Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Do Children in Daycare Develop More Health Problems?



Over the years, there has been a theory that children who attend daycare tend to develop more health problems; things like colds, ear infections, and throat infections.  In the first few years of life, they can have more problems than the children who stay home, and it makes sense because there is an earlier exposure to problems.  The theory also suggests that as the children get older, they have fewer infections and problems than the kids who stayed home and are more likely to be exposed to the various problems.  A new study of 4,000 Dutch children from birth to eight years showed children who started daycare early were twice as likely to experience wheezing in the first year of life than those who didn't go to daycare.  By age five, daycare kids were slightly less likely to wheeze than non-daycare kids.  By eight, the effects evened out and daycare attendants had no association with the wheezing. 

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