My Baby Got COVID-19 at Daycare. This Is What I Want Parents to Know

Like many working parents, I stopped sending my son to daycare in late March. As a busy working mom and grad student, working from home with a crawling infant nearby was a new and complicated situation. (Let’s call my son, now 7 months old, Big Handsome.) It got to a point where I couldn’t work, take care of Big Handsome, and take care of myself. I was completely burnt out and exhausted. I put on almost 10 lbs. It felt like I was constantly treading water trying to keep up with work and making sure his needs were met.

After spending seven weeks with me at home, we sent Big Handsome back to daycare in May. Our daycare, here in Oklahoma, has followed all health department guidelines. Before I pulled him out in March, they had started curbside pickup and dropoff. All kids had their temps checked upon arrival. No parents were allowed in the center. For a period of time, all teachers wore masks, but I don’t think they still do. Many of the toddler-age kids seemed to be scared when their teachers were masked. I don’t think the babies cared one way or another, but I did tell the director I wanted my son around someone without a mask for at least part of the day, because I think it’s important for a baby’s development for them to be smiled at.

On a random Wednesday evening three weeks ago, Big Handsome threw up. He had been in bed 20 minutes, and I happened to check the monitor and saw him projectile vomiting. I ran to his room and he was lying on his back, choking. I got him on his side, and then changed the bedding, his clothes and bathed him. He took another bottle before going back to sleep, so I didn’t think anything of it, because he was able to keep that down. When I did his dream feed at 10:30 p.m., he seemed warm, but his temperature never got above 99.9. I thought he threw up because he ate too much and the mild fever was from teething.

The next day I kept him home from daycare, but on Friday, I received a call from the director. Unfortunately, a parent of a baby in his class had tested positive for COVID-19, so per guidelines, they were closing to deep clean and allow the staff to be tested. I picked him up and brought him home and was mostly just bummed that I was going to have to go back to juggling work and childcare for the foreseeable future. I wasn’t super worried–I was more concerned about my husband’s work situation. He’s a chef and they had events that weekend, so he immediately began wearing a mask at work as soon as we were notified.

The following Tuesday, the director called again and said both infant room teachers had tested positive, along with the baby of the sick parent. They wanted all babies to be tested and to be negative before returning. We went to a drive-thru testing site at a clinic about 30 minutes south of us. I was tested first. Just a swab up the nose for 5 seconds. It tickled.

Next it was time to test Big Handsome, but he was asleep. I got in the backseat with him and gently held his head. They got the swab in his nose, and he woke up and just kind of yelled but didn’t cry. I immediately popped his pacifier in his mouth, and he just looked around and was back asleep before we even left the parking lot. My test came back negative, and my husband took a rapid test the next day, which was also negative. Big Handsome’s test came back positive.

The good news is everyone is fine. Both of his teachers are completely asymptomatic. All of the other babies in his class tested negative except for the baby with the sick parent. Big Handsome has completely recovered and is doing well. We’re all awaiting our latest test results. If they’re negative, we can send Big Handsome back to daycare and my husband can go back to work.

Yes, it was frightening, but here’s what I want other parents to know: It’s normal to have a ton of anxiety about daycare. I did. But I think there is a very low chance your baby will catch COVID-19–we were unlucky enough that it did happen. I also think that almost all babies who have it are asymptomatic, so there’s a good possibility your young children could have it and you might never know without antibody testing. Our decision would have been different if we had elderly or immunocompromised people living in our home or that we see regularly, such as grandparents. (Our parents live three hours away.)

This is such a hard time for working parents. Some jobs don’t allow a young child to be at home while you’re working, and some parents don’t have the ability to work from home, so using daycare isn’t really a choice. If you are sending your children to daycare, my advice is to live as though your kid has the virus. Assume they do. Take precautions with family members and continue to social distance and wear masks. We have no choice but to ride this out, and everyone should do their part to mitigate transmission as much as possible. —As told to Audrey Goodson Kingo