MY GP has recommended taking my 18 month old out of the creche

LegacyUser

Morning

I took my 18 month old son to the doctor on Fri morning.

She told me that since July he has had an antibiotic every single month - I nearly died!
Anyway, she suggested that we might need to consider taking him out of the creche in order to let his immune system mature as it is fairly obvious that it is not fully functioning yet.

My son has been in creche since Dec 2013 and attends 3 days a week.
He moved from the baby room to the toddler room in June and since then seems to have picked up everything going.

The GP explained that sometimes it seems to an ear infection, the next time ear & throat and then the next time it is tonislitis. Which leads her to think that there is no need for gromots or removal of tonsils.
He seems to have had 3 bouts of the vomitting bug since July & two very bad cases of diarrohea.
So he really is picking up everything - the only time he was in the surgery when he was in the baby room was for vaccinations.

She also stated that it is quite possible that come spring he will be perfectly fine and will never have another day's sickness again but it is also possible that we may be stuck in the same cycle.

So I am looking to see if anyone has experienced this before?
Did taking your child out of the creche really help?
Is there anything else I could be doing at the moment?

My son is a fine, sturdy little boy otherwise and loves, loves, loves the toddler room.
He is at the wrong age to try to introduce into a new environment (thinking of a child-minder) but needless to say if it has to be done it will be done.


So I guess I am simply looking for a little guidance if anyone has any ideas?

Thanks,

ch750536

**** COMPLETELY NON QUALIFIED TO GIVE ANY REAL ADVICE DISCLAIMER ****
Sounds like you have a sensible GP to me. Make sure your kid has a healthy stomach after all those anti biotics.

Also ensure your kids have enough vitamin D3 during the winter months, we don't get any D3 in ireland from October to April and it is essential for staying fighting fit. I give my kids 2000IU of D3 and a multivit daily. They were off school for more than 30 days each last year, so far this year they have had 2 days off.

farmchoice

ya that's a tricky one, obliviously its a situation that cannot be let go and for a doctor to recommend removal is pretty strong, as most of the time they are telling parents that's its natural for kids to get everything going and not to worry.

on the other hand he may be nearly over the worst of it. every kid seems to go through a stage of being sick all the time. last year my 2 were sick almost continuously from december to april and since then nothing.

if it was me i would leave it for another month or 2 and then decide. pick a date and stick with it as decision day.

LegacyUser

Thank you both for taking the trouble to reply.

ch750536 - I sprinkle a spoon of udo's infant blend microbiotics into his night-time bottle.
His gut has taken a hammering - he has been getting it since Sept so not cure if it is helping much!
I also give him 2 of the gummy-bear multi-vitamins every day. I must look into the vitamin d3 though.
Thanks for your help.

farmchoice - I had already kinda decided in my head that I would leave things until the NY and then look into getting a childminder. If he has a trip to the doctor in Jan then I think i will have to go ahead and take him out but if not then I might leave it go until March. he really loves the creche and there are so many positives to it for me (times of opening, days of opening etc.) that i would hate to have to move him.

i forgot to say that the main reason I brought him on Fri was that I suspected he was getting another dose of something in his throat as well as the diarrohea.
My GP gave me a prescription for an ear infection but told me not to fill it unless he got worse as it wasn't serious enough on Fri.
Thankfully we haven't had to use it so I am taking that as a good sign!

T

Neyite

I was warned about kids picking up all sorts the first year in creche - and they weren't kidding. I estimate I took 20 work days off, and my partner probably took about half that as well. Thankfully it levelled off. I got probiotic sachets from Boots which might have helped, and Vit D drops.

ariana`

I was in the exact same situation with my son except he was a bit younger, he got his first headcold at 6wks (it was Winter & he had a toddler brother smothering him with snotty kisses) and from there it was all down hill with a constant run of infections - everything from Hand, foot & mouth, ear, throat, chest, tummy bugs. He's been in A&E and kept in over-night and so on.

During all of this he started in a very very small country creche at 8mths - but he was always the 1st to get sick there so i can't blame the Creche for his illnesses, if anything i'm sure all the other parents must have hated seeing us coming!

I gave him UDO's Infant Blend which really helped build him up after antibiotics. He's now 25, almost 26 months now, he was on an antibiotic in November and that was the 1st one in 6mths, hip hip hurray! And even better there's been doses in the Creche during that time that he's managed to avoid so obviously he now has immunity to them.

If taking him out of creche is a realistic option by all means consider it but i believe it's is a phase that will pass. And you're right by the way he's at a difficult age to change his child-care set up. I started my 1st son in Creche at that age and it was a complete nightmare compared to settling the 2nd at 8mths old.

Claire de Lune

Hi,

I had pretty much the same experience as yourself with my son. He started the creche full time when he was 10 months old, it was in August 4 years ago. He picked up EVERYTHING - he had 8 antibiotics in 7 months, for ear infections, throat infections and tonsillitis. Then there were the regular tummy bugs and conjunctivitis. It was a horrible time. But by the month of March, he got so much better, no more sickness/infections! He's hardly sick now, about once a year!

Best of luck whatever you decide to do!

Sunny Dayz

You say it's only started since your son moved up to the toddler room. Is the toddler room in the crèche clean and tidy? Do they try basic hygiene with the kids?

RentDayBlues

My daughter was 11 months when she started creche, no illness to that point despite plenty of interaction with other babies. She went 4 days per week, come each Thursday night/Friday morning she'd be sick, every weekend was looking after her illness. Would be better by Monday and if not we'd keep her off but this repeated each week, it's was heartbreaking. We had vomitting bug, ear infections and conjunctivitis. Each antibiotic meant a bout of diarrhea - we had 3 months of constant awful nappies. This cleared only to be followed by 12 weeks of conjunctivitis 😞 we kept her off creche each time until she healed and each time she got it again.

We took her out when she was 23 months and no illness other than a cold since. I know they'll go through this when they start montessori or school if they haven't been to creche, I suppose it's a case of now or then?

LegacyUser

RentDayBlues wrote: »

We took her out when she was 23 months and no illness other than a cold since. I know they'll go through this when they start montessori or school if
they haven't been to creche, I suppose it's a case of now or then?

Another creche myth blown out of the water - I congratulate the OP's GP for advising to take the child out of creche. There is a horrible myth perpetuated here that it is a GOOD thing for infants to pick up disease after disease in creche 'to get them over with'.

The truth is an older child has some chance of fighting these illnesses and it is not a good thing at all to have infants clustered together in one room day after day after day, spreading these very harmful diseases to one another and to their siblings and parents.

LegacyUser

This is not a normal situation. I am in my late 30s. I never went to a creche, but went to primary school etc:

Ear infection: Never
Ear & throat: Plenty of sore throats over the years, never requiring antibiotics
Tonsilitis: Never
Diarrhoea: Couple of times, mainly one trip to Gran Canaria in 1996
Vomiting bug: Once, last year
Conjunctivitis: Once, three years ago
Hand, foot and mouth: Never
A&E: A few times, never kept in overnight

Never taken multivitamins or "UDO's infant blend"

I don't live a very healthy lifestyle either.

pwurple

Hmm, all children are different, and creches are different. My youngest daughter is in creche, but she is only one of 3 children in the baby room. Nothing major to speak of yet, and she's been there nearly 5 months. I do the vit D drops alright, but we all take vit D in winter.

I'm a big fan of fresh air as well. She naps outside at creche, and with me.

I'd speak to the creche about their hand-hygiene policy. In ours, there is a lot of handwashing going on with both the minders and the children, and they clean the floors and surfaces every evening. There is a sink with warm running water in all the rooms.

There are thousands of people who work in hospitals all the time who never pick up any of the contagious things because they watch their hand hygiene. It should be a similar standard in childcare.

ThisRegard

Giver33 wrote: »

This is not a normal situation. I am in my late 30s. I never went to a creche, but went to primary school etc:

Ear infection: Never
Ear & throat: Plenty of sore throats over the years, never requiring antibiotics
Tonsilitis: Never
Diarrhoea: Couple of times, mainly one trip to Gran Canaria in 1996
Vomiting bug: Once, last year
Conjunctivitis: Once, three years ago
Hand, foot and mouth: Never
A&E: A few times, never kept in overnight

Never taken multivitamins or "UDO's infant blend"

I don't live a very healthy lifestyle either.

Means nothing. I'm not far off 40, never went to creche, and had pretty much all of the above.

anonyanony

Giver33 wrote: »

This is not a normal situation. I am in my late 30s. I never went to a creche, but went to primary school etc:

Ear infection: Never
Ear & throat: Plenty of sore throats over the years, never requiring antibiotics
Tonsilitis: Never
Diarrhoea: Couple of times, mainly one trip to Gran Canaria in 1996
Vomiting bug: Once, last year
Conjunctivitis: Once, three years ago
Hand, foot and mouth: Never
A&E: A few times, never kept in overnight

Never taken multivitamins or "UDO's infant blend"

I don't live a very healthy lifestyle either.

It's parents are offloading their kids to young just, as you said you never went to a creche so where 3/4 when started school and had a good immune system, offloading the baby at 10 months is the problem the baby immune system is not fully ready yet.

pwurple

anonyanony wrote: »

It's parents are offloading their kids to young just, as you said you never went to a creche so where 3/4 when started school and had a good immune system, offloading the baby at 10 months is the problem the baby immune system is not fully ready yet.

And what do large families do? Isolate the child in a room all on its own? It's not "offloading" to let children play with other children for a few hours a week.

The child in this scenario may have immune system issues, I don't know. But I'm always amused by the completely unqualified pseudo-immunologists who appear out of the woodwork here.

ariana`

Giver33 wrote: »

Another creche myth blown out of the water - I congratulate the OP's GP for advising to take the child out of creche. There is a horrible myth perpetuated here that it is a GOOD thing for infants to pick up disease after disease in creche 'to get them over with'.

The truth is an older child has some chance of fighting these illnesses and it is not a good thing at all to have infants clustered together in one room day after day after day, spreading these very harmful diseases to one another and to their siblings and parents.

I don't think anyone said that "it's a GOOD thing for infants to pick up disease after disease"? Its awful to see your child pick up infections of any kind, it's miserable to see them sick, low in energy, off their food etc... But unfortunately it does happen whether in child-care or not. As i said my son got his first headcold at 6wks, he started his first antibiotic at 9wks, it was horrible to see him sick and still so tiny, but i was at home with him then so nothing to do with Creche it was just one of these things that happen and from there he seemed to pick up so many things in the following 7mths before starting Creche at 8mths. And even when in Creche he was usually the first child to get sick so he wasn't catching things off other kids, he just had a low immune system. He had reflux whether that had any impact on his immune system or not i don't know but it was just the way it was, it was in no way a "GOOD" thing (in fact his 1st year was the longest of my life so far and the hardest on my marriage because we were so sleep deprived & exhausted minding him and juggling work when he got sick), i posted to reassure the OP that he did eventually thankfully develop a fine immune system and now at just over 2 he goes long periods without any illness except for the odd snuffle.

anonyanony

pwurple wrote: »

And what do large families do? Isolate the child in a room all on its own? It's not "offloading" to let children play with other children for a few hours a week.

The child in this scenario may have immune system issues, I don't know. But I'm always amused by the completely unqualified pseudo-immunologists who appear out of the woodwork here.

Isolation is also bad the baby plays with it's siblings and builds its immunity slowly from them and it's Parents , throwing it into a creche is just an overload on the poor babies system.

lazygal

I think it depends on the children. Mine have never been at the doctor apart from vaccines and scheduled check up appointments. No antibiotics at all and both are with a minder who has a couple of other children too in primary school, so they come into contact with them every day. I was also rarely sick as a child and I can remember any days I missed school because they were so rare. Others in my family have seriousimmunity issues so I'm all about prevention and vaccines where possible. I know other children who seem to be at the doctor's every week for something. I was in a creche at 12 weeks and my mother recalled me getting some sniffles but nothing more. What about large families years ago, children would have been exposed to loads of things from.birth

trishasaffron

When the child is sick is an antibiotic really necessary? Most of the illnesses mentioned seem to be of the sort that a child will recover from naturally. I'm rather shocked at the level of antibiotic use rather than the level of sickness.

anonyanony

lazygal wrote: »

I think it depends on the children. Mine have never been at the doctor apart from vaccines and scheduled check up appointments. No antibiotics at all and both are with a minder who has a couple of other children too in primary school, so they come into contact with them every day. I was also rarely sick as a child and I can remember any days I missed school because they were so rare. Others in my family have seriousimmunity issues so I'm all about prevention and vaccines where possible. I know other children who seem to be at the doctor's every week for something. I was in a creche at 12 weeks and my mother recalled me getting some sniffles but nothing more. What about large families years ago, children would have been exposed to loads of things from.birth

Large families years ago mom or grandparents looked after the kids, the problem is creches it's just to much at that age, a small child minder would be grand too that does not take moee then 3-4 kids.

lazygal

trishasaffron wrote: »

When the child is sick is an antibiotic really necessary? Most of the illnesses mentioned seem to be of the sort that a child will recover from naturally. I'm rather shocked at the level of antibiotic use rather than the level of sickness.

I was thinking the same, but maybe there are other reasons for using them? My gp is very much of the "only when absolutely necessary" school of thought and is very slow to prescribe antibiotics.

pwurple

anonyanony wrote: »

Isolation is also bad the baby plays with it's siblings and builds its immunity slowly from them and it's Parents , throwing it into a creche is just an overload on the poor babies system.

Sorry, but that's just a giant chip on your shoulder rather than anything factual. There are 3 children in my child's creche room. 3. How is that possibly overloading an immune system? She'd meet more people on the bus, or in a shop.

If you are interested in immunology in children, Dr Paul Offit has some interesting pieces. He has done some papers on the amount of viral and bacterial exposure that can be tolerated. It runs into the millions for healthy babies.

We all have anecdotal evidence for children who were sicker than our own. I know a girl who exclusively breastfed her two children, stayed on maternity leave for a year with each of them, they never went to a creche, and the two children have been hospitalised nearly 7 times each with whooping cough, bronciolitus, pneumonia, stomach problems, you name it... I can draw Zero conclusions from that, because it's a single anecdote. Not data.

Neyite

anonyanony wrote: »

It's parents are offloading their kids to young just, as you said you never went to a creche so where 3/4 when started school and had a good immune system, offloading the baby at 10 months is the problem the baby immune system is not fully ready yet.

Its so refreshing to have a young single man with no children come in and tell us how to parent properly.

anonyanony

trishasaffron wrote: »

When the child is sick is an antibiotic really necessary? Most of the illnesses mentioned seem to be of the sort that a child will recover from naturally. I'm rather shocked at the level of antibiotic use rather than the level of sickness.

Modern Ireland, we are as bad as south east Asia for popping antibiotics, it just make the infections stronger as time goes on.

lazygal

anonyanony wrote: »

Large families years ago mom or grandparents looked after the kids, the problem is creches it's just to much at that age, a small child minder would be grand too that does not take moee then 3-4 kids.

Childcare is not a new phenomenon. Working parents have always availed of child care. Even my mum remembers a local woman coming to help when a new baby arrived and then there is the wet nurse tradition and children fostered out to extended family. The mammy looking after all the children fulltime is actually a rare and recent phenomenon.

anonyanony

Neyite wrote: »

Its so refreshing to have a young single man with no children come in and tell us how to parent properly.

Well I would never offload my kid to a creche.

lazygal

anonyanony wrote: »

Well I would never offload my kid to a creche.

Would you drop them off because you had to work or your partner had to work?
The first thing you learn when baby arrives is never say never. I said never to lots of things I now do without a second thought.

anonyanony

lazygal wrote: »

Childcare is not a new phenomenon. Working parents have always availed of child care. Even my mum remembers a local woman coming to help when a new baby arrived and then there is the wet nurse tradition and children fostered out to extended family. The mammy looking after all the children fulltime is actually a rare and recent phenomenon.

Yes but it was small operations 3-4 kids, creches are basically factories for your kids, get a local child minder instead of using a creche.

lazygal

anonyanony wrote: »

Yes but it was small operations 3-4 kids, creches are basically factories for your kids, get a local child minder instead of using a creche.

I was in a creche 30 years ago. Creches have been around for decades. My children are with a minder but I'd never rule out using a creche in the future.

anonyanony

lazygal wrote: »

Would you drop them off because you had to work or your partner had to work?
The first thing you learn when baby arrives is never say never. I said never to lots of things I now do without a second thought.

I would make sure one of use didn't need to work and could stay home with it, my grandparents are not an option.

anonyanony

lazygal wrote: »

I was in a creche 30 years ago. Creches have been around for decades. My children are with a minder but I'd never rule out using a creche in the future.

I agree a minder is the best option if you get stuck.