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Little Kids In Day Care Get Sicker, But Are Healthier Over the Long Haul
Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals: Babies, Research Reveals: Toddlers & Preschoolers
Kids who go to day care get sick less in elementary school, a new study shows. Credit: Corbis
Well, sort of.
Even though babies and tots who go to child care centers with classrooms full of sniffling, runny-nosed kids get more ear infections and colds during their preschool years than kids who stay home, they tend to get less sick in grade school, according to a new study published in the December issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
It turns out day care centers, which often get a bad rap as germ-breeding grounds, help build up your kid's immunity, BusinessWeek reports.
Researchers looked at children born in 1,238 families during 1998, and monitored the children for eight years until 2006. The kids went to either a large child care facility, which had up to 10 groups of eight to 12 children each, a small, home-based center with three to eight children or they were cared for at home, BusinessWeek says.
They compared children who were cared for at home and those who went to large day care centers before they were 2-and-a-half-years-old. The kids in the centers had higher rates of respiratory and ear infections during early preschool and the same risk of infection during late preschool, but ended up with lower rates during elementary school, the study found.
No differences in infection risk were found between children who started child care in small, home-based centers and those cared for at home.
"This study provides reassuring evidence for parents that their choices regarding child care (group size and age at enrollment) should not have a major effect on the health of their children from a long-term (eight-year) perspective, at least regarding respiratory tract infections with fever, gastrointestinal tract infections and ear infections," Sylvana M. Cote, of Ste.-Justine Hospital and the University of Montreal, tells BusinessWeek.
In fact, the researchers add, children who spend their early years in large-group child care settings "may even gain protection against infections during the elementary school years, when absenteeism carries more important consequences for school adaptation and performance," BusinessWeek reports.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
12-07-2010 @ 8:21PM
CHARLIE said...I GUESS I'LL START A DAY CARE AND POST THAT NEW RESEARCH IN THE BULLETIN. ONLY A CANADA HOSPITAL WOULD BE DOING A STUDY LIKE THAT. TALK ABOUT A WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME.
Reply
12-09-2010 @ 9:28AM
Mia said...I find this VERY HARD TO BELIEVE!! All the kids together sharing their germs and snotty noses day in, day out and you're trying to say their healthier? I don't think so. Stay well and get the free Vitamin C samples from Http://bit.ly/GetWellStayHealthy Look for their free stuff tab and there's a least 3 Emergen-C samples you can get.
12-07-2010 @ 10:06PM
Ebeth06hsgrad said...I volunteered in a daycare the summer of my high school graduation. I kept getting cold after cold after cold and my mom said I needed to rest for a couple weeks and so I called up the director and said I would be back in mid August. It was not fun at all. By this time it was mid to late July 2006. And we were going on vacation a couple weeks later.
I remember one time there was this one girl who was about 2 1/2 months away from her 2nd birthday. She was playing by herself, so I took it upon myself to play with the girl. She was coughing every 15 to 30 seconds, I said well, this does not sound good.
She was coughing more and more as the morning progressed. Lunchtime was about 11:00am so when I saw that she had hardly any appetite, she mut be sick, with what I had not the slightest clue and she was running a fever as well. The teacher was VERY ANNOYED that the girl did not eat, except maybe three bites of her food for lunch. The teacher said come on Delaney (the girl's name) eat your food mommy's going to be very upset if you don't eat.
After hearing that about five times, I said I don't believe she is feeling well. She has been coughing since I came in to play with her, she is not eating and I believe she is running a fever. The teacher looked at me like I was a nut, but those were classic signs of some kind of illness. Finally the teacher said well, I'll call her mother. I know I was just a volunteer, but a volunteer is supposed to be looking out for the students as well as the teacher.
The nexy day, the mother called up the teacher, and the teacher came to where I was the next day playing with two year olds and said to the lady who I was helping that the girl had strep throat. I was horrified. Here I was playing with a 21 1/2 momth old with strep throat. For days I waited to get it, but did not, thank god.
And then a couple weeks later that same girl had yet something else. I couldn't help but wonder why parents insist that their children go to daycare if they have a ripping fever. Have parents of today ever heard of putting their children's health first, especially when their son or daughter is sick?!?
Reply
12-08-2010 @ 12:27AM
peabers said...the "mommy battle front"? i hope that the writer is referring to being a mother in general and not pitting stay at home moms against working moms because that is really something that women don't need: more ways to separate us and breed competition. there are advantages to either situation and disadvantages as well.
Reply
12-08-2010 @ 2:32AM
art kart said...QUIT treating your kid like it will break; let it play in dirt; put dirt in mouth; not be absolutely clean; I am 70; cut all the time; never have any problems in life; I survived living in Asia; Europe; Africa; Don't worry about eating something that is picked picking up dropped on floor and ate; Kids need to be exposed to lots of germs; Don't clean everything the kid touches; AND when kid cries because you won't let it have something; don't pay any attention to it; It will stop crying when it figures out it doesn't help.
Reply
1-05-2011 @ 5:23PM
susan said...THANK YOU! If we start sanitizing everything, our immune systems become resistant. My 2 year old goes to daycare and in her 2 years on this earth, has been sick only three times. She eats things off the floor,and gets dirty when playing outside. I agree that because she is exposed to a lot of germs, she is not as sick as much.
12-08-2010 @ 5:38AM
bob said...And constant searches at places like the airport or any federal building help us get use to police power abuse.
Reply
12-08-2010 @ 1:45PM
dougalcandy said...Right on the money! My husband's nephew was a first child--his mother didn't let him come in contact with anyone who sneezed or coughed, pretty much kept him sterile. His first year of public school, he missed 30+ days!
Reply
1-13-2011 @ 7:32PM
bobby o said...True! True!
Kids that grow up in an over-sanitized environment have no resistance when exposed to germs later.
Unlike the Borg who claim "Resistance is futile", we say "Resistance is required."
Reply