I swear my little boy has had a runny nose for about a year!!! Ever since he started going to nursery! He currently has yet another cough and upset stomach. It is ridiculous. My GP said that they expect the average two year old to get at least 15 seperate illnesses a year! What the .....
It is hard work ladies, I feel your pain. Nursery is excellent in some respects but the constant illness that we then have to suffer through once the kids are better and happily given it us makes me wonder if not working and keeping Jack at home would be better for all our health .....

DD is the same! She started nursery at the beginning of January and has been continuously ill since - colds, cough, diarrhea etc etc. Plus, the annoyng thing is that i don't get sick pay AND we still have to pay full price for her place when she doesn't go to nursery, so when i take a day off to look after her because she's too ill to go we loose a LOT fo money!!

Oh gosh! Noah's due to start half a day a Wrekin April! What have I let myself in for?! Lol! I swear when I worked approx 6 months in a nursery the kids weren't constantly sick but the runny noses was another story all together! Yuck!

Try paying £60 a day!
I know how you feel, at they have a policy at our nursery at the mo following swine flu that if they have a temp they have to go home whether it goes down with calpol or not. Ridiculous.

It does get better though. It was pretty bad when our LO started last winter when he was 7months old. Its definitely worse in the winter and this winter has not been nearly as bad as last winter. He doesn't get ill nearly as much. Fortunately with work we can have 10days a year for emergency childcare (and other things like funerals etc).

Do you work not have anything like that?

oh huge (((( )))))))) hun i can so relate to you!!

i went back to work last year when Lewis was just under 1, and he has been constantly poorly, had several sickness bugs, colds and an ear infection, ive had loads of time off, still had to pay my childminder fees, ive also caught things myself too its just been a nightmare the last time was last month when i had a horrendous sickness bug i have never been so ill. I work with children too so thats just made it even harder lol

thankfully i have left now on my new maternity leave but its so hard!!!! i cant believe the ammount of times hes been ill since i went back!! my manager was always funny with me trying to make me take my annual leave entitlement which i didnt want to as i wanted to save my holidays for time off with my children!!!

im sure all mums or dads with under 5s are entitled to unpaid "parental leave" some companies arent aware of it and my manager was funny about it when it is the law now as far as im aware if you google it and i think its on direct.gov.

my mw told me that when they hit just under 1 or over they loose all their immunity and start picking things up, then giving them immunity back to things that they have caught e.g chickenpox etc
its a nightmare though!!!!!

You are entitled to parental leave, not sure how many weeks a year in total, 4 I think. BUT it is unpaid, hence people choose to take holiday instead...

All parents are entitled to parental leave you're right - but you have to take it in weeks and it needs to be pre-booked... and it's paid at the statutory rate which is a pittence. As far as time off for emergencies such as emergency childcare (when nursery calls to say pick him up), you're allowed to go, but again - this is unpaid (depending on work policies etc)

Luckily my boss is fantastic and I work for a brilliant company who are really flexible and family-friendly. I can go when I need to, take days off when needed without question, and often am able to work time back or work from home to make time up etc. Not everyone has this, and I know i'm really lucky... but I think because I'm so lucky, I don't ever take advantage of it and often use my holidays as i'm just grateful for being able to have the time off without notice!!

Alexander was in the day home from 4 months on and I completely relate that to why he was sick so much early on.

It is so frustrating and I wish some parents were a little more responsible.

MY new day home has a policy to not send your kids with green snot coming out of their nose, runny diapers, a high temp and obviously vomitting.

Parents get 3 warnings if they send their kid ill to the day home and on the 3rd warning they are told they have 2 weeks to find new care.

The other week a lady sent her son to the day home with CROUPE!!!!!!!!!!!!! And sure enough the dayhome ladies little daughter was in the ER over the weekend and alexander is sick now too.

The same lady sent her kid with WATER coming from his poor little bum.....and she said he was fine.



It drives me crazy that we pay so much for our kids to catch OTHER CHILDRENS illnesses!! I always keep alexander home if he is coughing and oozing from every orifice because I don't want to be that parent who gets other children sick.....it then turns into like a vicious circle!!

I agree with you redberry3. I don't send Harry to nursery poorly, simply because - well, if I was ill, i wouldn't want to be surrounded by noisy boisterous children either.

Its the same with Izzy, she started in November, just 1 day a week, and she catches things all the time, I am been off sick for 8 weeks and in this time she has stayed at home with me, although somes to the shops with me etc - and she hasn't caught anything - I think some parents are bad and send their kids ill - so it just spreads to everyone.