If your child attends childcare, you’ve probably had to take many sick days off to help nurse your little one back to health — and then additional time to get yourself better.
It’s common for healthy children to have up to 12 viral illnesses per year, according to the Royal Children’s Hospital.
But research suggests that children who attend childcare get sick more often. Some doctors even estimate they could get sick up to 20 times a year.
A winter full of illnesses could be your family’s new normal, so you might be wondering if it ever gets better.
The good news is, it does — eventually.
Why does my child get sick so often at childcare?
A 2017 study on childcare attendance and respiratory tract infections found infections of kids two and under were higher in the first two months of childcare.
The data collected also showed children who attended family daycare and childcare, on average, had between 4-5 sick days per month, at the start of care.
Victorian general practitioner Dr Shiraz Mahkri said the frequency was “quite possible” and there are multiple reasons why childcare kids get sick so often.
He said one factor was that they’re entering childcare when their immune systems were still developing and they were being introduced to these germs and viruses for the first time.
“Their immunity is down, so they’re vulnerable and it’s a repeat cycle. So between 10 to 20 repeated infections in the year is quite possible in [a childcare] environment,” he told the ABC.
Dr Shiraz said a child could catch multiple viruses at the same time, prolonging the recovery time for one virus before catching another.
He said another factor to consider was how hard it can be to “control their behaviour”.
“Children put their hands in their mouth, snotty noses, or they’re coughing into the air, and these small droplets that carry the viruses spread easily if they haven’t washed their hands,” he said.
Sarah Kelly’s two-year-old son, Charlie, gets sick almost every month.
The single mum from Victoria’s east said they’ve already been to see a doctor 15 times in the past 12 months.
Charlie has been going to childcare for 1.5 years, but when he first started, Sarah said she was surprised at how often he was getting sick.
“People did warn me, but I did not think it would be this often,” she said.
Frequent illnesses have also taken a toll on her job, and being employed as a casual means she’s not getting paid sick days.
“It’s frustrating for families because that means more time off work which in my case … means losing money.”
Do kids get less sick the older they get?
There is hope that sicknesses will become less frequent with age.
Dr Shiraz said children’s immune systems get stronger as they get older and they “grow out of it with time.”
He said many parents worry that a child being sick so often means there may be a problem with their immune system.
But he said that quite often that just means the child is healthy.
“It’s purely because of the environment they’re in, it’s high risk, and so they’re getting these repeat cycles of infection,” Dr Shiraz said.
What are the most common viruses during winter?
During the past year, Charlie, and Sarah have been sick with COVID twice, gastro, RSV, and the common cold multiple times, which left them with coughs “that linger for weeks on end”.
“It’s heartbreaking seeing them finally get better and then it’s something else a few weeks later,” Sarah said.
Dr Shiraz said during the winter season there’s a spike in viral respiratory infections, such as RSV and influenza viruses.
“There are different types of flu viruses that we see, then there’s the common cold viruses, like rhinovirus,” he said.
This year, the Department of Health put out a notification about a rise in mycoplasma pneumonia infections across the country. It’s caused by the bacterial pathogen, mycoplasma pneumonaie.
The bacteria strain can cause mild respiratory infections, with a cough and weakness that could last for more than a month.
It could also lead to atypical pneumonia, also known as “walking pneumonia”.
What can be done to prevent it?
Sarah said she and her son practice hand hygiene frequently and she keeps Charlie at home from childcare when he’s sick to prevent the spread of illness.
Dr Shiraz said keeping children at home until they recover was crucial to avoid future contagion.
But educating them on how to prevent getting sick was also important, he said.
“If they’re old enough, just trying to educate them to clean hands regularly, and when they cough, to cough or sneeze into their elbow.”
Getting the flu shot is free for children under five, Dr Shiraz said. He said it could help your child from getting unwell if they catch it.
During illness, it’s important that the child gets enough sleep, hydration, and proper nutrition to get better, he added.
While the severity of illnesses would be judged on a case-by-case basis, Dr Shiraz said it’s important to get your child seen by a GP if their symptoms prolong or they experience respiratory distress.
