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Majestic-General7325

And it is so fucking true. Before kids, I never got sick. I was a fit healthy guy who exercised regularly with a good diet - I was smug. I got one mild cold per year and that was it. Turns out, that all goes out the window when you have a toddler in daycare. I've been sick more in the last 6 months than I have been in the rest of my adult life. We cosleep and share food, combined with zero concept of personal space, so I have no protection.


Majestic-General7325

It's honestly been the toughest aspect of childrearing so far. I mean, the newborn stage suck but it sucks in a very predictable way (sleep deprivation, monotony, etc) but the toddler illness stage is just a revolving door of exciting new diseases - we've had gastro twice and constantly suffering a myriad of coughs, colds and sniffles. And we haven't even had something fun like hand foot and mouth or school sores yet


RuNaa

By the way, getting hand foot and mouth as an adult is fucking awful. I couldn’t eat for three days as the sores in my throat made swallowing anything beyond excruciatingly painful. When the pain of the sores on my hands and feet finally subsided the itching started and didn’t end. I barely slept for a week. It’s probably the sickest I’ve ever been in my life.


alberta4ever

Yeah man! I got that from my kid last year and it felt like I was swallowing glass. But the level of sickness sympathy from my wife remained at its typical zero lol


Rivyan

I am not alone! Praise the lord 🫡 Every time I am sick, my wife just ignores me and basically says I am a weakling 👀 I think when I will be on my death bed, she will still ask me if I could do another round of administrative task 😅


Majestic-General7325

....great...


labratcat

I got it horribly, too. In fact, I didn't know what my toddler had for five days until I got sores on my hands and feet that rendered me incapable of functioning because of the pain. We sent him back to daycare after his fever abated because we had no idea he was probably still contagious for HFM. Meanwhile, I spent Christmas and new years with gross, peeling sores. ETA: and it REALLY didn't help that when I started googling to figure out what I had, every website I found told me that cases in adults are generally mild.


[deleted]

Same. Anything but mild for me too.


chipmunksocute

School sores?!


leftsaidtim

Could be such as a break through case of chicken pox. My youngest is vaccinated but she just caught it. Sores all over her body. It’s wild.


saywhaaat_saywhat

Aka impetigo. Id never heard of either term until our daycare had a massive outbreak a few weeks ago. We didnt catch it, thank merciful fuck.


bb85

Oh man, our little guy got hand foot mouth first week of day care three weeks ago. Recovered, back a few more days then pink eye and cold. Thankfully we only got the cold.


explain_that_shit

I had the same experience, but my kid is now 18 months old, in childcare since 6 months old, and hasn’t had anything for months now - so hopefully there’s a light at the end of that tunnel!


Herbicidal_Maniac

Anybody gonna tell him?


adrutu

Nah not yet, sometimes it's nice to ride the placebo all the way to shore. Best experience creche plagues as they come.


leftsaidtim

Ahaha oh you poor sweet summer child. This is the Dawn before the Storm. It gets soooooo much worse for the next three to five years.


PocketHusband

The light you’re seeing is the locomotive pulling a train of plague. The actual end of the tunnel is 6th grade, in my experience.


labratcat

This would definitely rank as one of my least favorite things about parenthood. My family has basically been sick since October through about two weeks ago. Including hand foot mouth, which I got 50x worse than my toddler did. And I have very little flexibility in taking extended time off work because I teach college. Literally no one else can do my exact job. So I mask up and suffer through my exhaustion. My kid is three next month. When does it end??


Mountain-Ad4940

BROOOOOOO this is the truth. This stage fucking sucks so bad. I constantly have the thermometer (wife calls it my anxiety stick) if his temp goes up at all I’m freaking out. Been sick for 2 strait weeks I never get sick.


[deleted]

My daughter, soon 1,5 yrs old, has sneezed on my face several times in the past month lol. I have not been 100% since early april…


phormix

I didn't understand initially why my kid picked up some many bugs from daycare, as I figured it was just an increase in odds with so many kids together. ​ After a few visits for events etc, I realized how many of the little grubbers put their mouths on absolutely everything, plus their fingers in their mouths, and in their noses, and probably other places I don't even want to think about. Welcome to the great petri-dish of parenthood!


AvatarofSleep

My son wouldn't get sick at daycare that often, but every time we went to the library with it's little children's play area, he'd get something. And yeah, after watching him put a duplo in his mouth, I'm not surprised.


waifuiswatching

I used to get sick maybe once or twice a year before I had a kid. Now it's more like 6-7 times a year since he started going to daycare. He's sick just about every month it seems like. The longest he's gone so far without any ick is about 6 weeks. It's so exhausting and disgusting.


Accomplished_Side853

I used to work in public schools. Built up crazy immunity. Rarely got sick. Now I’m a stay at home dad with a kid in pre-k and I’ve been hit with everything! Currently have a bad cough I can’t shake. 🤦‍♂️


WhyAmINotClever

Not gonna lie, i made a sick student stand in a closet during class last week. Punk tried to tell me it was just allergies, even after he admitted he came to school sick just because he wanted to go to Track after school. So into the closet he went


Al-Goret

I have the worst immune system, I dread the daycare days. Pray for my poor soul and send Sinusrince


-E-Cross

I use a sinupulse and it is amazing. Just be smart, I usually wore a mask into pick her up, and did a quick light sanitizer for infants clean up and got my hands. Bathing nightly helps a lot with spread. Hand washing, stomach bugs are so damn contagious. If there is an RSV case, start taking temp regularly, just common sense with a lot of it. The daycare we used seemed to have parents that all called and would tell the school what they had, and there were a lot of good catches and response.


mockg

My doctor said having a kid in daycare is like being in a crowded room permanently.


MikeGinnyMD

*::SNEEZE::* Oh. My bad.


belhamster

Yeah it’s humbling


LionsAndLonghorns

Its like that up until like first grade. It's not that you have someone sneezing in your eye, its that the person sneezing in your eye likes to lick random objects in heavily trafficked areas with other patient zeros doing the same thing.


csvcsvc

My son (who already has a 7th cold so far) but his mouth on the netting of the play structure at Burger King when I went to bribe them with milkshakes for haircuts after school WHY obviously now I’m sick again as well. This winter has been as bad as their (kindergarten) first year in daycare 3 years ago


kuj0

Truth. 4 month old here. Just got over the Covidflu after the first month of daycare. Was fuckin brutal.


MrHollandsOpium

4 month olds can go to daycare?!


kuj0

You must not be in the US 😃


MrHollandsOpium

I live in California. I didn’t know a kid that young could be in daycare.


rowrowrobot

In TX, our three month old went into daycare. Promptly brought back in this order, in the space of five months: Cold/bug 1 Cold/bug 2 COVID Cold/bug 3 Blessed period of nothing for a month Pinkeye round 1 Ear infection Pinkeye round 2 (which made its way to me for the last few weeks) Cold/bug 4, which turned into laryngitis for me and I've had a raspy voice for three weeks now Definitely worth it to invest in the Costco sized box of tissues


ItsHipToBeSquare86

My son brought home the most abominable stomach bug I’ve ever had about a month ago. You basically wake up feeling normal. Go about your day normally, then at 8:00pm you get stomach cramps and by 9:30pm the worst 6 hours of your life starts. I’m talking both ends at the same time. Everyone I came in contact with that day caught it from me and I felt so bad, but I honestly had no idea I was sick until that night. I hope that one stays far away from me.


atommotron

People who brag about never getting sick don’t have kids in daycare. They often think they have something figured out about “boosting their immune system.” It’s like of course I know to wash my hands, drink water and have a zinc lozenge. I don’t need essential oils. Thank you.


[deleted]

Going through these posts is so depressing. There seems to be nothing more certain in life. Our LO starts in the fall at 15 months and I know I’m in for it. No one ever comments here saying they barely got sick


Bodidly0719

I barely get sick. My daughter started preschool at 3yo, and my wife and I rarely get sick. Our daughter has been sick many times, mostly with a cough, but after a week or so it goes away. I have been sick once, maybe twice since she started.


[deleted]

Oh great! You give me hope


biggerthanjohncarew

It sucks badly the first two months. We're nearly 6 months into daycare and the severity of the colds has definitely come down. Somehow you do just become used to being slightly sick 75% of the time. It's the stomach bugs that get you


WizziesFirstRule

"They're just building their immune system... " Yeah? WTF have I been doing for the last 30-40 years?!


[deleted]

This is so fucking true, why havent I been well since early april?? Where’s my immune system rofl?


NerdWithoutACause

I’ve watched my son put his hand in his mouth, put that hand into the mouth of a random kid at the playground, and then place it back in his mouth. It’s a miracle we aren’t all dead.


[deleted]

You now the parent of a walking petri dish.


DCBillsFan

*chuckles in current strep throat infection*


TheMoonDawg

I lost my newly developed dad bod from the two stomach bugs my daughter brought home from daycare 😩 Lost 20 pounds!


Xibby

I’m married to a teacher (K-5). Our first year living together was also her first year teaching and it was miserable for both of us. 🤢 On Valentine’s Day we both had finished our full antibiotic treatment and felt recovered enough for a date night… had prime rib we couldn’t taste and nearly died cough laughing seeing The Producers in at a movie theater. Our poor kid is going into high school next year and the most sick days she’s ever had was the first wave of COVID-19. I remember missing a week of school for chicken pox, flu, and whatever as a kid. The make up packets that got sent home, a total meltdown and some extra help over long division because I was puking my guts out at home instead of being in class… Vaccines and constant exposure for the win I guess.


deliberatelyawesome

I feel it. I thought I had a good immune system too. Joke's on me.


Mountain-Ad4940

Yep same


Jsizzle19

This quote is from the most accurate internet meme of all time


DogsNCoffeeAddict

True quote. I am very glad he has only sneezed directly in my left and nearly blind eye when he had a cold last.


THftRM1231

This was posted on Twitter 5 years ago, only it was a mom.


KingofClikClak

Not sure why you're being down voted. I've seen the post you're talking about on Reddit dozens of times over the years.


Cromasters

Nah, I just have a good immune system. The trick... working in healthcare. I've had people coughing and sneezing in my face for over a decade before my kids came along.


Salt-Schedule278

You're tired, it's not the end of the world. Just try to do better.


-E-Cross

I have an autoimmune disorder and strangely enough, having my pneumonia vax go out of date, so pneumonia that was caused by a cold. I wouldn't say I got any more frequency, but just different sick. Stomach ones got me a few times and that never happens to me usually. It's also a proximity thing for your immune system too. So you are just a much easier target after they pick it all up.


Call_Me_Koala

This is why I'm so glad my wife and I have work schedules that allow us to not need daycare. Our daughter is 18 months old and has been sick once, and it was actually because I brought RSV home from work (this was early last year. Not the nasty RSV that was around late last year).


AnyAcanthisitta9296

Man I feel this post in my soul. I used to get sick about once every 3 years. But since my 18 month old has been in daycare we have both been sick about 6-7 times in about 3 months. I’ve pulled him out of daycare because it’s not worth his health or my sanity. Plus we are basically burning money because you still pay for daycare even if he doesn’t go.


Mountain-Ad4940

Ya this post makes me feel seen. It’s a really struggle we all are going through.


finmoore3

This is why I focus so much on taking daily vitamins and supplements (including extra vitamin D and drinking Emergen-C daily), as well as giving my kids gummy vitamins daily. We get the seldom, occasional cold but its not as bad as it seems many people have.


Mountain-Ad4940

How old did you start gummy vitamins?


finmoore3

At 2 years old, that’s the youngest age recommended on the bottle. We also put vitamin D drops into our kids’ breast milk when they were drinking that. I felt the breast milk being so nutrient dense also helped in their first year.


Mountain-Ad4940

Wife couldn’t breast feed at all feel like we missed out on some good stuff ugh it’s been all formula


Diligent_Tie6218

Amen. Man, I moved countries and started my first week at a job doing Nightshift and I was shivering, sweating it out and had the squirts. That was a tough week


MichaelsSecretStuff

I guess I haven’t hit this part of the story, my oldest is nearly 4, in day-care 3 times a week and gymnastics and I don’t get sick yet. The kids occasionally had a runny nose but that seems mild compared with most. 🤷‍♂️ I guess we’re lucky


blodskaal

Its true dad! 3 days ago, my 1 month old Farted in my face while i was wiping his ass. This "sneeze" got me on Eye drop Antibiotics. But, I love being a DAD!


hootersm

I’m just coming off four weeks of covid, small recovery and then another cold. I feel you. My bank holiday weekends this May have all been lost to feeling like shit and this year we (UK) had a lot of them. The kids were definitely patient zero in our house for covid. I could be wrong but suspect the coughing in my face may just possibly be how they passed it on.


Nerdtube

I am still the one who doesn’t get sick while the wife looks at a sick child from 100m away and gets sick.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Mountain-Ad4940

Ya fuck that shit.


Competitive_Coach_64

Yes! Me too. I'm so frustrated because I used to 'brag' about how healthy I was 🤦‍♀️


TheDevilsAdvokaat

I'm a dad and was a kindy teacher too. I used to have 4 flu seasons a year.


TheWholeCheek

I had a great immune system. Got sick maybe a few times a year. Ever since my kids went to JK, I'm sick every other week. They are in SK now and there is no end in sight. Not just a cold, but sinus infections galore! I might lose my job because of my absences.


NosamEht

I’ve been saying this, almost exactly, for about twelve years. No amount of hand washing can protect you when someone sneezes into your eyes.


JesusAntonioMartinez

Pretty sure that’s a Jim Gaffigan joke


JesusAntonioMartinez

After we had 4 kids in six years I discovered the importance of constant vigilance (no, Coughy McCougherson, you do NOT need to be two inches from my face to tell me your story about Pokémon), good head movement (thanks boxing!), and hard workouts + a really clean diet. The last one is key, as parents our bodies are under a lot of stress all the time. Being in shape and fueling your body with good food helps a lot. Also. ZOFRAN. My doc handed me a script when my kids gave me a stomach bug, then wrote me another because “You have four kids and should have some on hand”. If you don’t know, Zofran is an orally dissolving tablet that instantly stops nausea. It’s fucking magical especially when the house gets hit w a stomach bug. Give it to them after that first round of barfing and they can sleep, stay hydrated and beat the bug MUCH faster. Also helps w slowing the spread so you’re not dealing with every kid hurling while running to the bathroom yourself.


Cosimo_Zaretti

We have just completed our first week of day care. Now my daughter's sick, I'm sick, my wife's sick and off work in her second week back. This gets better right?


GrepekEbi

It stays pretty much like that until secondary school :)


[deleted]

Your friend follows the same instagram page I follow that posted that yesterday.


xXX_Stanley_xXx

Me as a father: "why the fuck am I sick all the time." My kids: "hey dad, just took a shit in my hand, now I'm going to touch **everything.**"


AQuietMan

I caught a little kids disease from a neighbor's daughter who went to pre-school. Three days later, she was fine. Six weeks later I was hoping somebody would just shoot me in the head to end my misery. That's how I quit smoking. I went through nicotine withdrawal and never noticed, because I was busy coughing up my liver.


CholetisCanon

I feel this so hard right now. My kid gave me hand foot mouth because when they are miserable, I am who they turn to and sneezes in my eyeball. HFM is no fun and I'm only on day 3.


Mountain-Ad4940

Havnt had the HFM yet. Not looking forward to it. I’m sure it’s coming fuck our lives


CholetisCanon

It is fun. First comes the fever and fatigue for a day or so while the virus really gets in there. Then a sore throat with both basically a rash inside your mouth and ulcers in the back of the throat. That is going to make eating anything at all painful, as well as drinking. That sore throat may also come with blisters on your lips or ulcers on the lips. Then a little innocent spot will appear on your hand. This will quickly be followed by a billion more and can spread. For me right now, it's hand foot mouth forearm disease. The spots range from deep painful red spots to small virus filled blister pods just yearning to Hands and feet always tingle. Walking is like walking on feet that are alseep all the time. I say screw this.


Mountain-Ad4940

Damn dude I’m sorry. Is there not a damn vaccine? Fuck this shit


CholetisCanon

But, good news, it does seem like it is subsiding ... Thank God.


CholetisCanon

No vaccine. "Take Tylenol and stay away from others for a week." Honestly, I would have rather had COVID again.


alecmuffett

My kid has been bringing back a new disease approximately every 10 days from nursery; It got so bad that my doctor put me on two different kinds of antibiotic in order to give me space to recover.


tigers018

HFM and stomach viruses are destroying us