Tweet
I agree with the others and do not exclude for colds...and I have three kids myself and am pregnant. Its part of the job. Fevers or excessive, excessive other symptoms (to the point where they are crying all day and cant sleep and such), yes I would send home for that.
-
-
anyone on here as anal as me???
Comment
-
I agree with everyone else-
it comes with the territory. I do understand being pregnant that you don't want to expose yourself or a newborn to a child that is often sick. Separate the best that you are able, and sanitize often.
Clear runny nose is usually cold or allergy.
Greenish, yellowish sometimes infection or the end of a cold.
I don't think your being anal, I think you are just pregnant and worried and trying to do the best that you can. Booger noses come with the territory. Allergies last longer and right now allergy reports are high. They don't recommend meds for colds anyhow. They are best to run their course.
Best-Comment
-
This comment reminded me of something years ago.
We had a child who had a CONSTANTLY runny nose. We all had gone to a first aid/CPR class and we were talking about health etc. This little boy was mentioned. He was fine. No fever or any other symptoms-just a faucet for a nose. The instructor said that with all due respect had her daughter been that age, she would not enroll or keep her daughter at the center for long.
When the instructor said that, we changed our sickness policy. It was stated we excluded for blah blah. We would call for blah blah. At the bottom, we did say that ( I dont remember the exact wording...to many years ago :
if the child wasnt showing any symptoms other than just miserable we had the right to call. The parent can choose to pick up or not. However would you want your child sitting next to someone or playing with someone that is miserable?
Reminds of another little girl. She too was just miserable. Runny nose, cough. No fever. Dad took her to the dr. Dr said it was just a cold. Dad brought her in. You could just see she was not feeling good. I told him that while legally I can't make him take her, I felt that she would not have a good day and she just needed to be at home. He still was going to leave because "shes fine-its just a cold" . I finally said: you know your child best. Would you want her playing with someone who feels like she looks? Then he really took a good look and finally agreed.
As for your policies: Kids get sick. Providers have policies. She agreed to them when she enrolled.
As for mother's sick days: makes me wonder if sometimes she just said the baby was sick just so she can play hooky. Never know
Comment
-
I opened my daycare of 6 in the winter, everyone was new, everyone got sick, ALOT. Colds just kept going around and around and around. I tried to wipe noses, wash hands, sanitize toys, etc. It didn't seem to help. No matter how vigilant I tried to be, the babies still swapped spit and the toddlers still sneezed and wiped their noses with their hands "shared" all their toys and germs!
I felt SOOOOOOOOOOO guilty like it was my fault and that the parents would think I was a dirty provider who just let everyone get sick. I don't feel that way anymore. Now I just feel like kids can be contagious before we even realize it and it's too late. They're just going to get sick, they're supposed to get sick, getting sick (minor) makes them stronger as they build their immune system.
I have only sent kids home for fevers. Never had any diareah or vomiting yet. If a kid is sick, the parents still need to work and the child just needs a place to be. They can lay in their bed all day, watch movies, eat popscicles, look at books, etc. I think that if you offer good care for minor illnesses you will win yourself loyal loyal families who are so grateful.
And I did give a nebulizer to a 6 month old twice a day every day for a week. It was a pain in the butt but it's what the baby needed, it wasn't hurting anyone else, and how could mom take a week off of work?
I agree, the bulb syringe will help, hot washcloths for steam, I'd even stuff some toilet paper up their noses and just let it stay there if the tots didn't object and pull it out.Comment
-
yes I opened my daycare right before september and the first major virus we had was coxsackie, my son had a high fever and got a febrile seizure from this, i thought he was going to die seeing him like that, it scared me Poopless, and then he again had another seizure not too long after that...so thats what triggered me to be so strict with my illness policy...
My son has been sick so far three times in like 1 and half months...he was going strong for a while, but this summer was back to back pretty much, hes 22 months. I know the first 2 years is when they get the most sicknesses and i see that because my daughter who is almost 5 has barely been sick (she started child care at 2 but got a lot of colds then)...but seeing your child have a seizure from a fever is so scary, especially when their lips are turning blue, they have no control of their body....so thats why i became so anal about it. I cant keep him a bubble either and I do have to be reliable for parents especially for ones whose jobs arent flexible, febrile seizures arent life threatening usually but ....either i **** it up, make boogers my best friend or find another way to make money while staying home with my children....ahh choices choices...thank you all ladies for your inputComment
-
when a child has a runny nose here, i out a few drops of saline in their nose. dries up the faucet for hours!Comment
-
I would less sanitize too. Open your windows, fresh air does wonders. Also, I don't go around sanitizing nothing, germs don't stay on stuff and kids are going to get sick regardless. Also, maybe this child is teething, I have one who gets like this for a month before her teeth pop out.Comment
-
I don't know if you would want to/be allowed to administer it, but I second the saline solution suggestion. Whenever my daughter has a runny nose/congestion I squirt some saline in her nose and then syringe/have her blow it out. Doing this at key times (wake-up, before eating, before bed/napping) seems to make her a lot more comfortable and it greatly reduces the amount of nose wiping for some time afterwards. That combined with using a humidifier/vaporizer while she naps/sleeps seems to cut the duration and severity of her symptoms significantly.Comment
-
It's true you never know but I think sick days are very easy to use up, especially if you're a single parent and/or don't have a lot of family nearby.
I only get 5 sick days/year. One week our daughter got sick and my husband and I caught it. That irritated/inflamed his already troublesome appendix enough that he had to have an emergency appendectomy. Between caring for her, caring for him/driving to the hospital and trying to care for myself in between I missed 3 days of work. That was a couple of months ago, which mean I had 2 sick days left to last about 7 months...Comment
-
I doubt she is faking the sick days. I know this year has been rough on our family. One hospitalization for dd, one emergency surgery and hospitalization for ds, plus dh and I both got nasty colds over the winter.
If I worked out of the home, I would have had to take about 10 days total. Thankfully I only missed 2 days (the days my kids were in the hospital) since I can work from home sick and take care of my sick kids while working.Comment
-
WOW, this was generous of your employer! Haha. Employers giving sick days is not mandatory. I have had many different jobs outside of the home and not one of them offered sick time.
It's not fair to assume that Mom has used all the sick days on fun and just staying home.
As for the OP, I do not close for runny noses, regardless of how much the "faucet" is open, LOL. Whether I have to wipe the nose every 2 minutes, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes, it does not matter. As long as that child is feeling well enough to participate then I permit them to attend. Rarely does a runny nose pose a problem that a child can not participate.Comment
..not trying to be mean; you certainly have the right to do as you see fit, but since I had 3 kids with major allergies last year, a runny nose would have put me out of business as well. Fever=go home.
Comment