kids to get sick while at day-care, really hope you find some remedies to cope with it


  • I don’t think it would make any difference if you did swap day cares. My kids came home with all kinds of sickness from not only day care but kinder as well.


  • Feed plenty of meals with added garlic. Sadly it is pretty hard to dodge getting sick from daycare.


  • I think all day care centres pose a risk, there are so many kids there and someone is always getting sick and sharing with the other kids. Give your daughter some vicks on her chest of an evening and maybe talk to your dr about giving her some extra vitamin c to help combat it


  • Wanted to know aswell, thanks for posting.


  • I spoke to a doctor about this issue and he said expect the first two years of daycare to be riddled with illness. Definitely not what we want to hear! I give my kids vitamins (along with a healthy diet).


  • I hope you find some helpful tips


  • Unfortunately day care is where most kids get sick :(


  • I think it is very hard to stop them from picking up some kind of germ at day care. Both mine were constantly sick when they did occasional care. Whatever ever was going around, my kids seemed to pick it up – colds, hand foot and mouth, slap cheek. Despite telling my children to always wash their hands after touching things it didn’t help.


  • A good vitamin will help, my daughter is in daycare once a week and has still managed to get sick.


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