Friday, August 10, 2018

Healthy Tips for Your Child’s First Months at Daycare


When your child first starts going to daycare, it can feel like you live at the doctor’s office. Most of us have done our best to make the home a sick-free zone, but that first exposure at daycare is like biological culture shock. Today, we know more about bacteria and germ growth works at schools. That’s thanks to the same tools that helped scientists discover diseases like Multiple Sclerosis. Widespread usage of tools like the microscope helped identify what makes us sick, but it also taught us where we catch colds and what we can do to defend our families. 
Doing Timeline Project
Here are a few basic tips for getting through those first few months and getting your child acclimated to school. 

Health Starts at Home
The type of food you eat, the environment you keep, and how frequently you take care of the basics around the house all affect a child’s health. Let’s first look at food, since it’s the basis for a healthy body. 
Fruits, veggies, and iron-rich foods are all crucial to your child’s health. Picky eaters might need supplemental vitamins. SmartyPants Vitamins, for instance, recommends taking a single dosage each day because it uses multiple vitamins to deliver a complete regiment of important nutrients. 
Other measures at home can help your child learn how to approach toys and playground fixtures with a sanitary mindset. Instructing kids not to place their fingers in their mouths, noses, or eyes is a good approach for daycare prep. One way to encouragegood hygiene is to wash hands together before and after meals, after dishwashing, trash handling, and other chores. Good hygiene is the basis for staying healthy at preschool. 
Observe School Policies
One of the ways well-meaning parents spread sickness is by bringing their child to school with a fever. Sometimes, we just don’t have a choice and we have to hope the fever will break. Those are the worst times to send a child to school, though, because the sickness spreads like wildfire. 
Children put toys in their mouths, touch things adults would not consider touching, and do all of this in the two or seconds our backs are turned. 
The best thing you can do for a child who is getting sick, or who already has a fever, is to keep him or her at home. When in doubt, ask your child’s teachers. Let them know the symptoms and ask them to call if anything goes wrong throughout the day. 

Get Plenty of Rest
A healthy sleep schedule helps reinforce a child’s immunity and gives them enough energy to face the day. Kids consume a lot of food and burn a lot of energy, and everything is still new to them. They require naps to allow the brain to process all of this new information, and for the body to recharge. 
Your child will usually signal how much napping he or she needs to stay functional. Some parents find their child’s nap schedule doesn’t sync up with what the books or the doctors say. In this case, encourage more quiet time and relaxation that isn’t reliant on sleep. Calming and soothing times have a similar effect and can help ease your little one into a proper nap schedule. 

Final Thoughts
If your child does contract something, the best thing you can do is keep the fluids coming. Children will become dehydrated quickly when they are sick, so give them as much water as they can handle. 
Learn when to keep them home, and be sure you have some medicine handy to break fevers (like infant Motrin or Tylenol). Call the doctor as needed and be prepared for a few worried nights, but with these tips, your child will stay healthy and safe. 

19 comments:

  1. When my grandson first started going to daycare, it seems he always had a runny nose. I wish everyone would keep their kids home when they are sick. It's better for them and the other kids.

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  2. Finding a good daycare can be so difficult and expensive. Glad you were able to find one that works for your family. All your tips are good to follow.

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    1. I only left my kids to a daycare once when hubby and I were required to attend a Navy Ball. If it wasn't for that, I would have never left them with anybody else's care. I was their main caregiver when they were young, still is now that they getting older.

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  3. Thankfully, my son has a terrific immune system and he rarely got sick, even when he was in preschool. These are great tips for helping to keep kids healthier in school!

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  4. Health does start at home. I love cooking for my family instead of eating so much out where there is so much fat and salt with not much nutrition. I know it was hard for me to find daycare for my son many years ago. But it seems our grandkids are sick all the time from sick kids going to school.

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  5. Almost every year with my kiddo gets to school there some kind of bug going around that he catches. You have some great tips here for kids going into daycare. Maybe this will help with the immune system of kids as they grow older also.

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  6. It takes awhile for the body to get acclimated to the environment of a new place. You are right about fluids. Dehydration is going to make the issue worse.

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  7. Good to know! It's always tough when kids get sick. My kids never went to daycare, but they did get ill from all the germs at school.

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  8. These are great tips for keeping kids healthy when attending day care, or even just in general. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables instead of lots of sugar does so much in helping us to stay healthy. And proper hand washing is probably the easiest thing we can all do to stay healthy!

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  9. Wonderful suggestions! My children got sick quite often when they first started school. I think their immune systems have improved now that they're a bit older.

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  10. My kids loved daycare back in the day. I wish I could still take them there; LOL!

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  11. I consider myself lucky that I never needed daycare. But these are great tips for those who need to use one.

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  12. These are such great tips! Thankfully, my son didn't get too sick his first year at school, but I was worried he would!

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  13. I live in NYC and finding a good daycare was extremely difficult but I did. And my daughter thrived. They were pretty good about sending kids home quickly to avoid getting the other kids sick. Glad all is working out. And these are very helpful tips

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  14. Great tips, will keep this in mind for when my little boy goes to daycare. It's best to keep the hands clean at all times since that's where they usually get germs.

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  15. I remember my girls first month or so at daycare. They were sick all the time!

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  16. We were just here last year. These are such great tips for transitioning your little one!

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  17. I love this! It's really important to make sure your kids are ready for daycare and this would be a really nice guide for parents who are doing this for the first time.

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  18. Day care can be fun for the kids but it's really important to make sure they're well protected since they can contract viruses there as well. These are really good pointers!

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It's always a pleasure to read what you have to say! Thank you!

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