Some comments on other threads have me wondering what to expect.... My LO has had a chronic cold since starting daycare, but knock on wood no fevers, vomiting, etc that require staying home. I don't know what we would do if he needed to be out for like a week a month regularly...
How many days per month was your LO out sick from daycare/school during the first year?
Apr 23, 2018You might also enjoy...
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I think like 5 or 6, which my husband and I were able to split up—I missed 3 days of work and tried to schedule well visits for times I already was off. I also missed a couple days for snow days where my office was open but daycare was not. I have friends though who weren’t as lucky who were out 4 days a month on average
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in the 29 weeks my son was in daycare before we went to a nanny, he was probably out with the crud 5-6 times. One of those times being what the Nurse Practitioner diagnosed as HMAF, but I don't think the symptoms match up. Whatever it was we were out for almost a week.
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It was at least a few days a month - and he was only in daycare W-F (I had Mondays off, and my mom watched him Tuesdays). He was often sick on Monday and Tuesdays....oddly he usually came down with stuff on Sundays.
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From Fall to Spring, it was probably around once a week for the first year...
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DS2 started last May at 11 months old. He has already been sick several times before starting daycare from DS1's daycare germs and we were able to get him ear tubes before he started school (my kids have PhDs in ear infections), so I think that and the warm weather helped him not be sick quite so much, but he was still probably out like 2-3 days a month. October-December were bad - he was sick a lot, although flu/RSV negative - and between his illnesses and the school holiday breaks, he was barely in school November and December. He was sick like a week in October, like 2.5 weeks in November, and another 3-4 days in December. Our ped referred us to an infectious disease specialist because she was concerned, so we had a lot of doctor appointments on top of that.
Poor thing missed the Halloween parade, the Thanksgiving Feast, and I think he missed the Christmas Party too. It was to the point where the daycare teachers joked he'd never make a holiday event (and we all cheered when he was able to be there for the Valentine's Day lunch and Easter egg hunt!)
I grant you that the fall illness streak was a little intense, but the 2-3 days a month with a cold/fever thing is pretty much in line with both my kids and DS1 is 3.5 years old. DS1 for his part was sick a solid 3-4 days a month during that crazy spell this past fall (since the boys pass their germs back and forth) and he ended up needing a second set of ear tubes put in.
Plus, even if your kid doesn't get mystery illnesses like DS2 for weeks at a time, we had equally bad stints with DS1 with things like hand foot mouth disease. He's had it twice now, but the first time was the absolute worst. (I think after he had it once, he had some kind of immunity that made the symptoms milder in the second go around). He had blisters everywhere, including his mouth and throat, he couldn't eat, we had a newborn that we had to isolate from him for a solid 3 weeks per the ped, and he had to be out of school until the blisters started to scab - which that first time was like 2 weeks. And within weeks there was a lice outbreak at school, then a strep outbreak, etc. It never ends.
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Agree with a few days per month. DD2 would probably be out less after the first few winter months except that I've kept her home due to bad diaper rashes while teething and other things I knew I could treat better at home. My office has become more telework-friendly between having DD1 and DD2 or I wouldn't have kept her out as much.
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Wanted to add that DD1 (3.5) has barely been out for anything after, say, 18 months. She got the flu late in the season this year (very mildly), she was out for 1-2 days for strep a year ago, and out for up to a week for HFM when she was 1. So as long as you can make it through those first illnesses, I think the exposure is really worth it for their immune system in the long run!
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DD1 - started daycare January...was probably out 2-3 days a month the first 4 months (until summer/late spring). The next Fall, she was also out a bit, maybe 1-2 times a month until we got her tubes put in late January.
DD2 - Started June - was out instantly with HFM (got it from a classmate bc DD1 didnt have it); otherwise has been out very very little with illness.
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A lot! At least a dozen times. That number is probably very low. DH stayed home a few times, my dad a few times and then me of course more than both of them. The worse stretch was 8-9 months to when he turned a year old. He kept getting ear infections and fevers. During that time frame he also contracted HFM.
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We also had lots the first and second year. He got a cold the second week of daycare and probably had 6-8 other colds that year. I think it was basically a week of sick, 2 weeks well, then repeat Plus HFM and I think one ear infection.
Second year he was out for 3 weeks from pneumonia and RSV that required hospitalization plus a few other colds and fevers.
This year, year 3, has been the best so far. I think under 5 days we’ve had to take off for the whole cold/flu season. Fingers crossed we are past the immune building hurdle.
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My first had a lot of ear infections but I don't think I kept him home a lot, 2-3 days a month the first winter in daycare?
My second, he started daycare March 2017 and I think between September and November I missed 3 full weeks of work! He had one illness after another, and it was usually some kind of virus with high fever. He was treated for dehydration at one point.
Our pediatrician said the third winter after starting full time daycare should be better, so far that remains true with my oldest son. He is in Kinder this year and only missed one day of school right before spring break.
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I think once kids stop putting everything in their mouths, there's a drop of in terms of sickness. Then, all of a sudden in kindergarten, it picks up again because of lax sanitation practices and communal supplies.
My son was 2 when he first went to daycare and he was sick a lot that first year. I think we had something like 5 illness from January to May.
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Thanks everyone, ugh, I know they have to build their immune systems at some point... but it still makes me sad thinking about my LO being sick with some of the yuckier stuff (and worried about juggling work, but I know we'll make it work one way or another).
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When we first started daycare when DS was 1 it was pretty bad. Between 12-18 months he had chronic ear infections. So basically he was out for a day or two every 1-2 weeks. His fever kicked back every time we finished a full course of antibiotics. Between all that of course there was the croup, stomach bug, hand foot and mouth (that one you would be out for a week as it is viral / no drugs for it), the roseola...etc. It was unbearable. Ours was already the higher end of daycare - they were relatively new and clean compared to a lot of the other places we visited. It finally tamed down to be something more manageable when we put tubes in when he was 18 months.
It contributed to the end of my then-career as I literally had to turn down projects that I was in the middle of. It was terrible.
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@irene: ugh, that sounds awful....
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We got super lucky. I don't know if it's because he goes to a relatively small in-home daycare or if we just got a kid with an amazing immune system, but he was only out a handful of times with the usual crud. He did get hand foot and mouth though and was out about a week for that. I will say that we both work and don't keep him home unless he is obviously under the weather (ie. either lethargic/fever/vomiting). If he just has a runny nose or occasional cough we send him.
So I would say plan for the worst and hope for the best, you never know!
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I feel like it was 30% of the time! Maybe it was bad timing because DS was teething, but he was sick non-stop. DD handled the transition to day care much better though (which means that, poor kid, she doesn't get to stay home and play nearly as often!)
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@periwinklebee: The first year is so hard. My son was 8.5 months when he started daycare. Got his first cold 2 weeks later and was sick I'd say from Oct- Feb. Not a lot of serious illnesses at all- HFM was mild, teething was mild, no stomach bugs (even though I got it twice. Or maybe he just never puked). We had some bad viral colds though. It was pretty miserable. But once those first 6 months were over, he was so healthy. He barely got sick this year, one bad fever that lasted 3 days!! He only stayed home from daycare like 3 times but my mom had him a lot. Again, a lot of mild stuff that made him grumpy but not enough to keep him home.
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SO.MANY. But I have twins, so it was either one or the other, and we had help from my parents. Their first three months I added up that one or the other was sick for an entire month when I added it all up. If we didn't have help I might have sent them a few of the times, because it wasn't terrible, mostly colds. But I did find if I sent them back too quickly it would get worse. That was when they were 15 months old. They are now 5 and each has only been sick 2-3 days this entire school year.
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ugh, I'm still feeling pretty much like complete shit from the sleep deprivation and just fighting off the usual colds, I feel like if I survive with my career intact until my son's first birthday, it will be nothing short of a miracle.
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