Thread: Childcare - health v development

Gday scouse

Mate i had much the same with my daughter when she started daycare the sniffels and runny nose tho no squrits thankfully id say u best be having words with the daycare center to see if others have had similar probs as it dosent take much to spread the sh1ts around so to speak and if thats were hes getting it from then id be having words with the management of the center ....

My daughter went to the local ABC center here in stockton and i didnt have many probs at all there and have heard good reports from other ABC centers

Tho like panda sugested speak to a good chemist and find somthing to up the little fellas imune system maby thats ya best shot ....

Also keep an eye on how many days off he has withouta certificate as after the 30 you will need a certificate or pay the full amount for that day off and like you said you still pay even if he dosent attend which stinks i know i had this delema too mate good luck .....

Another good trip I found, was to up his diet in fresh fruit & vegies. You'd be surprised how it boosts their immune system in a fairly short time. Get him eating as many fresh produce, as you can. A good mixture such as bananas, oranges, mandarins, grapes, pineapple, watermelon & honeydew melon, whatever you can find at the greengrocer. Include salad type (uncooked if possible) vegies for him to munch on such as carrot, cerely, tomatoes, etc). Works a treat in conjunction with the tonic. He'll be up and running before you know it. Do you have a juicer? If you do, juice fresh apple with watermelon, orange with pineapple, etc, you get the idea. Keep him away from all junk food that won't help him at all.
He'll soon be right as rain!

Scouse,

Similar story here, however wife being trained in public health and epidemiology didn't worry about it too much as any exposure to diseases (apart from the one your child should be immunised against) only makes them stronger. On a similar note, everytime children (especially a babies) put something in their mouths they get immunised. Sterile conditions can be a killer (literarily) later on in life. Kids are surprisingly resilient. We, the adults, are more likely to suffer whatever the kids bring home more than the kids.

Gastro is a nasty thing and the only suggestion I have is to talk to the director and / or other parents. If gastro is a problem with quite a few kids, the centre is obliged to inform the department of health and conduct a review of their practices. In fact, any 'outbreaks' of viruses, gastro and similar problems have to reported. We did have a small issue with gastro and it came down to kids not washing their hands after going to the dunny - a common problem with kids in toilet-training - and it requires extra supervision.

Apart from (I think) 2 cases of gastro and a case of some kind of a virus we had no major health issues - colds, runny nose etc is all part of the fun.

On the subject of developmental advantage of childcare: we had the same dilemma: put her into childcare or not. She didn't have to go, but in retrospect it was the best move for her development as a person. We (parents) cannot possibly keep up and give our child the same experiences and learning how to behave in a group as childcare does. We used to put her in for short day - 8pm till 2:30pm so she'd have the afternoons with me. Recently she REQUESTED to be picked up later so she can play longer with her friends...

Anyway, if you think there are issues talk to the director. They have to listen and act if you have concerns about health issues.

Thanks for all the advice. Even though it appears that it might be the norm, the little fellow went downhill last night & threw up his dinner. Leslie wasn't feeling the best this morning either so it may have been passed onto her now.

He's only 10mths old so we're going to pull him out of day care for a couple of months at least. Ideally, we'll put him back in when he's around 2 years old.
Leslie has the option of going back to work part time (Govt job) so, with a bit of juggling, we should be able to manage without day care for the next 14 months.

His diet is fine. All his solids are either fresh vegies, fruit or meat. He's off solids now though until he recovers.


Let's hope we are all better by the start of June so we can enjoy our first holiday together .