You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Hi folks, bit of an odd one this but in short we have a 2 year old who goes to nursery OH works for NHS long hours 3 days a week so I do nursery dropoff for those days, i work from home 100% and it’s hard to get to “an office” .
Trouble is I’m getting ill so much! Last month I had a month not ill which was amazing but aside from that I’ve been ill on/off since Xmas! Is anyone else in the same boat and if so have you managed to improve your immune system?
I’m making casseroles, taking vitamins, eating fruit, we eat a balanced diet but I will say I find it hard to regularly get exercise in! Maybe one walk a week mainly as I have so many house projects to do I’m doing them on a lunchtime where I would normally exercise as as soon as toddler’s home you literally can’t do a thing!
I do appreciate it might be a “just these times are challenging” scenario and it’ll get easier but yes, just curious how others manage?
Thanks in advance
Kid starting nursery, partner in NHS both are prime carriers.
Worth adding too I decided to make sure I’ll always try and wash my hands after getting him but then I just completely forget. Also thought I’d keep hand gel in my pocket, again easily forget…. I mean I think I’ll try a bit harder too as the result of not doing makes me ill !
Also cleaning my phone screen if I can remember as they’re full of germs too, we’re not germaphobes in our house far from it. What I will say is too the toddler himself isn’t often ill at all! Or if he is he passes it to me and it just hangs on me for so so long!
Things linger with me long after the kids have shook them off. A crap side effect of sending them to the plague pit nursery and school.
Afraid to say you've got about 6 or 7 years until childhood antibodies help stop transmission back into your house conbines with your immune system getting it's strength back after years of fatigue.
IIRC 7 or 8 illnesses per year is common with young children. Sounds like you are getting them all.
It does get better different.
Kid starting nursery
My wee one is 18 months. She has passed the pair of us endless colds since starting nursery
I think my son was about 5 when I was surprised by the fact that I didn’t have a cold and could breath through both nostrils …
What Drac said. It's not you, it's them.
we have a 2 year old who goes to nursery
Case closed immediately.
It gets better, you'll get immunity around the same time the kid does. I'm guessing your other half is already wielding frontline NHS immunity, so it's just you suffering...
Just be grateful you're not in the office too would be my take. Post long covid I started taking a couple of those tiny Vit D3 caps a day plus zinc and it does seem to have reduced illness generally, but I suspect if you're being constantly exposed to toddler bugs, infection goes with the territory, as about ten people have already said. If you want to experiment, have a look at the Wim Hoff-type cold exposure stuff, which again is supposed to strengthen your immune system.
Another thing, if you're training / exercising hard, your immune system is temporarily suppressed for, i think, about an hour or so afterwards, so lock yourself in the bathroom / loo / cellar and pretend that you're asleep / unconscious / terminally drunk. Or just try and stay away from your family immediately post ride / session. I used to shower very, very slowly... Maybe avoid really hard sessions = more immune system suppression if you're going to be with your folks immediately afterward.
I've read recently that owning a dog strengthens your immune system, but that seems like an extreme and unproven measure. And Vicks First Defence nasal spray if you're going anywhere that's high risk - like your own home 😐 - again seems to be effective.
But mostly I think you just have to practice good personal hygiene, keep your hands washed and away from your face and eyes etc, gets lots of sleep, and suck it up.
I've had the same crappy bug 5 times since Xmas, starts with a sore throat for a couple of days and generally feeling knackered. Then the blocked nose and phlegm for three to four days. No particular reason for it, did 40 miles on the MTB last week, two days later lurgy again 🤷.
Just be grateful you're not in the office too would be my take.
Or rather their workmates should be grateful they arent.
One of my colleagues has two kids in nursery. Think there is barely a week which goes by which doesnt have one of them ill and not a month where he is then taken out as well.
Bugs from the kids plus extra stress. I thought my immune system had collapsed. Now they live in distant parts of the country I’m fine. Despite working in a college I’m ill maybe once a year.
Lack of sleep and exercise from having a newborn combined with germs from nursery absolutely battered me, the first winter my son was in nursery I got very ill. I think I'd gone at least 15 years never having had a day off sick to having over a week off. Blame the children!
Thanks for all the replies, this sounds like absolutely normal then 😆
we’ve been given a few hours off by her folks so even with no hearing in my left ear we’re off to do an 18 miles XC loop! Should clear some passages 😆
as you were saying she has a great immunity being exposed to germs all the time, I just get the lot! There is the whole thing where the kid gets everything and you easily forget about yourself! So now if he has an orange or blueberries I’m also giving myself the same but I wasn’t beforehand! I think it’s more how severe I get these colds and illnesses when he recovers after a day or so 😂
Last one took 2 different antibiotics prescribed to clear it when my body couldn’t!
I'd be trying to get a more exercise myself.... maybe turning that once a week into once a day to be honest. Working from home, small kids and no time to relax isn't goign to help your immune system or general wellbeing
as you were saying she has a great immunity being exposed to germs all the time, I just get the lot!
My partner is a WFH childminder of three 2-year olds. She's worked in a school for 20 years and is immune, I dropped like a stone and was ill for months.
It's definitely the little germ machine you have living with you. I avoid the kids parties with my nieces and nephews these days. My kids are adults now.
Get outdoors with exposed arms and legs for at least 30mins a day for some natural vitamin D boost and take D supplement at least September-April, when the UK sun is too weak even for white Europeans.
Being regularly exposed to youngsters, teachers and NHS workers will test anyone's immune system!
I had exactly the same when my two started nursery. 3 years, more or less, regular illnesses. Nothing really bad, just annoying.
On the plus side, my insides are rock solid, so the upset stomachs they brought home barely even touched me (their mum would be wiped out for a week, i'd be back to normal in 24 hours). The colds were more annoying.
My old manager had about 6 months, twice (once with each kid) where he didn't do a full week at work.
Hope my girlfriend doesn't bring anything home from work for me to catch, she's a cancer researcher...
Jesus!!! to last Comment.
So I’d love to spend the time exercising each day but it’s extremely hard to do, I do feel a bit screwed but not a lot I can do and just do what I can. Nursery is 6 miles away so by the time I’ve got back I have to start work straight away as I start at 8:30 then pickup to be home by 6:30, I usually get down from his room around 7:30 then she doesn’t get back from work til 9:15 in the evening!
I do get to do a 10 mile TT once a fortnight but yeah trying to fit in that daily exercise when I have lunch hour to be hoovering, cleaning, painting a porch, building little un a ramp/climbing frame/ you can see that if I do exercise I don’t get those things done so they don’t get done.
So yeah I know it won’t be forever but I do think it’s definitely hindering my immune system because I’m barely stopping.
so going to try see if I can drop him off for 7:30 and even if I get a 20 min ride around the block/run before work then get a shower is better than nothing at all… also spend at least 1 day a week for me on a lunch but tbh I enjoy making. Only issue is it isn’t good for this immune system I keep banging on about 😆
Even if you parked up short of the nursery and walked with him in a push chair it would be better than nothing.
Or 6 miles pedal with him.
Added bonus of getting a young one used to being out in the fresh air and not in a car.
I'd be trying to get a more exercise myself.... maybe turning that once a week into once a day to be honest. Working from home, small kids and no time to relax isn't goign to help your immune system or general wellbeing
Yes to that, but with the awareness that after harder exercise your immune system is temporarily slightly depressed, so hide immediately afterwards, as per my earlier post above.
So that was another thought as we have a macride…park in a carpark in the town and ride into nursery with him.
I’m not sure he’d tolerate a longer ride in, already only really loves the swoopy more fun routes with rollers and berms.
He’s just at that age where the pushchair is boring too so he’d want his trike but he loves steering the wrong directions and is really strong (can’t disengage) so would have to be his trike if I were to do that.
I think I’ll try with lobbing the bike on the roof, giving him a few miles on the front pre-nursery and see how that goes! As you say anything is better than nothing
That's actually a good point, when i was younger and racing properly, my "home base" in the UK was with my girlfriend, who had two kids from her ex husband. I used to get home from training, put the bike away, straight upstairs. Shower then chill for an hour-90 minutes before interacting. If i didn't do that, there was a fairly good chance that I'd end up with *something*.but with the awareness that after harder exercise your immune system is temporarily slightly depressed
Nursery is 6 miles away
Can you find a nearer one? York isn't a big city... (6 miles is pretty much Haxby to Bishopthorpe.)
At one point i had a wife int he NHS, one kid in nursery, one in one primary school and one in another primary school.
It was like a consumption ward.
Give yourself a break aswell mind. The world will not end if one lunchtime is given to your own well being.
Resting is not lazy. Put you phone out of reach and napping with something on the tv for 20 minutes will not end the world. You might be surprised how good you feel afterwards.
get a couple of large air filters. (one up stairs one down)
it took a year bit they have made a massive difference to my well being.
On that note ^^ a dehumidifier certainly helped the recover times from the cold symptoms a lot faster
Ahh so used to live in York, live 20 miles away now and his nursery we picked especially for what it’s like so no choice to change.
Nice thought but after exercise, 90 mins away from both of them…. Definitely wouldn’t happen 😆 he’s a toddler, I can’t go to the toilet without being disturbed! OH said to me “don’t lock the door as he’ll get very upset he can’t see you”
😆
Today he was up for just before 7… I got him to nursery and home for 8:15, 15 mins yoga in the garden, then after shower late starting work…. Standard! Used to pride myself on always being on time, til he was born 😆
Also not sure if the air filters would make a difference, number 1 my toddler would hate them and 2 we sleep with the windows open wide summer or winter at night to get plenty of airflow….
Seems to not make a difference 😆
My wife has worked in a nursery all year. I have a good immune system but it's been a crappy 8 months. I only started feeling actually good again when I started doing 5km runs at a fast pace then walking when I felt like it. Enough intensity to get a boost but not enough demand on my body to depress my immune system. Could be a coincidence, could be the magic formula for energy.