Work demands and a lack of village mean keeping a child at home from care every time they have a sniffle can be a dilemma for many parents.

And with sickness so easily spread in childcare settings, it's a decision caregivers are regularly faced with — especially in the first year or two.

"Parents have my sympathy on that, there are a lot of demands on time and it can be really hard to judge what is best to do, both for child in the context of all the other dynamics, and commitments a family has," says Cathryn Hester, Queensland chair at Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

She says sometimes it seems like kids experience several illnesses "all at once or in quick succession".

Upper respiratory tract infections, along with vomiting and diarrhoea bugs, are what Dr Hester se

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