is your child always sick?

wife2

Sat, Nov 01 2014, 10:22 pm

My dd goes to a playgroup of about 20 kids. Winter is starting and there are tons of runny noses. The playgroup morah says usually 2-3 kids have a runny nose/cough and then everyone else gets it. She can't make them stay home for that because a cold could take at least a week or more. I go to pick dd up and there are like 5 kids with runny noses. She tries to tell all the morahs to wash their hands a lot and they wipe their noses but dd always gets sick. Literally, every other week she is sick. She has a runny nose, gets better for a week, then gets a cold again. I can't handle this. She wakes up in the night several times due to her stuffed nose and she is miserable. How can I help her not get the germs from all the other sick kids for the next few months of winter?

amother

Sat, Nov 01 2014, 10:31 pm

Is this her first time out in a group setting? The immune system is developing and hopefully next winter will be better. I give my kids a daily multi vitamin and an annual flu shot.

My DD is in playgroup this year for the first time. She caught the croup, which developed into bronchitis. Then two days after she went back she was home sick with a virus which turned out to be (BH a mild case) hand foot mouth disease. I told the teacher that I am keeping her home until she is better. The teacher thanked me and said that two years ago for two weeks she was dealing with miserable kids because the moms sent the kids with blisters in their mouth to school.

I heard of a playgroup that was strictly for SAHM, because we dont send our kids to school sick as often as working moms do.

( dont worry, as soon as DD went back DS came down with an ear infection, and then a different DC was home sick with a virus. Hopefully next week will be better)

morah

Sat, Nov 01 2014, 10:41 pm

My son's first year in a daycare setting was like that. But now he's 3 and in preschool (which is also a massive cesspool of germs) and has kh yet to catch anything. He hasn't had more than a minor sniffle in over a year. Unfortunately, his poor little bro is 1 and started daycare this year and he seems to be catching stuff left and right, though IY'H I imagine it will be better next year, just like it was for ODS. Remember, even with the teachers washing their hands, little kids are wiping their noses whereever is most convenient and sticking their hands everywhere, so there's really not much you can do to stop germs from spreading among that age group.

seeker

Sun, Nov 02 2014, 1:27 am

Our first year in school was something like that. Now I've learned that there are things to try that could maybe strengthen the immune system, but I'm not sure they would have helped at that point because I hear it's pretty typical for a first kid who was at home until then and not exposed much to catch everything that goes around the first year they're in school. B"H this year has been much better so far.

chani8

Sun, Nov 02 2014, 2:17 am

In the winter, we live off chizukit herbs to strengthen immunity. Something with sambucal and echinacea are good. When a child is even just a little sick, we use medicine, herbs and remedies that that dry up the mucous so that a cold or virus doesn't turn dangerous.

catonmylap

Sun, Nov 02 2014, 5:55 am

First year in a group setting is bad...

they also are infected by everyone else's siblings... the more kids, the more siblings, the more diseases being passed around...

It seems better for far this year for my ds, but it's still early... his brother has brought us home 2 colds from school, and we got past those... he has a cough/runny nose right now and this time I don't think his brother got it first..his mispachton this year is much smaller too, so I think there is less to catch...

wife2

Thu, Nov 06 2014, 5:55 pm

But is every mother really always dealing with sick kids? It seems like I'm the only one who is bothered by it and all other mothers don't seem to mind their child's runny nose or cough. When my kids are sick, they wake up multiple times at night from coughing or stuffed noses and none of us sleep well. How do you function if your kids are always sick? How come no one I know seems to think it is such a big deal to have sick kids?

bnm

Thu, Nov 06 2014, 8:58 pm

my kid was the one in the group that was always getting sick. I was very conscientious about it, would keep her home for 24 hours after starting antibiotics, call the babysitter to let her know to disinfect the playpen the kid had slept in that day etc etc. It was a very small group and my daughter was the one who was always sick.... same thing happened in Nursery and Kindergarten till we took out her tonsils and adenoids. since then she has been on antibiotics only twice, she used to be on something every month.

seeker

Thu, Nov 06 2014, 11:18 pm

wife2 wrote:

I definitely consider it a big deal; my child is prone to serious asthma triggered by colds. But every mother is not really always dealing with sick kids because after the first year of school it does usually settle down. So for one year of their lives yes probably most mothers are going through this and it's awful, but then it passes. Subsequent kids usually develop their immunity more gradually from bugs the older one(s) bring home. At least that's how I see it. My younger one had more minor colds as a baby and toddler but they were more spread out and now she's been OK in school. My older one was almost never ever sick at all as a baby or toddler, but got zapped with everything as soon as she was exposed to other kids.