Creche and Daycare in India: Handling the Constant Coughs and Colds
Started daycare and your baby is always sniffly? Why it happens, how to cut the germ-sharing, and the red flags that mean more than a common cold.
Creche and Daycare in India: Handling the Constant Coughs and Colds
With more nuclear families and both parents working, creche has become part of everyday life in urban India. If your baby started daycare and promptly caught cold after cold, you're not doing anything wrong, and your baby isn't unusually weak. A run of infections is almost a rite of passage when little ones first mix in groups, but there's plenty you can do to soften it.
Why the sniffles never seem to stop
Young children in group care share toys, spoons and plenty of dribble, and their immune systems are meeting common viruses for the first time. Several colds a year, especially in the first months of daycare, is completely normal. Each infection is, in a sense, training: the immune system is building a library it will draw on for years. It does tend to settle as your child gets older.
Cut down the germ-sharing
You can't sterilise a creche, but you can tilt the odds:
- Make handwashing a ritual, for your child at pick-up and before eating, and for yourself before handling the baby.
- Keep your child's water bottle, spoon, napkin and comforter separate and labelled.
- Ask the creche about its sick-child policy, hand-hygiene habits, and how it handles soiled nappies and shared toys.
- Keep vaccinations up to date, including the annual flu shot, which is well worth it for daycare children.
- Teach "cough into your elbow" early; toddlers copy more than we expect.
When to keep your child home
Sending a sick child in spreads illness and slows their recovery. As a general guide, keep your child home for:
- Fever, or a runny nose with a fever
- Loose motions or vomiting
- Weepy, red or discharging eyes (conjunctivitis is very contagious)
- A widespread or blistering rash
- A cough bad enough to disturb sleep or feeds, or plain low energy
A clear but settled runny nose in an otherwise happy, active child is usually fine.
When it's more than a common cold
Most coughs and colds pass in a week or so with fluids, feeds and rest. Look more carefully, and seek care, if you notice:
- Fast, laboured or wheezy breathing, or the ribs pulling in with each breath
- A fever lasting more than two to three days, or a very high fever
- Refusing feeds, far fewer wet nappies, or unusual drowsiness
- Ear pain or tugging at the ear, or a cough that drags on for weeks
Trust your instinct: if this cold feels different from the usual ones, have your paediatrician listen to your baby's chest rather than waiting it out.