Toddler sick with ANOTHER tummy bug!

Hi girls, looking for a bit of advice here. My 20 month old is in creche and has been sick with a tummy bug about 5 times since starting 8 months ago! He was hospitalised for a few nights one of those times but the others are almost as bad as it spreads around the house and is awful! He hadn't been sick since end of Febuary and we thought he'd grown out of it but then, about a half hour ago, he was sick again! (note : it's currently 4:30am...) My mind is spinning about whether we should take him out of creche and put him in a childminders! He loves creche, and we love it too - the girls in there are amazing and he goes in every morning with a smile on his wee face! When all is well, it's great and we love it, but everytime he's sick, I'm thinking - is it time to get him out of there?! It's not fair on any of us for him to be sick so much, especially not him! People are telling us to just put up with it for now, and that it'll pass, and he'll stop catching everything. Others say that if they don't get it now, they'll get it when they start school but I'm not sure whether to believe that or not as I'd imagine that they're stronger at that stage, and not putting toys into their mouths, spreading germs! I'm hoping to hear back from moms who were in the same situation. Did ye stick it out? Did they eventually stop catching everything? Or, did you move them to a child-minder? If so, what effect had it on their health? Seriously - this parenting malarkey should come with a hand-book... Thanks!

Hi Limlass it's a really tough one to call I would say try hold on abit longer and see how it pans out maybe over three to six months and if things ate still hard for you all then reconsider then!!! It's so tough when their sick tho and maybe harder if you think you can avoid it!! My ds went to crèche and did puck up things their but it didn't really build up his immune system for school!! Hes still being out of junior infants with a bug and colds and that!! Hope things improve for you!!

Hey Limlass, hope your DS feels better soon, from my point of view our 21mth old goes to a child minder and she ha 2 of her own and minds one other little girl when he's there. And he's had quite a few tummy bugs, colds, chesty things that have originated there too. Its pretty hard to avoid all these illnesses unless you stop them socialising altogether. I take DS to at least one Mums and Tots group and the CM takes him to another or a soft play place. The only way Im looking at it is that it's building his immunity for when he's a bit older. Now saying that he's not been hospitalised so maybe not quite the same as your DS. But Im not sure a CM would be any different unless they didnt mind any other kids and kept them home all the time.

hi girls - thanks for replying!!! I posted in the mom & kids section too and got a reply there saying that we should put him on pro-biotics - we've had him on them since the last bout and we thought they were really working, until Friday night! well he woke up on Saturday morning, right as rain! he was ravenous (although we really took it easy food-wise with him for the weekend) and in flying form, as he was yesterday too! so either the pro-biotic is working and severly lessened the effect of the "bug" or else it was just a case of something he ate on Friday not agreeing with him and making him vomit, just the once. his nappies were perfect all weekend and everything! Thanks for the replies! We'll definitely keep using the pro-biotic anyway and we're leaving him in creche for the moment too!

Hey Limlass, thats great news all back to normal and the probiotics are a good suggestion. Is it just probiotic yoghurts you're giving him? It's not been on my radar at all to do that as DS has been on dairy free diet for last 9mths and is only just trying out dairy yoghurts again. Hmmm might have to try that. Also I suppose his tummy has been quite sensitive after all the issues he had with the dairy.

I see you made your decision on it but thought I'd throw in my ten cents anyway. When my son started creche at about 9 months old (he's now 4), he caught absolutely everything, even chicken pox. I was at my wits end and so guilty etc etc but we stuck it out and after the first 6-9 months, that passed. i can count on one hand how many times he's missed creche since then and a couple of those have been down to falls rather than sickness. I've no idea if his immune system strengthened or if it was just as he got older but it did pass.

Thanks again for all the advice girls - we'll stick with it for the moment, and just keep dosing him with the pro-biotics and multi-vitamins etc. I guess it'd make sense that he'd stop getting as much stuff once he grows out of the age when they stuff everything into their mouths etc! (I think back to when he started creche and he used to actually lick the floor and eat shoes...)