When parents take their child to daycare, they cross their fingers in some way asking that their health not be affected too much. It's been a while since he said that Children who go to nursery schools have a higher risk of catching diseases and infections that those who do not go, for a very simple reason: they are in contact with many other children, all of them with their immature immune system and going through easily contagious viral and bacterial processes (for that same reason).
A study conducted in Zamora has tried to quantify what the risk of these children is by concluding that Children who go to daycare have a risk of between double and triple that the rest of contracting diseases.
To do this study, the researchers analyzed the children who went to the pediatric exams, asking the parents if their children went to the nursery, how many days a week and how many hours each day and also asked them if the centers were small or big.
The data obtained served to assess whether children were more at risk of acute respiratory infections (colds, bronchitis and pneumonias), digestive type (gastroenteritis), if they consulted more than the rest and if they had to be admitted more times.
The conclusion of the study, as we have commented, is that 35% to 50% of infections suffered by children are due to attending a nursery school. But children not only spread to children in the nursery, but also to other children who share other moments and other environments, so it was also concluded that between 10 and 20% of the episodes of Bronchitis, colds, pharyngotonsillitis or gastroenteritis in all children are motivated by the existence of daycare centers.
Dr. Carlos Ochoa, one of the authors of the study, has stated in this regard:
It is not about demonizing the nursery, or telling anyone that your child will have a serious problem by taking him to the nursery, at all, but to quantify that this is so, assume it and even pose that preventive measures would be profitable in nurseries as dispensers of antiseptic solutions for children to use them periodically, strive for hygiene, in short, trying to reduce the burden of disease.
This study also intends that authorities, professionals and parents have one more argument when making decisions related to children, especially when parents move between several alternatives when choosing who will remain in the care of children.
As we always say, there are as many realities as families, so each one must look for the best solution for everyone. It is undeniable that bringing together many children in a room involves almost continuous exposure to diseases, responding to some children with frequent pathologies (others just get sick), which become annoying, first of all for the child, who is the one who suffers them, and secondly to the parents, who often have to leave the job to go for their sick child, take him to the pediatrician and sometimes even enter him.
If this happens often, I am one of those who think that Heaven and earth must be removed for the child's health, especially if there is an alternative (staying with one of the parents, with another family member, with a caregiver ...), but of course, this solution is not always viable and sometimes the child has to end up in the nursery yes or yes. In this case then the most advisable thing is to try to prevent diseases, as Dr. Ochoa comments, increasing hygiene in nurseries to avoid contagion as much as possible between some children and others.
