nursery and bugs

[jennyh]

HI

not wanting to harp on like a loon but my daughter has her 2nd tummy bug in 3 weeks and I am wondering whether it will always be like this?? She has been going on and off for 6 weeks or so and so far has pretty much been ill constantly which I expected. My question is whether I can expect this to go on for just the winter...or further!? And from those with experience, can I expect to literally catch everything that she has as well! Obviously I am new to the working mum thing but I have work to do and cant see how I am ever going to get it done if she cant go to nursery and I cant go to work!

She is nearly 9 months at the moment FYI

Jenny

[Grotty]

our experience was that for the 4 or so months of winter, we all were perpetually ill due to nursery bugs - annoying but true, sorry...

[canadianlisa]

Afraid that was also our experience, although it seemed to change from tummy bugs to colds as time passed. Now after a year my girl still gets colds but they seem very mild and she has very little time off nursery. It gets better.

[Bumpkin]

at our first nursery, it was a different thing each week, headlice, norovirus, chicken pox, scarlet fever (we didn't get that one thank god, changed nursery the week after!). Took ages to get rid of the lice!

[edanna]

There are always going to be bugs wherever children congregate (or indeed adults - Sainsbury's, the bus, the office). She may well have got the bugs if she wasn't at nursery - little kids just catch stuff. My 18 month old is very robust, doesn't go to nursery and has still had the same succession of tummy bugs, colds etc. It does get better as they get older and their immunity builds up... You can maybe avoid catching stuff by washing your hands all the time and avoiding her slobbering on you or your pillow too much!

[Lochie]

I think its par for the course :-(

I took my son to the doctor last week with suspected thread worm (which thankfully he DIDN'T have) - yet another glamorous bug that breeds in nurseries and schools. I was told to literally take his nappy off at night and put a torch to his bum to see if there were little worms crawling out. Wow how life has changed!

Seriously though we have been getting the nursery bugs too, as a whole family, I was very ill with one caught from my son a few weeks ago. Its hard hard work but glad to hear they settle down with age....

And as for the work thing, I think it really helps if you have a kind and caring boss with kids of their own who understands all this and lets you take time off as and when you need it...

[jollybaby]

I feel your pain. Miss jb has been at nursery for just over 2 months and it has been a continous stream of bugs. Working in healthcare I thought I was pretty resilient but no - these nursery strains can really wipe you out. I haven't felt well for over 3 weeks. Prior to going to nursery miss jb's last meeting with a doctor was her 6 week check - we are now regulars at the surgery!

[new mother]

Some of these should be taken up with the nursery - lice, worms, and things cleanliness related - but some are normal, unfortunately. I don't understand why parents are often worse affected though. Isn't our immunity stronger than that of a toddler? My ch were both formula fed from day 1 and had far fewer bugs than their contemporaries, not that that proves anything, but it is an interesting observation. The only thing I did which seemed different from other mothers was fairly obsessive handwashing, even if not obviously needed. Trade off is bugs for OCD in later life perhaps?!

[Ruth_Baldock]

NM: head lice is nothing to do with cleanliness, indeed lice prefer cleaner hair!

Parents are often affected worse by bugs than the kids are due to passage. Basically th virus mutates so it's stronger. Someone else (Saffron?!) may be able to explain it in much better detail than I can.

[Inkmaiden]

Also not much nursery can do if parents do not regularly check for head lice and eradicate them during an outbreak. It is infuriating to have your child get it over and over again because someone else hasn't sorted it out and keeps sending their child to nursery regardless.

[Gussy]

I think parents often come down badly because if you're anything like me you regularly only get a few hours sleep a night and are totally exhausted. We're also trying to do so much more these days

[Smiler]

Yes, it is stressful. think nurseries should record and share on request info on levels of sick absence.

[sophiechristophy]

Stress may also contribute to more frequent sickness as immune system is impaired.

[new mother]

Smiled, that is an excellent idea. We should all be asking to see those stats.

Ruth baldock, yes I too had heard that about the disgusting " l problem" - it has become something of an urban myth to me. I don't believe it for a second. Re viruses mutating, of course! Thank you. I hadn't thought of that. We the parents are getting the super strong de luxe version. :-(

[Bumpkin]

New mother, re your point on your bottle fed babies having fewer bugs than contempories, one of our NCT mums bottle fed from around 2 weeks whilst the rest of us breast fed for much longer varying times. The bottle fed baby definitely had less bugs! My son who was breast fed for ages caught chicken pox a while back and the day before the spots broke out when he would have been most infectious we played with bottle fed friend and they shared a water cup, but the other boy never caught it. So much for the breast feeding is healthier stats!

[new mother]

Bumpkin, Goodness!

It is weird I know.... I did expect more bugs with my ch owing to the stats but perhaps somehow I overcompensated. I do wonder if the handwashing thing (to obsessive levels) is what did the trick. But, tbh, I have no real clue.

Did you notice anything about the formula babies that could expLain it?

[jollybaby]

I expect the best explanation is chance New Mother!

[StraferJack]

Apart from the (sometimes grim) bugs I have picked up in recent weeks from daughter, and their physical side effects, I'm generally relaxed about the whole thing

I think it's probably long-term healthy to get exposed to bugs at an early age and build up a natural resistance