discussion on immune system

I can only speak from experience... I was born and raised in Romania , Europe. I was what they called "key around the neck generation ", because both parents were always working, while kids woke up on their own, made breakfast, went to school (from first grade, taking multiple REGULAR busses, no cross guards, no "15 mph school zones") . we came home, made lunch , did homework, all alone, went out and played from 6 pm till???? alone... just us kids. we played in mud, drank water from the hose outside, played in rain, made Mud pancakes and pretend eating, we didn't worry about dust, mud, dirt, bacteria. we had no desinfecting wipes and no lysol. we came home from playing for hours, got a half assed shower , eat and went to slerp, to do it all over again next day. we grew up with limited supervision. and we're exposed to every single element of a third world country offers. and the thing of it all, I'm 100% healthy, my sister is healthy, everyone I grew up with is healthy.. I personally think that in US, we shelter kids in this bubble of " health " with washing hands 40 times a day, lysol toys every day, desinfect everything twice a day.. put Ur hand on a shopping cart, quick wash Ur hands ... personally, I think it's too much. yes, washing hands IS important. hygiene IS important, but kids definitely need to be exposed to the world as it truly is, to be able to have a healthy life as an adult. just my opinion on it

I struggled with this too for awhile. Decided to withdraw from playgroup after my baby kept getting sick. Hasn’t been sick since then either. I think it will get easier to deal with them being sick when they’re older. Also, I read recently that when kids are older they are better at washing hands, covering up mouth for coughs etc. And the virus mutation thing is so true. Plus you don’t build immunity to colds. Would be a good question for pediatrician at the next checkup but my Kids Dr didn’t indicate that kid groups are important when they’re so young. Not being sick is pretty awesome too.

I have been curious about this as well. What I do know is that once you have a virus, you cant get sick by it again. Your body has created antibodies against it, so when your body detects the same virus, it immediately responds and stops it before it is able to replicate. This is where the theory of "building an immune system" comes from. The problem with this theory is that viruses mutate. That is why we have to get the flu vaccine annually because the virus has mutated and there are different strands. So, any cold that my daughter gets while in daycare (if she went to one), would be in no "benefit" to her in grade school because the viruses would have mutated countless times between daycare and grade school.

We have been on the go since day 1 home from the hospital. we went on a long walk in the woods day 1 day 2 went went to a cousins, day 3 the board walk day 4 out to dinner and I don't remember much more but never did stay home much... and our son is never sick he will get a stuffy nose or a runny nose when everyone else in the house gets some kind of duck... I am a firm believer to get them introduced to the germs early!