Child is sick EVERY 2 weeks…
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Anonymous
| OP, I feel bad for your baby. |
Anonymous
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OP I am 53 years old and have rarely suffered any virus or other communicable illness in the last 23 years since I stopped attending school. I’m a clean freak including hand hygiene and wasn’t sick once in the last 8 years I was working in healthcare settings.
I started working with kids in an educational setting four weeks ago; four days after I started I woke up with a viral infection which morphed into a bacterial infection - I was sick for 11 days. I went back to work and four days later I woke up with sudden onset severe joint pain which four days later was diagnosed as covid and I am now out sick for three more days while I take Paxlovid (terrific stuff, aside from the nausea and diarrhea) and recover. I work with kindergartners and 1st graders. They run up to hug me and cough right into my face - as they do to each other. They’re keen to wash paint off their hands after crafts, but are unconcerned with snot on their hands whether it is theirs or someone else’s. They are delightful and fun and they are walking germ vectors. Plan on dealing with communicable illnesses on a regular basis until your kids are MS/HS age and potentially even then because while they might learn to wash their hands better and more frequently, the air in schools is a mist of expelled virus particles and most schools are poorly ventilated. Enjoy! |
Anonymous
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The people saying it will go away in elementary- nope!!! Maybe it’s a post Covid thing but my dd started school after Covid and has been sick nonstop. Her school is so dirty and kids constantly throwing up. She actually gets my younger kids sick.
But yeah in daycare my kids are sick probably every 3 weeks from November to April. Oh and as a parent I’m sick nonstop too. That’s the part no one told me about. Last year I got strep, pink eye, entero virus, RSV, Covid, flu and probably more. Vomiting is the worst in my mind and my whole family was down and out with that 2x last year. |
Anonymous
Umm the link that was posted isn’t saying what you all think it’s saying. It says viruses don’t have as much benefit but bacterial infections do. A LOT of what kids are sick with is bacterial. And even with viruses, my kids get secondary bacterial infections (like lung or ear). |
Anonymous
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High quality masks work. Whether at school or at home trying to avoid spread to others in the household.
I know that's tough with little kids who often can't wear one well. But with older kids it's a really solid option. Also wash hands immediately after coming home as a rule. Every time you walk in the door, wash hands. Showers and fresh clothes right after school so you're not spreading whatever is on clothing or their body around the house. There's a lot of research that indicates our immune system is impaired after covid, no matter how mild. I do think we're seeing much more illness than ever before, and it's a good idea for all of us to do what we can to avoid further issues from covid as well as everything else that's going around |
Anonymous
+1 Frankly, even blue surgical masks helps to lessen the microbial load. I would add - become a "no shoes indoors" household like many Asian households. And also get flu shots for your school going kids in August instead of October. You want them to be protected against flu primarily from September to February. |
Anonymous
| We are an Asian household and my husband thought he would outsmart the endless colds by wearing a mask indoors. Then our daughter coughs in your face and you can feel the literal spittle land in your eyes. There's only so much you can do. |
Anonymous
I had to do a double take bc I thought I had posted this response. Same. We masked and we all still got sick. 10 days later. Still sick. |
Anonymous
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Does the daycare smell clean each morning when you arrive?
At our first, it seemed like kids were sick on a cycle every 2-3 weeks. They'd get over it just in time to catch something else or another variation. I started viewing the cameras more. The kids weren't required to wash their hands before snack or lunch. It appeared hands were only cleaned after the potty-trained ones went to the bathroom. I saw teachers doing wipes on tables and chairs but never toys. I started paying more attention each morning when I dropped off. This was a very reputable facility, too. We did tours of a few others that had been on our list and immediately smelled the cleanliness when we walked into one facility. I asked about their cleaning procedures and was shown how toys were disinfected throughout the day and each evening. Stuffed animals weren't allowed there at all and blankies/lovies could only be held during naptime. Kids washed their hands before snacks and meals and throughout the day. That was a big one for me!! We switched and it drastically improved how often the kids got sick. It went from a few times a month to maybe once or twice every 2-3 months. |
Anonymous
This made me laugh. I was trying to care for my sick 11 month old this morning and he took his entire snotty face and planted it onto my mouth (for a kiss). It was very sweet, disgusting and just classic. Might as well put my sick leave now |
Anonymous
Yup, you can either take care of your little or avoid sickness. Never both. |
Anonymous
we can all acknowledge that childcare is needed (yes i work full time) and also acknowledge that repeated viral infections aren't helpful to anyone and actually bad long term. we should instead be advocating for better ventilation, better sick leave policies so parents don't have to send their kids back while sick (and then create the spread which means kids are sick 90% of the time), and masks... or we can just lie and say it's secretly good to be sick all the time |