If you think your toddler's often ill, you're right--what going to nursery means for catching colds and building immunity

[erronis]

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-toddler-ill-youre-nursery-colds.html

There's no nice way to put it: Small children are snotty. A research study that tested children for multiple respiratory viruses every week for a year found that under-fives are carrying one or more viruses 50% of the time. A child aged 15 months will have 12-15 colds per year and eight or nine of those will show symptoms, such as a runny nose. If parents feel their small children are sick with a cold half the time, that's backed up by evidence.

Our new study brings together information from different sources to understand how the immune systems of small children differ from adults, why children pass germs around so effectively and what parents can do to help.

Babies and toddlers are encountering a whole host of infectious diseases for the first time, which makes them more likely to have symptoms; this can make them more likely to pass these bugs on to others. We also found that going to nursery often accelerates a natural process of building up immunity that would otherwise take place at school. Finally, we highlighted vaccination as a major tool to reduce childhood sick days.

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Children experience about twice as many bouts of diarrhea and vomiting per year as adults (two on average). Having an under five in your household increases your risk as an adult of having diarrhea and vomiting three- to fivefold.

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