Day Care - Houston,TX

HAte to say it, but yes, it is normal. There is so much stuff that goes around day care, it's unreal! And some parents have to work---so their kids go to day care even when they are sick.
But this is the worst time of year for all that.

I quit working when my oldest was 6 months old, b/c he was getting sick and run down. If I ever had to do day care again, I would look for home day care where the number of kids is much much smaller and where the mom who sits has a firm policy on NOT taking sick children.

Like all the moms said, it is normal. My oldest got sick soooo often when she started preschool, it seems liked she missed as much as she went. The good thing is, her younger sister and brother got to share her germs so when they started/ will start school, they don't have as hard time adjusting. Good luck

I am so surprised that the majority of the answers are not only stating that this is normal but that it is good for him to be sick to get his immune system stronger.

I have to disagree. I would see if there was some way I could help my son/daughter financially so he would not have to do to daycare so young. At this age, the kids are continually touching each other, themselves, and there is no way to keep the germs from being shared.

My kids did not go to daycare and because I got to decide what foods they ate and drank and made sure they had plenty of sleep at night, they were rarely sick. When they did start school, the children were not allowed to stay if they were sick. My children were hardly ever sick throughout their school years.

This is nothing unusual and almost to be expected. If he has never really been around a lot of other children, he is suddenly being exposed to every germ/virus that they have, and his immune system is not built up against it. It will get better once his immune system builds up the immunity. In the meantime, make sure he is taking a multi-vitamin every day and getting the rest he needs. This is one argument for day cares instead of staying at home in a closed environment. It doesn't matter the age, when children suddenly do this, they will get the "new kid sickies". New teachers and new nurses often fall victim to it, as well.

You might check with the day care as to what cleaning products they are using. If it is different from that at home, he might possibly be sensitive to a cleaning product. Does he take a blanket/pillow to day care? Do they wash it? This is a slight possibility, but couldn't hurt to check.

. My granddaughter was sick almost every other day when she was in daycare. She would no sooner get well and she was back at the dr. the day after. Finally my daughter got smart and let me have her back again..What the heck...she was in daycare and I was babysitting her while she was sick, so why not while she was well too.. as soon as I started watching her she stopped being sick. Just so you know, my grandson is in pre-k this year and the only sick he has is ear infections and his asthma, and neither one of these are from being around other children. As for my granddaughter she was sick with everything you can catch from someone else and so were the teachers...GO FIGURE!! I mean colds, flu, you name it she had it, so I think it depends on where you are as to whether it is normal or not. And I also think that hygiene has a lot to do with it...but when you have 50 kids it is hard to be able to wipe those runny noses every 2 seconds..and I don't know of any daycare that washes the toys as soon as one child puts it up..that would be taking too much away from the other kids..don't you think, unless they hire someone just to wipe noses and wash the toys. Now my daughter's daycare did all the cleaning after the children went home for the night. As the toys were being sanitized, they were cleaning up the individual classrooms,,Though it help to cut down on sickness it never wiped it entirely out..that is impossible.

No, this isn't normal unless your grandson typically is prone to being sick. I own a preschool and here are the things you should expect to see that would reflect proper hygiene and wellness practices:
1. Are toys sanitized immediately after any child has put it into their mouth?
2. Are staff required to use disposable gloves anytime staff change diapers, wipe a nose, handle food or any other bodily fluids?
3. Are "not well" children and staff not permitted in the school if they are contagious?
4. Are strict hand washing procedures required (after bathroom, outdoor time, before meals, etc)?
5. Are there separate air ducts into rooms or do they share common ducts (which promotes air borne illness)?
6. Is a clearly defined diapering process in place (we have 18 steps)?
7. Are there outside quality assurance processes in place that examine hygiene/health practices (licensing provides only minimum standards)?

Stay in the room during a busy time and observe how they above is handled. My guess you'll see any or all of the above contributing to the problem.

Here's a link for more details http://blogs.goddardsystems.com/Cedar-Park-TX/

I know it is hard my daughter is 7 months had 2 tummy bugs, one ear infection and now a head cold. I also work in a pre-school and see sick children come in on a daily basis. Daycare is hard until he gets use to it. Hopefully the daycare provider is on parents about keeping their "SICK" child home. Just hang in there and hopefully he will get better.......

My son is 18 months old and just started daycare in January and has never really been sick or had a cold/cough. Since going into daycare I would say within the first 1-2 weeks he has been sick constantly; runny nose, cough and even a left ear infection (the first in his life). The frustrating part for me is that I have begged his pediatrician for something to dry up his nose and ease his cough but he refuses to give me a prescription because of his age, he insists it's not healthy to give children at his age a prescription for these symptoms and basically if he did, they don't work. So yes, he goes to school constantly draining and coughing but without a fever, he does have allergies the same as I do but he suffers more because he doesn't know how to blow his nose and such. I'm waiting for the day his immune system gets familiar with all of the daycare germs so he can finally have some relief.

Oh yes....totally normal. Most likely he will get everything under the sun. But, each time he gets sick, his immune system is getting stronger. Just talk to the pediatrician about it and let them re-assure you that this is completely normal. I started my first in daycare when she turned 2 and she spent that first year pretty sick. But, she's now in Kindergarten and just had a cough bad enough to warrant a prescription.......I went to walgreens to fill it and it had been so long since she needed anything that they had no record of her in the system anymore! I promise it will get better with each sickness. Hang in there! =0)

He is suddenly being exposed to a virtual wave of things. He will most likely get sick every 6 to 8 weeks with whatever is "going around". This is good on one hand because it is building his immunity and he will generally be a healthier adult because he has built antibodies to many illnesses by being exposed to them as a child. Take Chicken Pox for example. A young child gets spots, itches, runs a slight fever, may have a few scars for the rest of his life. An adult that gets it can die. There is research that shows a correlation between MS and kids who were kept too clean and away from other children and they didn't have normal childhood illnesses.

If your child is getting exceptionally ill then other things need to be looked at.

Yeah it normal hes never been exposed to that many germs at one time before. Even though my son had been in daycare since 6 wks old whne we took him out for 8 weeks when I had his lil bro and then he went to a new daycare he was sick a lot at first. We started giving him the dannon probiotic yogurts at night before he went to bed. They don't just help with the tummy bugs if the kiddos drink them often enough they boost their whole immune system. My lil guy has only been sick once since we started them in sept..
hth

As long as he is in daycare, he will get sick more often than if he didn't go to daycare. Just wait until he comes home with lice. I know this isn't any positive answer, but some parents just don't care if they send their children to school/ daycare sick.

I probably missed 1/4 of my work time when our son started daycare at two. However, once you get through that initial rough period (few months to 6 months), your grandson will develop terrific immunity. Since then, I can only recall one time our son was sick and he's just about to turn seven. It's really great to get this exposure to sickly kids now (I know it doesn't seem great, but ...) because things get a lot more complicated when they get sick when they're in school.

If he has been sick since he started, it's likely he had something before he went to day care. It would take a few days for a virus/cold to incubate and become strong enough to really be noticeable.

Our son was 2 when he started day care as well. We didn't have any issues with him being sick. But, our daughter (who was weaned at 3 months so I could start chemo) has been in day care since she was 9 weeks old and is always sick. Different kids, different immune systems.

Unfortunately, it is really important for our bodies to be exposed to different illnesses so we can produce antibodies and help attack the bacteria, virus, etc. That's what vaccines are - small amounts of common illnesses for our bodies to develop antibodies.

I agree with all the other responses - it's probably going to be a few months before his body adjusts to the germs that are there. His immunity will be stronger in the long-run, and the illnesses should be fewer and far-between.

it is normal my niece was 6 months old when I lost my job and started staying home watching my 2 and her. She went to a regular daycare center and was sick all the time! plus once they start school they will get sick a lot to.

Kids immune system is week so any littel germ they encounter can affect them. HOWEVER , Same thing here, if he is sick all the time than you might consider removing him and choosing better daycare. I moved my son because he was ALWAYS sick there, that's NOT normal. Apparently they were not even wiping his nose, disgusting.
I got fed up one day and moved him to a daycare that actually washes their hands and doesn't allow other sick kids to be left there to get everyone else sick as result, he has only been sick 3 times last year as opposed to every day.

Yes, would agree that it is normal only because both of my son's have been through it. Before my 1st son went to daycare he Never had a cold. Never had a running nose or a cough. He was in daycare about 1 month before he was sick all the time. He also started at the age of 2. He would cough nonstop and constantly had a running nose. When he did recover from his cold he woulld go about 3 or 4 weeks before he was sick again. Ieven thought of pulling him out of daycare. This went on for sometime. Now he is in Kindergartin and he back to not getting sick again. He has perfect attendance in school.
On the other side, My 3 year old started daycare much earlier than my oldest son and he has not had as bad of a time as my first son. I believe this is because he has been exposed to all the germs much ealier and so his immune system by had adpated better. He does get sick but it does not last as long.

I'm sure things will get better for your grandson. It may sound crazy but I think his system just needs time to adjust to all the new germs he is being exposed too.

Believe it or not, this is normal. This is what no one prepares you for when you have children. I heard kids get sick but I didn't realize they would be sick for an entire year straight! It was ridiculous! I couldn't believe how bad it was. You'll get through it. Keep him on probiotics (you can get them at any pharmacy or grocery store), DHA's and a multi-vitamin. Hand sanitize his hands the second he gets in the car from school. It will help but not prevent it all. Good luck; it will be a tough year with illness.