Before I had a baby I was pretty agnostic about the idea of daycare. I could imagine various pros and cons but I didn’t have a strong overall opinion. Then I started mentioning the idea to various people. Every parent I spoke to brought up a consideration I hadn’t thought about before—the illnesses.

A number of parents, including family members, told me they had sent their baby to daycare only for them to become constantly ill, sometimes severely, until they decided to take them out. This worried me so I asked around some more. Invariably every single parent who had tried to send their babies or toddlers to daycare, or who had babies in daycare right now, told me that they were ill more often than not.

One mother strongly advised me never to send my baby to daycare. She regretted sending her (normal and healthy) first son to daycare when he was one—he ended up hospitalized with severe pneumonia after a few months of constant illnesses and infections. She told me that after that she didn’t send her other kids to daycare and they had much healthier childhoods.

I also started paying more attention to the kids I [...]

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First published:
April 13th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/byiLDrbj8MNzoHZkL/daycare-illnesses

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Review section discussing HFMD risk factors and childcare attendance correlation in Japan.

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“Daycare illnesses” by Nina Panickssery

LessWrong (30+ Karma)