2 weeks ago baby started daycare. She immediately caught something the first week and had the typical cold/flu symptoms- cough, sneezing, stuffy runny nose. She was able to go the full week because she didn’t have a fever.
Week 2, only attended Tuesday. Had a fever Sunday and the daycare has a no fever within 24 hours rule. Got sent home on Wednesday after 3 hours. Went to the clinic and tested negative for flus a/b and rsv. Was told to just keep her happy fever down and hydrated. Fever was still around Thursday so obviously she stayed home. Little did I know that the diaper rash she was starting to get was from the poops she was having which was actually diarrhea. She’s a breastfed baby- it looked the same to me just a bit green.
I catch the cold that she has and her diaper rash turns into an all-out diaper rash war from her acid butt that was screaming every 15-30 minutes. This morning she still has a fever and diarrhea. Luckily, we got the diaper rash under control after 2 really hard days of trying to get the hang of it.
Visit to the urgent care happened because a fever and diarrhea lasting this long can’t be normal, something must be terribly wrong. Well, that is what we thought. Doctor walks in and asks if she’s a daycare baby- which she is. We were told that a fever along with diarrhea can persist up to 2 weeks— in fact, it’s completely normal! The cherry on top is that we should expect diarrhea to follow any cold or flu symptoms for the next 9 times that this will happen in the next year!
TL;DR: why didn’t anyone tell us that babies can be sick and have fevers and diarrhea for so long?!? why didn’t anyone warn us of the insane diaper rash we would have to treat from the diarrhea we didn’t realize was diarrhea?!? why didn’t we just hire an in-home nanny with all of the work we will be missing and paying for daycare that our children won’t be at while sick for 20 weeks of the year?!
We expected her to get sick quickly at daycare and I knew it would be more often. What I didn’t know is how long each sick episode would be maybe it’s just a rite of passage. Love that little baby to death and would pretty much do anything for her though.
At our 1 yr checkup my ped casually said “expect to be sick every 2 weeks” and I was like “hahaha, dramatic” in my head. 4 months later, she was spot on.
Mackenzie said:
At our 1 yr checkup my ped casually said “expect to be sick every 2 weeks” and I was like “hahaha, dramatic” in my head. 4 months later, she was spot on.
Dallas said: @Bret
Our first winter was hard. We’re in our second though, and my kid hasn’t been sick yet. In fact, he hasn’t missed daycare due to sickness in 9 months. It’s really not that bad!
Mackenzie said:
At our 1 yr checkup my ped casually said “expect to be sick every 2 weeks” and I was like “hahaha, dramatic” in my head. 4 months later, she was spot on.
I’ve never been sick as many times as I have in the past year. Used to get a cold like once a year and now it’s more like once a month.
Mackenzie said:
At our 1 yr checkup my ped casually said “expect to be sick every 2 weeks” and I was like “hahaha, dramatic” in my head. 4 months later, she was spot on.
Mackenzie said:
At our 1 yr checkup my ped casually said “expect to be sick every 2 weeks” and I was like “hahaha, dramatic” in my head. 4 months later, she was spot on.
All our parent friends said this too
We are three weeks into starting Nursery and we’ve already had about 3 different ailments and it’s looking like we are all coming down with yet another cold right before Christmas
The kicker? My son’s only there for an hour a day as we are still in the phase-in period
It’s just pure biological warfare between me and my husband and a bunch of snotty toddlers at the moment.
We started daycare November 6. None of us have been well since then. Baby is on second round of antibiotics for persistent ear infections, he’s had an upper respiratory infection (or several) for six weeks. He’s had diarrhea, diaper rash, and skin rash from the antibiotics. He gave my husband and I both strep, plus sinus infections. We’ve never been so sick in our lives. Doctor every week for different issues. Like you, we of course anticipated that we’d have a lot of colds. We did not expect this unending, all-out assault.
@Sage
Just watch out for hand, foot and mouth with daycare. It’s rarer for adults to catch it, but my husband and I were unlucky and we’ve never been so sick. I had no idea.
Val said: @Sage
Just watch out for hand, foot and mouth with daycare. It’s rarer for adults to catch it, but my husband and I were unlucky and we’ve never been so sick. I had no idea.
Coming to you live on week 2 of HFM running through our home. They say it’s rarer, but I’ve gotten it both times my daughter caught it. It’s… brutal.
Liam said: @Han
That sick kid breath is horrid and they just want to curl up and hug you too cause they feel like crap
We didn’t know what was going on at first, so I thought we weren’t helping her brush her teeth well enough and that she had a rotting tooth. I thought her extreme mouth pain must have been a burn from serving her hot soup. I was up all night worrying about what a crappy mom I was.
@Han
Ugh, good luck! My husband is currently down and out with his third bout, whereas I only got symptoms the first time. None of the times were as horrific as the original, but it’s still pretty awful. Curious why some people seem to be more susceptible than others!
maybe it’s just a rite of passage. Love that little baby to death and would pretty much do anything for her though.
