Building up immunity

At the drop-in we go to on a Wednesday afternoon, some of the mums were discussing all the illnesses they’d had over the holidays. Many of them had some kind of cold flu going round the whole family over the two-week period. We didn’t have any. We were all healthier than we’d been since the end of October.

My daughter started nursery school in November (at 2 years 3 months), since when she’s had three nasty coughs, four colds, and one stomach bug. Prior to that she was hardly ever ill. She’s only there for two sessions a week (one morning and one afternoon), yet seems to pick up everything available.

She’s had three days off nursery school already, which, understandably but no less annoyingly, have to be paid for. One of us has to down tools to look after her and then make up the work in the evening or early morning, when we’re already overtired from getting up more than normal during the night. Oh yes, and we have both had at least two of the illnesses she’s had ourselves.

I know that it’s really important to build up immunity. I know that it should mean she’ll be generally healthier as an adult. And, of course, I know how much she benefits from nursery school in other ways. But, in the middle of the night, when she’s waking up every couple of hours because she’s coughing so much, I am very tempted to keep her at home until she’s ready to go to university.