Inspection Went Great UNTIL Hand, Foot, And Mouth Outbreak!

[preschoolteacher]

I had my inspection yesterday, and it was awesome! The inspector told me that she has never seen anyone so prepared. Looks like I will be licensed on Monday! YAY!

Although I got to celebrate for all of 5 minutes until I checked my email and learned that my daycare kid has Hand, Food, and Mouth. Oh my gosh.... UGH. They asked if they could still come this week even though he had a fever and said they thought it was a teething fever. I went against my gut instinct and said yes. I wish I would have upheld my illness policy, but I also felt like it was probably those 2-year molars. Until he woke up from nap and I noticed little bumps all over his face. I asked Mom about them, and she took him in.

How likely do you think we will all get it??? I would hate to be a brand-new provider infecting all of my new daycare kids!!! I'm going to tell the new families that we were exposed to it. I know the incubation period is 3-6 days, so hopefully by next week we don't get it--and we won't!

Bleach water, bleach water, bleach water.

[Blackcat31]

Congrats on the licensing inspection going so well!!

As far as the HFM goes....I think that is already a lesson learned....exclude for symptoms REGARDLESS of cause.

Also as far as how likely it is that everyone gets it....who knows.... (knock on wood) I have NEVER had it go through my daycare....although I have had a kid or two that did have it (they just never attended while ill) so I suppose it depends on how immune/healthy/resistant the others are.

Do you have the fact sheets/health book that Hennepin County gives us? FANTSTIC sheets for BOTH provider and parents on ALL illnesses we need to look out for...

[itlw8]

All the children were already exposed before any symptoms . So even if you had still said stay home they had been exposed. PLUS it is likely going around town also so if they had been anywhere in public like a store or out to eat they children likely have been exposed. Sanitize anyting that would have been mouthed for sure and now would be a good day to run toys through the dishwasher.

[My3cents]

yes to what everyone else has said so far and welcome to the forums

seems to be lots of new names popping up that I don't recall so welcome to all of you new providers, or new to the forum or just welcome

I might have done the same thing depending upon the child and parents. I don't have parents that try to slip sickness by me right now.....they keep the kids when they are truly sick home, so if a Mom came in and said she thought it was teething I would prob take in for the day and see how it goes, accessing the situation first and as the day followed. high fever, actually any fever I ask that they keep the child home. Teething kids I am more lenient with.

I too have had kids with hand foot and mouth slip by me and no one else got it. Just deep clean, esp mouthed toys and as you said, bleach and water, bleach and water.......ugh. I hope it doesn't spread and works out for you.

[melilley]

Congratulations on your inspection going so well! Sorry about the hfm!

[AcornMama]

I had my inspection yesterday, and it was awesome! The inspector told me that she has never seen anyone so prepared. Looks like I will be licensed on Monday! YAY!

Great news! I know you've been waiting for this for a while!

happyfacehappyfacehappyface

Hope everyone else stays healthy!

[MarinaVanessa]

HFM is extremely contagious and you have all been exposed already ... you can pass it through person to person direct contact with saliva, nasal discharge and feces. Initial onset is a fever followed by blisters and sores in the mouth/cheeks. 1-2 days later spots appear on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. The incubation period is 3-6 days and the length of communicability is 7-10 days. You should exclude the child for several days until the communicability period has passed. Now you just have to wash your/the childrens hands frequently when you come in from outside, before/after meals, after toileting and after diapering.

Clean and disinfect all surfaces, toys, furniture, flooring etc. I would recommend disinfecting your whole house because even though HFM affects children under 10 years adults can still spread it ... meaning you could have tracked it throughout your entire house. Just make sure whatever you use is a disinfectant and not just a sanitizer (which won't kill the virus).

In reality HFM isn't very serious unless the child was already extremely sick or is a newborn. Usually the symptoms are just a fever and itchy or mildly painful sores in the mouth which make it bothersome for the child to eat or drink. HFM is just really contagious so if you don't get a handle on it then it can cycle over and over in your daycare. Using the regular health precautions after you disinfect can prevent the other children from contracting HFM (if they haven't gotten it already). A bleach/water solution works best but there are other things you can use.

I had a bout of HFM. My own DS and nephew got it from a kids play place on my DS's first birthday. I quarantined my DS with the help of my DH and excluded my nephew. I sanitized my house and none of my other DCK's got it. My SIL had to come pick up my nephew once I saw that both he and my DS showed the spots and she went next door "five minutes" to say hi to her other brother and then dropped my nephew off with his bio dad (without telling him that he had HFM) so she wouldn't miss work. My DS didn't give it to anyone because we secluded him but my nephew gave it to his cousin next door who gave it three of his cousins and gave it to his 1yo half brother (at bio dads house) who in turn gave it to his cousins. It was a mess and he didn't spend more than 5 minutes next door and more than am afternoon at his dads house. It can be contained and it's not usually serious, you just have to take the necessary precautions.

[MCC]

Congrats on the inspection, that is awesome!

[nanglgrl]

After 10 years in business I'd never seen HFM until last year. My son was the first to show symptoms on a weekend so I closed the entire next week while he had the blisters because he was miserable. During my closure another dck developed the rash (I think on Wesnesday) and because he has asthma and horrible blisters in his mouth he ended up being hospitalized because of breathing problems and dehydration. Later on that week (I think Friday) another child got it and was out the entire next week. None of the other children came down with it but had I stayed open they would have had a much greater chance of getting it since the two that got blisters on Wednesday and Friday would have been present all week before the blisters exposing everyone who wasn't already exposed. So even though I was told not to close once my son had the blisters because he was no longer contagious I'm glad I did or more of clients would have had to deal with it.

[MyAngels]

Congrats on the inspection! happyface

[spinnymarie]

Congrats on the inspection! That is such great news!
My DD had HFM earlier this summer. I was only watching two other kids, my niece and another DCG.
No one else got it except DD... and my SIL. Evidently grown-ups CAN get it if they've never been exposed before (similar to chicken pox).
Then we somehow got it AGAIN 2 months later, with my new family - just the youngest DCB got it, again, no one else got anything more than a slight fever - no spots, sores, nothing.
Anyway, this story's point is that you can hopefully contain it!

[e.j.]

We had HFM go through our house a couple of years ago. At the time, I had been doing day care for almost 16 years without ever seeing a case of it. It wasn't too bad for the kids. Most got it but other than the twins who brought it in and shared it, they were very mildly affected. My own adult kids also got it. My then 17 yr old dd had only a slight itchy rash on her hand and arm but my son (20 at the time), was fairly miserable with it. He had a fever and small areas of the rash everywhere including his mouth. Neither of my kids had direct contact with the day care kids but they still got it. Like someone mentioned, we were all exposed before the rash was even visible. The day the twins came in with the rash, I sent them right home. Dcm "thought" it was poison ivy but I wasn't comfortable keeping him without knowing for sure. Probably wouldn't have made a difference, though, if I had let him stay since the others got it anyway.

Congratulations on having such a great inspection! Sounds as though you've made a good first impression.

[craftymissbeth]

...They asked if they could still come this week even though he had a fever and said they thought it was a teething fever...

I'm not too worried about HFM, but I would most definitely exclude for a fever. I'm not sure if he still has one or had one but no longer does, but...

A) I don't care why a child has a fever; they are excluded regardless.

B) If you allow this fever then why not the next one? And every single fever from here on out...

C) To say that it's ok since it's HFM would negate the part of my illness policy in which I state that I will exclude for all fevers regardless of cause for the simple fact that I am not a diagnostician and cannot possibly verify, even with a doctors note, that a child with a fever is ok to participate.



BUUUUTTTTT....
with all that said....

happyface CONGRATS AND FINALLY GETTING LICENSED! happyface

[preschoolteacher]

Thanks everyone! I am so glad to be almost there. I really hope my family stays healthy so that we don't scare off any of the newcomers... I know as a parent I'd be really wary to send my kid to a new daycare that has a bout of H, F & M going through it!

So do you think I should exclude the sick child for 10 days? 10 days from what--from blisters appearing?

I cleaned EVERYTHING with bleach water. It was a good opportunity to rearrange the playroom and get out some new toys.

Actually, I am feeling a little positive that we might stay healthy because I had been cleaning the house SO MUCH over the last week. My inspection was going to be Monday, so I made it spotless, but then it got rescheduled for yesterday, so I had to clean like crazy again. I hope that helped clear out any germs. We can only hope.

[preschoolteacher]

Oh, and I now have a really easy out for the next time someone asks to send a kid who has a mild fever or a teething fever: "The last time I allowed a child to attend with what we thought was a teething fever turned out to be Hand, Foot, and Mouth! Your child very well just might be teething, but I can't take that chance again."

Easy, easy way to say no.