Stomach Flu - Do You Let Kids Attend When Their Family Is Vomiting?

[Mandy_Jane]

When I started my daycare, I was 18 and had no children. I became licensed and had up to 10 kids at any given time. I closed my daycare 5 days before my first daughter was born. That daughter is now 6 years old and I have another daughter who is 4. When dealing with illness before my girls were born, I was really the only one at risk. But now that I have my two daughters health and safety to think about, I am rethinking how strict I need to be regarding my illness policy.

I already have a pretty strict policy. Fever free for 24 hours WITHOUT the help of medication, etc. And I list out all the illnesses that were in the state handbook saying their child can not attend if they have any of these symptoms. But, no matter how I do it, we STILL get sick!

This is my 4th week back after starting my daycare again, and we have already been sick 3 times! Initial cold came from daycare interview who never even ended up using me. That landed me a double ear infection. Then we got another bout of congestion, coughing from a family who only used me for two weeks, then moved the kids to another daycare because they couldn't afford to pay me for holidays!!!

I have one little guy who is 9 weeks old, and he started when he was 6 weeks. His mom always drops him off in the mornings. Well, Monday Nov. 21st, dad dropped him off so I asked why he was there instead of mom. He said mom and one of their little girls were home sick with vomiting and diarrhea. I immediately went in to panic mode because I know how these viruses work. They spread like wildfire! So I get out the Lysol wipes and wipe down the carseat handle, my doorknob and anything else I think dkd touched. That evening dkd picked up. So, Tuesday morning, mom is well enough to be the one dropping off. She tells me dkd is at home vomiting now and he's miserable. So I know it's inevitable that we are going to get this illness. Dkm tells me it wasn't really THAT bad, and she recovered in less than 24 hours.

So, Tuesday evening, it starts. My 4 year old vomits ALL OVER me after telling me her tummy was hurting. I called dkm to let her know I would not be open Wednesday, (the day before Thanksgiving) because I would most likely be up all night taking care of my little one. Well, by Wednesday afternoon, I was vomiting too. And then Friday my 6 year old had it, and Sunday my husband finally got it. Thanksgiving was ruined and I spent all my time off feeling miserable and cleaning up vomit.

I know this has been a really long story, but I guess I am wanting to know what you all would do if you knew one of your daycare kids families was vomiting and sick with a stomach flu. Would you still accept the child in to your care? Or would you ask that the child be kept home until everyone is in the clear? My 6 year old got it the worst and was crying for days after the vomiting ended with terrible stomach cramps. 24 hours my A**. It took me a good 3 days to recover from it. And my husband's back was hurting so bad from vomiting, he could barely get up and down.

I really want to add in to my contract that if anyone in the family is vomiting, then the child needs to stay home and out of daycare for the safety of all of my family and the other children in my care. Do you think I would be allowed to say something like that?

[sharlan]

I'm sorry you're going through this.

Everyone has already been exposed BEFORE the vomiting ever started.

Your family's immune system seems to be very low. I rarely get anything that the kids bring around. My kids don't get sick from each other too often.

[Mandy_Jane]

We hadn't necessarily been exposed before the vomiting started. I believe the SA sisters brought it home from school and if DKD wouldn't have come that Monday when mom and sister were vomiting, my family may have been spared. We probably do have low immune systems since I haven't had families in and out of my home every day until very recently. I did get my girls vaccinated against the flu, but unfortunately it doesn't cover stomach flu.

[bice99]

Stomach bugs are direct contact so officially not contagious until a person is actually sick. That being said, they do spread like wildfire. My illness policy states that if a family member is home sick with a contagious disease, kids cannot attend. Doesn't matter if the sick person is normally a DCK of mine or not. This saved my bacon last year when my friend's family had the stomach bug for 2 whole weeks! They kept passing it around. If I had let the 1 year old attend, she would have passed it onto my whole family and crew. So if mom is home with strep throat, her kid stays home with her! I wrote it very specifically on purpose.

[AnneCordelia]

Stomach bugs are direct contact so officially not contagious until a person is actually sick. That being said, they do spread like wildfire. My illness policy states that if a family member is home sick with a contagious disease, kids cannot attend. Doesn't matter if the sick person is normally a DCK of mine or not. This saved my bacon last year when my friend's family had the stomach bug for 2 whole weeks! They kept passing it around. If I had let the 1 year old attend, she would have passed it onto my whole family and crew. So if mom is home with strep throat, her kid stays home with her! I wrote it very specifically on purpose.

I'm wondering if anyone else does this? This is appealing to me.

My family also contracted a stomach bug this year from a DCD who dropped off his child on Monday morning only to go home to continue vomiting. His child was sick by the end of the day and by Thursday my own family and two more of my DCFs had the sickness.

[daycare]

I dont mean to sound rude, but you should be happy that the parents even told you.

We are all human and we are going to get sick, no way to avoid it. As long as their child is well and functioning, then why shouldn't they be able to come.

Sick people are everywhere. Grocery stores, walmart, target, you name it. Unless we live in a bubble, there's no way to avoid these things.

If I were sick, I would be dropping off my well child so that I can get the much needed rest to re cooperate and get well so that I can take care of my family again.

[Unregistered]

I dont mean to sound rude, but you should be happy that the parents even told you.

We are all human and we are going to get sick, no way to avoid it. As long as their child is well and functioning, then why shouldn't they be able to come.

Sick people are everywhere. Grocery stores, walmart, target, you name it. Unless we live in a bubble, there's no way to avoid these things.

If I were sick, I would be dropping off my well child so that I can get the much needed rest to re cooperate and get well so that I can take care of my family again.

I tend to agree with this-

and I don't feel you are rude, just having a different opinion, happens to be one I agree with. I don't like getting sick either- but you can only do so much and so true we are surrounded by germs and sick people everywhere.

[jojosmommy]

I dont mean to sound rude, but you should be happy that the parents even told you.

We are all human and we are going to get sick, no way to avoid it. As long as their child is well and functioning, then why shouldn't they be able to come.

Sick people are everywhere. Grocery stores, walmart, target, you name it. Unless we live in a bubble, there's no way to avoid these things.

If I were sick, I would be dropping off my well child so that I can get the much needed rest to re cooperate and get well so that I can take care of my family again.

This was my initial thought. My second thought was that if you put this in your contract families are simply not going to tell you when someone is sick in their home. Bluntly, they will lie. My kids get sick, I get sick (rarely) and yes sometimes it ****s but never have I ever been able to prove that the only place we could have gotten sick was from daycare. Sick people are everywhere and everything you touch and do comes with the risk of getting sick. If your husband works out of the home he could be exposed and bring it home. I think your expecting too much for people to keep thier unsick kids home when they or anyone in their family is ill.

[bice99]

Generally the family member is another kiddo so a parent is home with the sick child anyway. If a parent is sick, I generally still take the kid, but not if it's a stomach bug. Sorry. And I totally get it. My DD had to stay home from work one day last year because he had given the bug to me. I was too sick to take care of our own girls so he took care of them and I stayed in bed. And no one else got sick from me, including our own girls.

And I don't take offense. Everyone has their own way of doing things. I have my policy in my handbook and go over it during interviews. BTW - other than colds, nothing has ever been passed around my DC. Knock on wood. LOL

[Country Kids]

Just today a mama let me know little one wouldn't be coming because mama was sick. I still offered to take little one because its hard to get rest when your sick and chasing kids, changing diapers, trying to make food for them, etc.

What we do want though if we were to become sick is for our parents to acknowledge the fact that we're sick and need the day off. Please don't try and quilt us to keep working, tell us you have no time to take, etc., then when your sick magically there is time.

My parents are awesome though and when I was sick last year and ended up in urgent care then the hospital they were concerned and made sure to tell my husband for me to take the time and get well!

[Ariana]

I only look at the child that's in my care. I tell the parents to let me know if anyone in their family is sick so I can let others know to watch for symptoms or withhold their child from care if they want. As long as the child in my care isn't exhibiting symptoms I feel there is nothing I can really do.

I'm actually going through this right now. One DCG's sister has pink eye and an ear infection (and has has strep a few weeks ago and is ALWAYS on antibiotics!) but the DCG didn't have any symptoms so I couldn't exclude her. I told the other DCF that this girl was exposed to these infections and they didn't seem to happy about the fact that she was there. But what was I supposed to do about it!!

[bice99]

Oh the joys of antibiotics. Ear infection doesn't count. Pink eye would keep a kiddo home for me. I just had a family deal with it. First the DCG I watch had it. I sent her home 10 minutes after arrival. That was Friday. Monday AM DCM txts to say big sis has it so obviously the little one won't be here either. BTW - big sis doesn't come to me. That was Thanksgiving week. Now yesterday DCM tells me that gma has pink eye now. She and gpa came for all of Thanksgiving week. And both DCM and DCD got it as well. Oh my goodness. I'm so glad it was a long weekend for me. Everyone here has been fine.

[jojosmommy]

Pink eye is nasty. I got it last year while pregnant, right after some dck and a dcm had it. I could have blamed it on them however I attributed it to not washing properly. If you get lax on it you get sick. Getting pink eye reminded me to ALWAYS wash appropriately, same for the kiddos and keep up good toy/towel washing. Honestly, we were both showing symptoms within hours of each other so I could have given it to them, either way I think washing/hygiene is the only way to be safe and healthy.

[SandeeAR]

I just had one here Wednesday that had pink eye. I hadn't seen it in 15+ years, so I didn't recognize it. Dad said he has had the "crud", so I thought the glassy eyed look and green matter was from that. (He is only here normally Wed and Thurs) Due to Thanksgiving, he had only come the Monday before Thanksgiving.

Fortunately, my babies weren't here. Since he just acted like he didn't feel good (didn't seem to want to play). Checked his temp several times, only 99.7, can't send home till 100. I kept him and the other 2 toddlers apart as much as possible.

My question is, how fast does it spread? Hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, days?

I am always washing my hands and the dcks. That day I was extra careful to wash anytime I touched him. I spent that entire night bleaching everthing, toys, chairs, beds, light switches, door knobs.

That was Wednesday, so far the two toddlers and I haven't come down with it. Are we in the Clear?

[bice99]

I would think you might be in the clear. But pink eye is often the tail end of a cold, so it depends on that. The little one I had was sent home Monday with a fever and cough. Pink eye showed up Friday. The rest of her family was healthy, but big sis, mom and dad all got it during Thanksgiving week. Big sis woke up 2 am Monday morning with it. Then domino effect. But grandma (who was in town all that week) didn't end up with it until this Thursday. Hmmm...