Did Your Kid(s) Get Sick When They First Went to School?

My daughter got sick the first week she was in daycare, at 3 months old. After that, she has rarely been sick except for the occasional cold or runny nose. She is now in 4th grade and has not missed one day of school since 1st grade!

Yes they will get sick. My daughter started daycare in Feb and had lots of colds. I don't think there is anything that you can do to prevent this from happening. They are around alot of kids snotting and sneezing and then touch a toy. My daughter has a cold right now and she starts back to daycare on Tuesday. I hear that alot of kids are getting colds already due to this funky weather. You don't have to use handsanitizer but I would keep washing their hands and try to teach them not to touch their nose or mouth and to sneeze or cough into their arm not the hands. I taught my daughter a little song while she washes her hands"
Wash, wash, wash your hands
thats what you should do
wash them very good so that
you don't get the flu.
She sings this everytime she washes her hands so that she knows how long she needs to scrub them.
Best of Luck!

Yes... my son once in Preschool, got sick about every 2-3 weeks.
Then he was fine... once he got used to that environment.
Same thing can happen to adults... in a new office etc.
It happened even to my friend, who worked at a school, too.
She got sick every month, for 1 year. Until her system got used to the environment there.

Not all kids will get sick often.

My son is very healthy... but was home with me since I am a SAHM... and that was his first foray into Preschool.

My daughter, when she was in preschool, did not get sick. Hardly.

And ya know... its not just about your kid. But... little kids, even if the Preschool is clean and they disinfect and have kids wash their hands... Kids EVERYDAY... come to school, and they are not careful and they play and wipe their dirty hands on everything and touch each other, and dig their noses, and touch their faces and the ground and who knows what else. And the door knobs etc. And little kids do NOT always cough or sneeze into their elbows either.
So... alas... germs spread.

My first born took darn near 9 months to stop getting colds every few weeks. It made me crazy!!! She was with me exclusively for her first year of life. Only then did we do church nursery.

The situation was not helped by my second pregnancy. But...the second baby, now almost 7 months old joins her sister in nursery and doesn't seem to be having any trouble adjusting.

Maybe it's just some kids?

I've had my kindergartener home 3 days this week because he caught something at school. I remember all my kids going through this with kindergarten but not so much the other grades. I think it's because my kids were not in any day care or pre-school. But after the first month or so- it gets better!
~C.

My son was in child care his whole life, but he never really got sick all that much. Other than infant spit-up, etc., he had some ear infections which I think was mostly from being bottle fed in day care, had two intestinal throw up infections, and one bout of respiratory that had him so he couldn't catch his breath. Other than sniffles here and there, he's been a really health kid for 8 years. I attribute that mostly to genetic makeup and letting him come into contact with basically dirt. I never use hand sanitizer, and don't bleach everything in sight like some folks do. He knows how to wash his hands, but half the time I don't pay attention to whether he's eating with dirty hands or not. I mostly care that he is eating because that was always a bigger issue for us. I believe that he has a strong immune system because his body has been given a chance to fight off germs and develop one. He has had all his shots, but nothing special other than that. Then again, he's been around other kids all his life and yours has not. You will likely seem him get sick a lot at first simply from contact with more varied surroundings and people. Then it should taper off. Good luck!!

I ALWAYS give my kids a bath and wash their hair every day they go to school and they are rarely sick. Usually they get a bath every other night but now that they are in school again they get a bath every night. My 8 yo son was sick one time last year. I have to admit that I am a borderline germaphobe and it all started when the twins got the stomach virus at the exact same time when they were 6 months old. They were vomiting about 10 minutes apart all night long. It was a nightmare. They did it again a couple years later after spending time with their cousins.
So my advice is to bathe him AND wash his hair each school night.
Edit: I also make them wash their hands with sanitizer when I pick them up.

It really is part of growing up and strengthening their little immune systems. Just be aware he may be acting out some time or another due to a stuffy nose or sore throat. Maybe even ear infections. I would say you will have some illness due to him no being in the rest of the world until now. Everyone has to be exposed to germs and that is how the body learns and develops it's ability to fight serious disease. Keep an eye on him and you'll see he does get stuff but it won't always be stuff he can't go to school with. Like an ear infection, that is not contagious. A sore throat isn't either but if he has the slightest bit of diarrhea or pukes anything up he can't go to school for at least 24 hours after his last bought of it. He can't have a fever of 100.1 or above in most places, the school may have a different number in their handbook but most consider 100. to be the break.

I don't think he'll get the plague (lol!), but he will get more colds and flu-like illnesses than he has gotten so far. Preschoolers really share colds because they still put their hands in their mouths. The best thing you can do is to teach him to always wash his hands before eating and not put his hands (or anything ) in his mouth. That said, since he's in preschool, a lot of it is just inevitable. But, every time he gets sick in preschool means he's building his immunity and will get sick less by the time he starts school. The good thing is that it seems you are home, so he can stay home too if he has a cold without messing up your work schedule and he will get over the colds faster. I think my kids started preschool around 3 or 4. It wasn't terrible at all and we are a bit of a germophobic family because my husband is immune compromised (transplant), so we are just on them to wash their hands.

It happens either when kids go to daycare or to school. So, yes, your kid will get sick, especially if he's never been around large groups of kids before. It's how they build up their immunity. Once their immunity is built up, they will be less likely to get sick.

DD was always sick in daycare, as a baby, but she's been very healthy since she was about 2 (she's 5 now). Personally, I'd rather be dealing with a sick 3, 4 or 5 year old, than a sick newborn or baby.

My daughter was sick the first week back to school and she is in the 5th grade.
Also I just went back to teaching preschool and got sick my first week back and had to be on antibiotics. Sadly it just goes with the territory, keep up on hand washing ( I carry a mini bottle of sanitizer in my pocket now for when I cannot get away to wash my hands. With little ones it is even more difficult, ask how often toys are washed and tables are wiped down...some teachers are better than others about staying on top of cleanliness and even some of the regulations regarding toy clean up seem lax by my own standards.
I started on a multi-vitamin. Making sure your child is eating healthy and getting good sleep....good luck, that is what most of it is...luck, viral things will go around there is just no stopping it.

my kids started preschool /daycare at 2 and 3 years old..(I went back to work 2 days per week..) they started in may.. they were pretty healthy all summer. until October.. when they caught croup.. really wasnt that bad... but then they had continuous colds all fall and winter... not really sick.. never missed school but a cough a sneeze and a runny nose..when spring rolled around they were healthy again..

the second witner in preschool.. they caught a few colds.. but they were never sick enough to miss school and neither child was absent for even 1 day for sickness..

your son has to build his immunity for all these germs.. either now or later.. better do it now while absences dont count.. he will get colds. but hopefully his body knows how to fight off the germs and the colds will not turn into ear infections or bronchitis.

oh.. yeah.. and then there is stomach flu.. generally a yearly occurance.. spreads like wild... last year we were lucky and didnt get stomach flu..

Preschool? No. The school had a very strict (but kind) Absolutely No Sick Kids policy. He caught stuff from 2 universities, 5 countries, and 1 hospital that his dad and I drug home, but he didn't get sick from preschool.

K, otoh, was a nightmare. We figured we'd have a "pass" because of the 2 universities, 5 countries, and 1 hospital thing... but no. He was sick at LEAST one week out of every month, and sometimes 2 weeks.

1st was better, only 1 week every other month, or so (we were homeschooling by then, but all of his outside classes and sports had kids from awayschool petri dishes).

2nd, he was almost not sick at all. 3rd... well last year doesn't count. We were in the hospital for a few months, but not from an illness. We managed to keep the nosocomials down as well.

It's pretty normal in any school that doesn't have a no-sick-children policy (aka Fevers are okay to 101, sniffles are allowed without doctor's notes saying they've been tested and it's just allergies, coughs are just asthma related) to be sick 25%-50% of the first year and 10%-30% the second year.

When my son started preschool he came home with a runny nose and that was about it. Our school has a policy that all children have to wash their hands before entering the classroom, I think that helps a ton. We also wash hands when we leave and that is about it.