Childcare

My son has been going three days a week for 6 months now. He was getting sick every week at the start. Now we have weeks where he is ok lol and weeks where he is sick. I am lucky I’ve had a supportive boss who doesn’t mind if I take time off or work from home

We have chosen to not send our baby to childcare until she is older and it is worthwhile socially for her. She is 6mo and my husband works full time and I work 1 day mid week when my mother can care for baby as well as weekends when she is with her dad. It’s financially difficult but worth it for us to not have a constantly sick child and miss out on all those early milestones and quality time. I work casually in disability support so those weekend rates do help. Our plan is to start childcare if we have another baby in the future, and/or she is a toddler and will actually enjoy the social element.

Sent my baby one day for 4 hours and he got bronchitis really really bad so I’m no longer sending him. I work 5 hr shifts whenever my husband isn’t working.

He started at 13 months, for 2 days a week. He now attends the same centre 3 days a week for 3 year old kinder. He got sick maybe every month or two the first year and now rarely gets sick.

We started our baby at 6 months 1 day a week for a few months and then bumped up to 3 days and eventually 4 days by 12 months old. She got RSV at the beginning. At least with the one day a week it gave her plenty of time to rest and recover between days. Over winter while she was there three days she got sick every week or second week and so did we. My husband is also a kindergarten teacher so we have exposure through him too. She is now 15 months old and hasn’t been sick enough to miss day care for about 2 months. For financial reasons we try to make daycare work. In every other way it’s been great for our daughter. I have friends whose babies don’t go to daycare and have been just as sick as ours over winter. So daycare won’t be the only factor in illness

Started at 11 months, sick every week the first year, sick every second week the second year, sick 3-4x a month the third year, only sick a few times a year in the 4th year

My daughter was just shy of 12 months old when she started going to daycare last July. Straight into 4 days a week. She was sick a lot at the start, in and out of daycare the first 4-6wks. It was also the middle of winter. Things got better, but it was a tough start and also no family support nearby.

Started at 8 months and got sick every other week. You will exhaust your sick leave

My boy started in a family daycare at 3.5 months old. He’s now 9 months. Never been sick.

The usual is ever second week, unfortunately