Constant Sickness

My family usually stays pretty healthy. I make everyone wash their hands as soon as they come in the house. Maybe having all of the daycare kids wash up when they get there might help. Otherwise maybe only let them play with certain toys certain days and then put them away and bring out different ones for the next day. That way you can just wash them all every few days and then start over with the rotation.
My kids used to go to playgroup and were constantly sick. Now we don't go there but one is in K, one in preschool and one in special ed. As soon as they get home they have to go straight to the bathroom and wash. I also have informed them well about germs and keeping their hands/toys out of their mouths and no biting nails. I realize that you are dealing with lots of kids and some younger but my 3, 4 and 5 year olds do pretty well.
Hope this helps some,
J.
Mom to 4 ages 5,4,3 and 1 and a 6 year old joining us in Feb or so.

A couple of ideas: One, really really make sure you're all eating well. Dark veggies, good fats (olive and coconut oils, cultured butter, animal fats from pastured animals), protein, etc. What you eat greatly affects your immunity. Eliminate sugar as much as you can from your house.Eat as little processed food as possible. It's hard to give up crackers with a toddler in the house, but we did...

Two, take a probiotic. Even your 10-month old. This will build your immunity by encouraging beneficial bacteria to colonize your digestive tract.

Three, look up sodium ascorbate. It's a form of vitamin C that's a salt. You can take a lot of it, because it's not acidic. My 2 year old takes it every day, as do I. We both take a lot more when we're sick. Read this re: dosing -

http://www.orthomed.com/titrate.htm

HTH! Oh, and we've had great luck with teaching our 2 year old to cough and sneeze into the crook of his elbow. But I don't know how old the kids in your daycare are...

Unfortunately, this is totally normal! My daughter was in daycare (4 1/2 days/wk.) from 4-18 mos. and I swear-was sick the entire time. Usually just a cold, but ear infections, bronchiolitis, you name it. One cold would end and another would start days later. I really thought something was wrong with her, though our pedi kept reassuring us. The silver lining-from age 2 through 5 1/2, she's been sick exactly twice (!)-one cold, one flu-very mild. So-hopefully your children are also building their immunities. I honestly don't think there's much you can do about it-just continue to practice good hygiene and hope for the best.

Actually there is probably nothing more to do than you are already doing as far as trying to prevent. Unfortunately the cough and cold meds that are out there have been found to be inaffective in children under six and could only casue harm. That is why most cold and cough meds have been pulled from the shelves. As far as the ear infection goes that is not a contagious infection. That is a problem with how your duaghters ear canal drains or doesnt drain. I would have her ears looked at by an ENT/ Ear Nose and Throat Doctor, My daughter had one continuos ear infection from 3 months to 13 months before they finally decided to put tubes in.
As far as trying to keep them healthy I think, like another mom said, it is ok that they are exposed to this now so they devolop their immune system. It is known that antibiotics can definatly help and cure, however, having too many can cause one to become immune to them and then they wont work. Like my daughter she was on so many before she was one years old that alot of them dont and didnt work for her anymore.
It a very hard situation to be in, I feel for you. I think if you are really tired of it that you need to make some sort of new policy for sick children. Have the parents come get them right away, enforce it and hopefully you and your family can become healthy again.
Fortunately I am a stay at home mom, however my children have been sick as if they went to a daycare. Good luck

I have two boys, 4 and 3 and both go to preschool. The policy is that when they first walk through the door to their classroom, they hang up their bags and then wash their hands with warm water and soap. Throughout the day, they just have scheduled hand washings, snack time, after play time before circle time, and, of course, after using the bathroom. If they do not use the bathroom when everyone else does, they still wash their hands. I think I figured it out and they probably wash their hands at least 4-6 times in a 2.5 hour period. It seems excessive, but in two years, we have only had one cold per year, and I don't think it actually came from preschool.

One helpful tip might be to keep paper towels in the bathroom instead of a regular hand towel. Just get the cheapest ones that do the trick, that might help out on the germs too. Last winter we used Sparkle or Mardi Gras, whatever was on sale. I usually just remembered to set them out when I noticed a runny nose, it sure seemed to make a difference.

I know it's tough, I have a 14 month old also, and I am convinced most of the cold stuff starts with her.

Good luck!

K.

I went to work for a friend from church that had her own homedaycare. It was us two with 6 kids or so including my daughter.

I was CONSTANTLY sick... I have never been to the doctor so many times in one year or been on antibiotics so much in my life. My daughter had a runny nose that never went away or if it did it came right back again. Because of all the colds we kept getting ear infections and sinus infections. My boss kept telling me it was normal to be so sick like that the first year working in a daycare or doctor's office than after awhile you are more immune and don't catch as much.

All I know is it was to much for us and I quit.
I was broke from doctor bills.

The parents drove me nuts.. they wouldn't take their kids into the doctor, they would give them tylenol before showing up to trick us they weren't sick, they'd refuse medicine and only give weird herbal things that didn't work,they'd be in denial there kids had the chicken pox and not take them in right away stuff like that. And the kids like over age 2 put everything in their mouths.

I quit working there about 2 years ago and our illnesses and visits to the doctor have gone down drastically. Now if we do get a cold it goes away and it's not a constant thing.

My only suggestion is stock up on cold meds., and make the parents use it to control the symptoms because symptoms:(coughing,sneezing,runny noses) is what spreads it.Control the symptoms and you'll not be spreading so much around. And get super strict when the kids are to sick to come and should really be at home.

I'm actually not to fond of cold meds and medicating my daughter at home but at daycare I had to because otherwise it spreads likes wildfire.

I use to offend my boss but I didn't care. I was obsessive with handwashing, antibacterial lotions, if another kid had a nasty nose I told my daughter to not play with them. I just got so fed up with being sick.

Have antibacterial gels wipes all over the house and have the kids wash their hands alot.

We never had alot of problems with flus or vomitting it was always just colds and nasty nasty runny green noses.

I can't guarantee this will work but this year I stared giving my 7 and 4 year old multivitamins and an Echinacea/vitamin C combo. They are gummies and they love the taste. I'm not sure what age is OK to take them. The phamicist probably could help--I got them at Target. My kids haven't had any colds yet and both go to school every day.

I have an essential oil blend that you can diffuse and it will get rid of bacteria,virus and mold and boost your immune system. Let me know if you are interested in more info. K. Joy G. www.kathyjoy.com ###-###-####

Unfortunately there's not much that can be done. The only thing you can do is seperate the toys that are in the mouth as soon as the child is done. Basically what you are doing, is probably all you can do.

My provider takes care of one girl that's ALWAYS sick, her dad catches everything and then she gets everything. There's one play area (for the older toddlers) that when she's sick to a certain point (like uncontainable runny nose, uncontroable coughing and sneezing) that she's not allowed to go in. She can use the rest of the room, but not that particular toddler play area.

Unfortunately because she's always sick one of my two kids always gets some form of the cold. Basically, there's usally a week or so where no one is sick and then someone gets a cold and it goes around to all the kids. My provider has a young child in her daycare too and she always has to deal with the cold at home as well. She usually goes about 3 - 4 weeks with one kid or antoher having a cold. Then maybe gets a week or so of no colds, then it starts over again. For me it's annoying, but it's also a good thing. It's exposing them to the illnesses now, so they can start to build the needed antibodies and hopefully when they are in school, they won't get as sick as often.

My provider is licenced for just infants and toddlers, so soemthings always in someones' mouth. She just tries to seperate and wash as soon as possible. I provide the cold medicine, but she calls before she gives my child anything. Basically, because she wants to make sure that I didn't already give some and forgot to tell her. As a mother who's child is in daycare, I appreciate that.

Here is what worked for us. My son started daycare at 7 months and it was horrible. He had constant ear infections from April until October. It was so bad that we were recommended for tubes. BUT I decided to give chiropractics a try first. Amazing results. My son started treatments in October of that year and he has been ear infection free ever since (3 years). The other thing I have noticed is that if we keep up with having an adjustment about every 3 months he rarely gets any sickness at all (even though he has been in preschool for the past 2 years). He gets a runny nose for one day and that is the extent of his colds. I also give him a multivitamin and fish oil everyday to help keep a healthy immune system.

The poster who said that ear infections are not contagious is misleading. While the ear infection itself is caused by a child's ear canals not draining well, the reason the fluid is there in the first place is because of colds or allergies . One of the greatest risk factors in frequency of ear infections is daycare settings because of the continual colds. My son came to work with me everyday for his first winter (and he was passed from person to person) and never had an ear infection until he started daycare in the spring.

Hi B.. I am a family childcare provider as well- and I know how quickly the germs get spread! One thing I have done that seems to help is I have hand-sanitizing gel that I use all the time. Like when I wipe a nose, I automatically put some of that on (if I can't wash them). I use the Clorox wipes all the time- in the play areas and tables and counters, etc so I can get rid of some of the germs. Washing hands with soap and water (all day long!) is a big thing too. I have a baby who was really premature & once she came home from the NICU I had to re-think the "germ" thing & how I was going to handle it. Once I started paying attention to how to keep things cleaner- it has really helped. Lots of Lysol spray too, at the end of the day. Best of luck to you & your family!