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Yes, it has been a particularly bad winter. We haven’t had a single day all January where no one has been sick. But mainly just colds (but my kids have had fevers w some) plus stomach bug went through. Not sure I’d its just a bad winter or just par for the course for the first year Of Daycare for my DD2. Bit of both I think, I’m a teacher and it seems my students have also been out sick a lot and for long periods of time.

It does get better though, it was also a tough first winter with my DD1 but year 2 not bad and 3 she really wasn’t sick much at all (and this year she has only been sick enough to miss school once). It’s more the baby me and DH being sick.

I don’t think there’s really much you can do besides the normal hand washing and then trying to make sure everyone gets as much sleep as possible. And spring will be here soon I hope!

To give some context, I was at my job for 5 years before having LO1 and only took 4 hours of sick time. Between two maternity leaves I'm on negative sick leave. I'm doing everything I can to get back in the black, but LO2 got RSV over Thanksgiving, a bad virus over Christmas, followed by an ear infection, an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, then another ear infection. LO1 has had 3 colds and a GI bug. Like every day for months someone has been sick. And I'm 90,% positive I have strep, but I don't want to go further into sick leave debt to get it checked out. I have missed so much work it isn't funny.

Yes seems like LO has had a cold at least once a month since she was a few months old (she’s 11 mos now). They are just colds and she’s usually still pretty happy and sleeps decently but it’s not fun and I feel bad for her. But not much to be done I don’t think! Either I or DH or both usually catches her cold too which blows. We have a nanny so luckily don’t have to take time off when she just has a cold. She did have a very short lived stomach thing where we both worked from home and tag teamed. I think I just have to get used to constant colds!

ETA: We have been using Tylenol before bed for this most recent cold and it really seemed to help her. Even with no fever, I feel like it was hurting her to cough and the Tylenol calmed her down. That’s my only tip!

We’ve just had a bunch of normal illnesses- some bad colds, a bad cough- my 3 year old coughs so hard that she throws up, which is lovely, but still better than a stomach virus. So it’s been pretty bad but not awful. I got my first call from preschool to come pick up my 3 year old and felt terrible that I even brought her because she had started coughing really bad just that morning. I just hope i didn’t get her classmates sick. But I stay at home so while it disrupts my plans, it’s easy to rearrange things than I imagine it is to be out of work so much. WIth this past cold I was really aggressive with emergency-C and elderberry syrup for myself and big sister and I think it helps some.

@periwinklebee: use bleach and water on all surfaces especially in the bathroom. Clorox wipes won’t kill certain stomach bugs. Fingers crossed.

This (along with other reasons) is why I stopped working. I was full time, then part time, then per diem. My husband can’t take sick days (tbh he’s traveling most of the time anyway) so it 100% falls on me, and my patients don’t get seen if I don’t show up so that’s just not fair to anyone.
We’ve had rsv and other assorted nastiness. I’m currently coming down with the flavor of the month that both kids already had.

We seem to pass a neverending cold back and forth to each other in our house. At one point, RSV and strep swept through the daycare as well, so my daughter battled RSV. Of course, any time my daughter has a cold, her asthma flares, so we've done a lot of nebulizer treatments since Christmas. My most recent cold seems to have developed into a sinus infection so I currently can't breathe through my nose, and I have a sore throat now too...and am losing my voice.

Fortunately, some sick days have overlapped with snow days so I haven't had to miss too many work days since I'm a teacher. The unfortunate thing is that I tend to work when I am the sick one because I am 37 weeks along and trying to save my remaining sick time for maternity leave! Oh, and being pregnant totally limits my personal treatment and prevention options.... ready for this cold/flu season to end!

Yes yes and yes. it's been terrible!! DD had a week long tummy bug and she wasn't herself for 7-10 days, I had pneumonia and was icky for like 3 weeks!! and ds has had the perpetual runny nose/cough gunk forever. I just want nice sunny days and no more sickies!!

@periwinklebee: I'm sorry you got it!

Last year was hell for us. It was my preschooler's first year of care outside the home, and she kept infecting me and the baby! We got 30+ viruses in a year. Everyone said the second year would be way better, but so far it's barely an improvement! Our longest healthy stretch since school started was 12 days. We've ALL been on antibiotics multiple times for ears/sinuses/etc. The baby has had two drug reactions that made her miserable! And we got Norovirus this year, which we avoided getting last year. It's been a week, and my toddler still has very loose stools once a day, so she is still home from daycare for I don't know how long! The doctor said her gut could take weeks to recover, and I should keep her home until changing her won't be a mess. How in the world do people deal with this???

@Ajsmommy: Ugh my two older kids had those stomach bugs last year. Yuck. They got it two weeks apart and it lasted about a week and ahalf or so per kid. Thankfully our then newborn didn't get it and neither did we. Fingers crossed your family is well again soon!!

I would say so far that this winter has been less intense than last, but there is a ton of time left for us all to be miserable. We're all just getting past a kind of bad cold, actually it seems like two in a row, so it would be nice to get a little break, but I'm not counting on it!

We had a heck of a January! I feel like we were all healthy for like...2 days. The whole month. Cold and flu season sucks.

My kids pretty much just have constant runny noses (knock on all the wood everywhere...) but last week was a f*ing doozy for me--such a bad cold that I had laryngitis and could barely speak, and then a stomach bug that knocked me totally flat for 2 days. I'm an adjunct prof and was worried I'd have to lecture without a voice and then cancelled class anyway since I was puking. Thanks for the germs, daycare!

The fall was really bad for us. My boys had Coxsackie, pink eye, fevers, strep, croup, etc. I also was sick a lot too (sinus infection and then an ear infection). The winter has been kinder, but it isn’t over yet! The flu is running rampant here in NY in my school!

This is a major reason why I use a nanny instead of daycare. It is more expensive but it is worth it to have a more consistent work schedule. Ramping back after maternity leave is already complicated enough.

My son started part time daycare at age 20mo and was largely healthy even then. Maybe we were just lucky but based on that experience I really put limited stock in the theory that you will get slammed eventually no matter what age you start group care. But even if it’s true I would rather deal with it later instead of at the same time that I am adjusting to being back at work.

Disclaimer: I totally get and respect that daycare works better for many people for many reasons. But this is my approach to managing the issue raised by OP.

YES. Someone has been sick non stop since October. So exhausting. We’ve had many colds, but also have been slammed with a bunch of other things, including pneumonia and two separate stomach bugs. It’s been brutal.

@periwinklebee: You’re not doing anything wrong. When my older DD was sick a bunch one year, my doctor told me pretty much every kid goes through a year where they are constantly sick. This might just be your year.