Starting DAYCARE for the First Time on Monday!

K. - It has been my experience, based on conversations with friends, family, doctors, and just general reading, that regardless of the age you introduce children to a social setting they instantly become more susceptible to being sick. They're immune systems just need to "toughen up". This will happen in about 6-8 months, and in the meantime yes, you can expect he will probably get sick. This has nothing to do with the cleanliness of the daycare (well, I say that, but you never know - but most accredited daycares are great at staying sanitized), it is more about your son just being around more people on a daily basis.

Make sure to talk to the Director about their requirements for sick children. At what point will you need to come get him? Can you take cold medicine in and have them give it to him?

This will be a stressful time. Just make sure you take each day as it comes, and have a backup plan in place if you can't stay home with him and he's too sick for daycare. Good luck!

Hi K.,
I have a story that might make you feel better. Similar to you, I stayed home with my son for the first 13 months of his life and when I was 4 months pregnant I was offered an exceptional consulting position that I could not turn down (my family could also benefit from the money). I was just terrified to put him into a daycare setting and furthermore, I secretly looked down on parents that just "stuck" their kids in daycare. I also didn't have a good experience during my childhood!

I shopped around and interview about 20 daycare facilities near our house and picked one. As I am sure the one that you picked is, the one I found is nationally accredited for age appropriate academics, have viewing rooms for the parents, the building is safe, clean, and well maintained. Their doors are secured with electronic keypads, and can be opened only with a passcode, the teachers are never (or very rarely) alone with the children and I can honestly say that I would trust any one of them to personally care for my children unattended. All of the teaches are wonderful and some even go to classes on their own time to learn things for the kids i.e. Spanish and sign language. I personally trust a daycare setting MUCH more than a home care arrangement.

When we went for the trial day, Tyler played and had a wonderful time because I stayed in the class to observe the interaction and talk with the teachers. The first "real" day, he screamed and cried, it was awful, I felt like I was abandoning him (you WILL get over this, trust me). By the third day, I waited in the observation room until he calmed down (about 15 minutes) and he just started to play.

He was sick for about 3 months straight (I know… YUCK!) But now he has an incredible immune system. I just had to keep 1 thing in mind, I would much rather have him sick and building his immune system at this age than in Pre-School when he could be missing important learning opportunities! I did NOT use any "at home remedies" as I do not think Airborne is approved that that age group, I know that I could not take it when I was pregnant. He was on antibiotics once with an ear infection and toughed the rest out.

Prior to daycare, my son would get anxious around crowds, especially at family gathering where everyone wanted to hold and talk to him, he would either cry or want to be held by my husband or me. Within a month of daycare, he became this outgoing, overly friendly, wave and say Hi to everyone child. He started remembering his Friends names, talked about his day at school and using 3 words together to talk (14 Months), singing ABC's and could count to 10. by 15 months, he was using a big boy cup, remember to put it in a "safe zone" so he didn't spill, could dish up his own dinner served family style and when he was done, liked to carry his plate to the trash and scrape it clean! All things he learned in daycare. It is almost like the pier pressure helps the learning process.

When I stopped working for 3 months in May to have our second son, we made the decision to let him stay in school for 2 days a week over the summer. Keep in mind that this was financially taxing, so we did it strictly for him. He can count to ten in sign language, knows all of his colors in English and Spanish, knows the complete alphabet and can actually count objects up to five and knows the result of taking away or adding a teddy bear (addition and subtraction).

Daycare actually helped our little boy to become more outgoing and enhanced his educational process. I hope this helps ease your mind. Please let me know if you would like more information on the center that he attends or have any questions.

Good Luck!
E.

I don't know about airborne, but my toddler drinks juice with liquid echinacea in it. It is bad to drink except in an undiluted juice. I get the echinacea drops from GNC and just add it to her juice every morning (on two weeks off two weeks). Good luck. He may very well get ill...I run an in-home daycare...five children total....two of them being mine....and this year we are experiencing quite a few viruses. I have stressed and worried, and obsessed on cleaning, disinfecting, sanitizing, etc. and it still is happening. I have decided to relax and just do what I can. I have been told that most kids will either be ill off and on during their younger years, or they get their turn when they start public school. What to do!!! I just found out that I could give echinacea to an infant over 6 months...look on DrSears.com...this hopefully will help---it does for me. I hope it goes well for you.

K.

AIRBORNE is a nice thing to have if it worked. My daughters doctor and as well as others have told me, that it is a waste of money. If you have choose the best day care you can and if you feel comfortable leaving him there, then he will be fine. There is a website where you can find a daycare in your neighborhood, once you pull up the day cares you can click on the one you have choosen and see every inspection they have had, what they got intoruble for, if it was corrected and if so when. You can also see all the formal complaints if any against the day care. I think the website is listed under the Texas Dept of Protective and Regulartory services, once you get into there website you have to look but there is a place you can go and find a daycare in your area. Let me know if you cannot find it. Ask they day care if the cameras they have installed are running all the time, and if so can you view your kids class room on line. Its nice to go online and see what my daughter is doing and see that they are being taken care of. I have learned that no matter what I tell my self or what others tell me I am still going to worry and wonder. It gets easier with every day that goes by.

just because your child is going into daycare doesn't automatically mean that he will get sick. He may catch colds easier, but other than that, it will just depend on his own natural immune system. My almost 2 year old son has been in an in home day care setting since he was 9 weeks old and has been sick fewer times than my friend's FOUR MONTH old who has a nanny!!! I have another SAHM friend with a 4 and 2 year old and they are sick ALL the time. My son has had 3 ear infections and 1-2 colds. That's it. His day care is EXCELLENT when it comes to not spreading anything and I think he just has a naturally strong immune system.

So putting your child in daycare isn't necessary a free ticket to a ton of illnesses.

What I do with my daughter is a get q tip and clean the nostril just around the edge of the inside of her nose not to deep inside her nose. I also make her wash her hands when she gets home and we change her clothes. Yes it is more laundry but she has only been really sick once this year and she was only out of school for 24 hours.
I hope this helps!