Hi I Am Putting My 2 Year Old in Preschool, And

Kids get sick. My oldest daughter was sick from the time she was one until she was two. My younger one was sick from about 8 months until 2. People send their kids to daycare when they have a runny nose, because if they kept them home whenever they had a runny nose, they would be out of work 50% of the time. Usually it is just a little cold or something that goes away in a few days, but sometimes not. Good luck. I hate to be pessimistic, here, but that is the way it goes.

If he's had that much exposure to other kids, going to preschool probably won't be too much different. He will get sick a little more often, but probably not right away since it's summertime and not a big time for colds anyway.
Also, did the kids stay home more often in daycare if they were sick? I think kids tend to miss less school than they do daycare, so there might be more sick kids at preschool than he's used to. Overall though, I think he'll be ok at least for the first couple of months.

K.
http://www.citymommy.com
http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/karenchao

I agree...it is all about the hygiene standards at the daycare. I changed my daughter's daycare when she was two...she had been at the same place since she was 10 weeks old. I thought for sure that the "new" germs would lay her low right away. Not only did she not get sick...but she didn't get sick for many months.

If he's been with 5 other kids...that is not far off from what the ratios are in a center for kids that age. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

However, if he does seem to be getting sick all the time after changing, I would do a little investigation into their hygiene standards and make sure that what they say they are doing is the reality. My daughter had a perpetual runny nose before I removed her from the previous facility...it cleared up within three days of being in the new place.

A large part will be their sick policy. If kids come to school sick, they'll get everyone else sick. Plain and simple. Our preschool had an absolute "no sick children" policy, so he didn't get sick very often. The times he did were usually traceable to family contam... as in I or DH or nana gave him something... OR the kid at the store coughing up a lung on everyone, or smearing their runny nose all over the library books kind of thing ((It just drives me NUTS that parents bring their sick kids out in public instead of keeping them home... and I'm not talking the "I'm a single parent and have to run to the store" kind of thing... I'm talking the "I don't wanna be cooped up in a house with a sick kid, and don't give a rip about my child getting well faster or exposing other people" kind of thing)).

As soon as we hit K, he was sick at least twice a month, because our district has a 9 day per YEAR absence policy. There were kids in his class literally vomiting or running fevers over 102.5 who were not picked up by their parents until after "lunch" when the day counts as a non-absence. Ugh! ((Sorry, vent)).

So it all depends. While kiddo was in preschool DH and I were both at the U fulltime, and I was working in a hospital... so he was exposed to a lot, but it wasn't the constant-school-sick of so many preschools & elementary schools where the kids are shedding virus and bacteria by the gazillions ((A lot of HOW sick a kid will get will depend on the amount of exposure. If they only get a few hundred thousand germs from someone barely shedding, they might get a little sniffly... keep them home a day and they're fine... if they get a gazillion germs from being in an enclosed space from someone shedding like crazy because they are SICK sick sick... the massive exposure means that by the time the immune system develops an antibody they too are massively sick. This isn't true for ALL illnesses, but a vast majority of them, length and breadth of exposure directly correlates to whether they become mildly ill or severely ill))

When I had to go back to work after maternity leave i had an aunt who looked after my son for that first year and a half...it was great. But then my grandfather fell ill and my aunt had to take care of him and I had to put my son in daycare. For the first year he was in the baby room and was fine...didn't get sick any more than was normal. The second year he got moved up to the toddler room was a disaster. Every single time he'd go to school (and he only went 2 times a week) he'd come down w/ a cold. A few of those would develop into the horrid green snot thing that he'd have to go on antibiotics to get rid of. Over and over this would happen...because he only went a couple of days a week he'd have a long week-end (4-5 days)to get over it...seem completely better then the next time he went he'd get it again. Luckily I had plenty of sick/vacation time to stay home with him..but even that ran out by the end of winter. So your child will probably be fine for now because (as someone else said here) it's summer. But when the cold weather comes don't be surprised if he brings a cold (or something else ) home more often than not. Those little tykes are walking petri dishes.

I put my daughter in a private school that separates the two's by young 2s and older 2s. She is in the older 2s class and hasn't been sick once since I started her in April. Make sure that the kids won't be allowed to carry their sippy cups around. It makes a HUGE difference when they aren't always picking up each other's cups and binkies aren't allowed.

I'm going to guess that he'll be just fine. He's already been exposed to other kids and the cold and flu season is behind us. It'll just depend on what little ailments pop up in your child's classroom and if your son has immunity to them or not.

Good luck.
-M

it depends.

my kids rarely got sick in preschool. once a year they'd geta cold

My son was at an at home daycare until he was 2 also, then he went to preschool. In daycare, a little boy sneezed on him the first 5 minutes he was there! He got a few colds there and in preschool but he didn't get sick a lot. Being in the daycare has definitely helped your son build his immune system. In preschool they only have you keep your kids home if they have a fever. So lots of kids will be at school with colds. Your son will most likely catch something but if he's generally been healthy then there is no reason to think he'll get sick a lot in preschool. This will also help build his immunity for elementary school.

Good luck!

True daycares do have a lot of runny noses, but it shouldn't be so bad since it is summer. As well, the more important thing is how clean the daycare is. My daughters daycare cleans at nap-time and the end of the day, so the room is always fairly clean. They stop and clean all surfaces, mop the floor and soak the toys in a tub of water.

Hi I am a mom and a daycare provider, and colds are common in daycare and preschool, mainly because children are not taught good hygene habits, I do teach them in my daycare. In my opinion as a mother of 3 grown children and a daycare provider, a 2 year old is to young for preschool. In my daycare I have a preschool curriculium for parents of younger children who prefer their 2 year old's to start learning math, reading skills and more. J. L.

Well he has had a head start in exposure, that is good.

Knowing what I know now, I'd just give him extra yogurt, lots of fiber, add a few grams of vitamin C to his juice and squirt nano silver in his mouth when he goes to schoold and gets picked up for a few months.

Since he is new, you may ask the teacher to let you know if any of the other children have colds. You want him to get the germs for his immune system but you don't want a full blown cold/flu. Maybe keep some zinc lollipops in the car for the ride home to stop the spread of some viruses/bacteria.

If his immune system is already strong, he will have short lived colds. Good thing it is going into warmer weather now.

My daughter had one ear infection and one bout of diarrhea after her first year of preschool. It's because the place was really clean and the kids were asked to wash their hands upon entering the classroom. If the preschool your son is attending is nice and clean and he eats well then he shouldn't get sick too often.

he's been around kids so you probably won't notice a huge difference. of course he could always pick up a cold being around other kids...but since he's been in a daycare i doubt you will see a huge dramatic change.

My twins started daycare at a center last October when they were 7 months old. They have only missed one day, and that was last month. I think they caught a bug from their older sister. (Actually, my daughter was home one day, and they called us in the afternoon to say my son had thrown up, so we picked him up early). We've been fortunate that they have really not been sick at all...and they are now 15 months. No ear infections, no flu, nothing....and they were preemies.