Do you get ill more as a CM?

I started CMing this time last year. Myself and my family hardly ever got ill before I started minding. But over these last 3 months I've seemed to get one thing after another, and if it's not me its a member of my family. Today is the 3rd time (in 2 months) that I've had to close through D+V and its a nightmare for all concerned. Did you guys find you tended to get more illnesses when you first started minding? And if so please say it improves as your immune system builds. I have a strict sickness policy (which I know some people lie about) and follow good hygiene practices. This has to be the biggest downside of this job!

Yep it is a big downside of the job. It took me over 3 years to get an immunity.

I had 4 children already and was nearly 40 when I started CM so was probably immune to a lot of the illness going but I still catch some things that are doing the rounds. You do get immunity the more you're exposed

The first two years of childminding I was very lucky and didn't catch anything but this year has been a nightmare. From December to March I felt rubbish and just couldn't shift it but all ok now.

I've been really lucky and in 18yrs of childminding have only taken about 8 days off sick. I have never closed for any of my family being ill. Having said that, I have worked when I've felt absolutely awful and knew that if I worked for someone else I would have taken time off.

What I find is that my body has the ability to keep going through the week then totally giving up on me when it gets to the weekend or holidays! I can feel a bit iffy through the week, then as I pack away the last of the toys and wave the last child off for the weekend, I start to feel worse and within minutes I'll be tucked up in bed with a hot water bottle and a Lemsip. I'll start to feel better late on Sunday, so I'm back up & ready to go on the Monday morning :rolleyes:

Mouse, would you not close if your family member had D+V? I think I would come across as a bit of a hypocrite saying I won't take a child in for 48 hrs but your child is OK to be around my ill child.

I hadn't had much - only a few days illness in 20 odd years of childcare, but then I moved 260 miles and for the first couple of years I caught everything going!
I used to close if my children were ill when they were younger, but now they don't need me so much and they can be isolated from mindees so I don't close. If they were really ill then I would, but I haven't had to yet.

It really has been a nightmare for me as my local school lets children back the very next day after sickness (not even a full 24 hrs!) this in turn has caused the bugs to be going round and round, every school child I collect has had a sickness bug in the last 2 months!

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Originally Posted by natlou82

Mouse, would you not close if your family member had D+V? I think I would come across as a bit of a hypocrite saying I won't take a child in for 48 hrs but your child is OK to be around my ill child.

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My children are all older now, so it's not an issue, but to be honest, I can't remember the last time we had a D&V bug in the family. We just don't seem to suffer from them.
If my children were ill when they were young it was either at the same time as me, or it wasn't anything that I needed to close for - migraine, colds etc.

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Originally Posted by Mouse

I've been really lucky and in 18yrs of childminding have only taken about 8 days off sick. I have never closed for any of my family being ill. Having said that, I have worked when I've felt absolutely awful and knew that if I worked for someone else I would have taken time off. What I find is that my body has the ability to keep going through the week then totally giving up on me when it gets to the weekend or holidays! I can feel a bit iffy through the week, then as I pack away the last of the toys and wave the last child off for the weekend, I start to feel worse and within minutes I'll be tucked up in bed with a hot water bottle and a Lemsip. I'll start to feel better late on Sunday, so I'm back up & ready to go on the Monday morning :rolleyes:

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Yep that happens to me too! This weekend case and point .. Meant to be going to a childminding conference tomorrow but not sure I am gonna be up to it!

Yes your immunity builds , but I also think there has been a ridiculous amount of hard to shift bugs around this last winter

lack of wages is a great incentive to carry on working when you feel rubbish

Thanks everyone. Mouse you are so lucky - the D+V bugs seem to have been seeking me out this year, and to be honest that's really the only thing I would close for (that's why is such a pain). I'm glad everyone agrees it's been a bad year for bugs. Hopefully I ll look back in a few years and these 3 times will be the only times I've closed through sickness. I hate letting my families down!

I had to close tuesday and wednesday this week cos my dd woke up tuesday morning and was sick. It was just the once and she was fine but had to stick to my 48hrs! Onbthe plus side i caught up with a load of paperwork and made a water wall!

I find that working with children has made my immune system strong as an ox. :D I've been ill twice with a sickness bug in 7.5yrs I've been doing it. I had to have two Fridays off.

Although as a family we aren't ill very often at all.

Hopefully just a bad year for bugs then, fingers crossed!