If your child's starting daycare, she'll be around more kids and their germs, so more sniffles are inevitable. Make her transition as healthy as possible:

If she hasn't already

started the pneumococcal vaccine series, make sure she gets it now. It protects against bacterial meningitis, pneumonia, and recurrent ear infections. "Kids who are in group daycare centers are more than twice as likely to contract these infections as those who aren't," says Ben Schwartz, M.D., of the National Immunization Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Consider a flu vaccine if she's under 2.

Very young kids are at risk for hospitalization from flu complications.

Plan how you'll handle days when she's too sick to go to daycare.

Who will stay home with her? Or leave work to pick her up early?

If your child is 3 or older,

teach her to wash her hands with soap and warm water after she goes to the bathroom and before she eats. And let her see you wash up so she'll learn by your example.

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