Teething No Tylenol

[nannyde]

I'm curious nannyde, does being an RN influence your decision not to give otc medications? I imagine your RN license would be in danger if a child was to have a negative reaction. I'm not being sarcastic, just genuinely curious

I don't want the liability and I MUST be able to assess body temperature as it is the number one indicator of health.

[Snowmom]

I don't allow medicated children in care as well, and I personally wouldn't administer any medication other than life saving medications (epi pens, emergency inhalers, first aid).
Reason being:
1. Giving tylenol/ibuprofen will mask any other symptoms that may surface, so you wouldn't be aware of those until it's too late and then you've exposed everyone to a possible illness.
2. I will not take the risk of administering medications because the risk of them having a reaction to medications while in my care is one I do not want on my conscious.

There are many other remedies available to teething children that can relieve tooth pain. With that being said, if they are not willing or able to participate in normal every day activities (because of pain or illness), they need one on one care with their parents until it subsides.

[Leigh]

Wondering how everyone reacts when they have kids come to school that are teething and in a decent amount of pain and parents don't bring tylenol. I mean I mention if you want to bring tylenol or motrin they were pretty grumpy today... may need it tomorrow and then still nothing. And then they mention they had some earlier in the morning so they give it at home but then bring them to school without any and it's a group setting and it's hard to give constant 1 on 1. I have all my babies teething at once so it's been a rough 2 weeks! One with molars and the rest with just regular little ones. And week 2 of a new girl transitioning from Fridays only to full time. She had initial troubles with relating to the babies and was being sort of rough but now she has been doing pretty well. So it's been a rough couple of weeks!

I provide advil/tylenol, and get a parent's written permission (or email or text) EVERY time I use it. I have no problem giving pain meds for teething when needed. These kids have a right to not be in pain, and when I KNOW a child is teething and is acting like their in pain, I want them to have it. I also had a child with West Nile this summer, who needed it daily for a while because he was so miserable. Could you provide the tylenol if you think the child needs it?

[Unregistered]

I provide advil/tylenol, and get a parent's written permission (or email or text) EVERY time I use it. I have no problem giving pain meds for teething when needed. These kids have a right to not be in pain, and when I KNOW a child is teething and is acting like their in pain, I want them to have it. I also had a child with West Nile this summer, who needed it daily for a while because he was so miserable. Could you provide the tylenol if you think the child needs it?

Yes and I do provide it with written authorization on file. I also text before giving to see if they think I should. I never dose more than parents say and I never will allow them to ask for a dose more than what is considered safe by the dept of health. I also refuse to give them medication for the first time they've ever had it. So I agree when I know they are teething (can see a tooth coming) it's pretty obvious they are not sick as they have absolutely no other symptoms other than pain.

[Annalee]

Due to the liability, I quit giving meds a LONNGGGGG time ago Licensing encourages this as well...It takes too much paperwork to give meds now....not worth the liability anyway. .

[Unregistered]

Yes and I do provide it with written authorization on file. I also text before giving to see if they think I should. I never dose more than parents say and I never will allow them to ask for a dose more than what is considered safe by the dept of health. I also refuse to give them medication for the first time they've ever had it. So I agree when I know they are teething (can see a tooth coming) it's pretty obvious they are not sick as they have absolutely no other symptoms other than pain.

so you trust your livelihood and everything you've worked for on your parents being honest? no one ever thinks their parents will lie or behave badly. until they do.
i truly hope you never have a tough/dishonest parent.

[daycarediva]

I just saw a study about this. Teething gets all the blame when in fact, it usually has nothing to do with why the child is fussy, running a fever or has other issues. Right now I have young SA kids who are losing baby teeth and "cutting" adult teeth. No one has complained or behaved in a way that makes me think they are in pain. In my mind if the child needs medication, then they need to be home.
I don't think the parent is being mean, they have no idea how disruptive a fussy baby can be in group care. They may not even realize the child is fussy as it's the "norm" for them. Personally I believe infants need a lot of one on one attention and thrive best when they are HOME with mom or dad for the first year for this reason.

I don't want the liability and I MUST be able to assess body temperature as it is the number one indicator of health.

I don't even give my own kids anti pyretics at the first sign of fever. A fever is a bodies response to an illness. NOTHING else. I need to see the symptons to assess. I also only gave them if the fever got high, or if they were uncomfortable. My pediatrician's have all loved this, my current pedi wishes all his parents would do it. If you medicate the child, it just masked a symptom. In an infant, that could be deadly.

Also, too much medication over the course of time and it isn't as effective. I am on like the 3rd prescription med for migraines. They just stop working after a while.

[KIDZRMYBIZ]

No meds for my daycare either. If they NEED meds, they NEED to be home. Like previous posters said, there is too much liability of being blamed for overdosing or masking serious symptoms.

Teething at DC is so incredibly different than teething at home. There is so much activity at DC that teething is rarely noticeable. Distraction truly is the best medicine!!! I experienced the same thing with all 3 of my now older SA DSs. They would be so fun and charming all the DC day, but shortly after all the DCKs went home and it was calm and quiet, they would become cranky monsters. DH would always wonder how I could stand them all the live long day! I am just a saint, DH. Just. A. Saint. ::

[mommyneedsadayoff]

Wondering how everyone reacts when they have kids come to school that are teething and in a decent amount of pain and parents don't bring tylenol. I mean I mention if you want to bring tylenol or motrin they were pretty grumpy today... may need it tomorrow and then still nothing. And then they mention they had some earlier in the morning so they give it at home but then bring them to school without any and it's a group setting and it's hard to give constant 1 on 1. I have all my babies teething at once so it's been a rough 2 weeks! One with molars and the rest with just regular little ones. And week 2 of a new girl transitioning from Fridays only to full time. She had initial troubles with relating to the babies and was being sort of rough but now she has been doing pretty well. So it's been a rough couple of weeks!

I would use cool washcloths or even those little teething tablets if you feel they need it. Teething can hurt, but a lot f times, just chewing on something and getting a little distracted can do wonders. This is the nature of the infant game, though, so having a fussy baby (or more) is pretty standard as they go through these stages. I don't give meds here either and rarely use it on my kids, but when they were obviously gnawing on stuff and seeming to be hurting, I would rub a little liquid baby tylenol on their gums. Just a dab and I have no idea if it helped, but they did like the little mini gum massage I gave them while doing it and seemed to help a bit. Again, just a small dab, but between that and teething tabs and cold cloths, it helped take the edge off.
Just to add, it sound like the babies have no fever or other symptoms, so you are trying to help the pain issue only and babies can feel pain from teething. They get swollen gums and it can hurt or be obnoxiuos, considering they use their mouths a lot to chew on stuff and **** on bottles and food, so I get why you are asking about pain meds for pain, not to mask symptoms like a runny nose or fever. If you really want the option, send home a medical authorization sheet and tell them specifically what you want and why, but also keep in mind that if it is not teething, it is something else, because babies are just fussy little creatures when they want to be

[Unregistered]

so you trust your livelihood and everything you've worked for on your parents being honest? no one ever thinks their parents will lie or behave badly. until they do.
i truly hope you never have a tough/dishonest parent.

Confused, why do they have to be honest if there is a written authorization on file that says they gave me permission to administer? I'm not being snarky I am just confused.

[Unregistered]

I would use cool washcloths or even those little teething tablets if you feel they need it. Teething can hurt, but a lot f times, just chewing on something and getting a little distracted can do wonders. This is the nature of the infant game, though, so having a fussy baby (or more) is pretty standard as they go through these stages. I don't give meds here either and rarely use it on my kids, but when they were obviously gnawing on stuff and seeming to be hurting, I would rub a little liquid baby tylenol on their gums. Just a dab and I have no idea if it helped, but they did like the little mini gum massage I gave them while doing it and seemed to help a bit. Again, just a small dab, but between that and teething tabs and cold cloths, it helped take the edge off.
Just to add, it sound like the babies have no fever or other symptoms, so you are trying to help the pain issue only and babies can feel pain from teething. They get swollen gums and it can hurt or be obnoxiuos, considering they use their mouths a lot to chew on stuff and **** on bottles and food, so I get why you are asking about pain meds for pain, not to mask symptoms like a runny nose or fever. If you really want the option, send home a medical authorization sheet and tell them specifically what you want and why, but also keep in mind that if it is not teething, it is something else, because babies are just fussy little creatures when they want to be

Thanks for the tips!

[mommyneedsadayoff]

Confused, why do they have to be honest if there is a written authorization on file that says they gave me permission to administer? I'm not being snarky I am just confused.

I don't know for sure, but the poster may have meant that you have trust they are honest about not giving meds prior to drop off. I would make sure that if you are giving any meds, you wait a solid four hours or more after drop off or have the parents sign something telling when the drugs were last administered. Some of the problems providers encounter have to do with children being dropped off with meds in their system and then either having bad reactions to it, or getting a second dose on arrival from you and being overdosed. I use all meds as sparingly as possible, so if you can find an alternative, then I would suggest that, but if not, then just make sure you have your ducks in a row when it comes to medication of dcks

[Unregistered]

Confused, why do they have to be honest if there is a written authorization on file that says they gave me permission to administer? I'm not being snarky I am just confused.

ive heard several cases of parents medicating their child to cover a fever so they can attend care. provider then feels child is in pain during the day so she administers medication. now the child has been double dosed.

what happens if the child becomes ill enough to need to see a doctor and it turns out the child is having issues with being over dosed with pain meds? i am not saying all parents lie but some do and will and when something tragic happens, no matter how innocent the situation started out, guess who gets left holding the bag? it's always the provider.
you can even go so far as asking parents but they aren't always honest. id like to think they are but they just aren't or there wouldn't be a gajillion threads about that kind of stuff here on this board.

i had a kid when i first opened that had strep. i didnt know he did though because his mom had been medicating him before dropping off. After a fever appeared everyday at nap time, I finally mentioned it to mom and she admitted to medicating him before drop off because her supervisor at work had said they could not miss work that week due to some bigwigs being there.
when I told her she needed to bring him to the doctor (the fever thing happened 4 days in a row before I talked to her) and it turned out the kid had strep throat. guess who got sick? everyone of my daycare kids except one, my husband and myself. i ended up being sick for over a week and had to close without pay. my husband missed out on a weeks worth of pay too since he too missed work. i trusted this mom. i never thought she would ever do anything like that. she even had free back up as her mom would have watched the child for free but for some reason she just didn't do that and instead brought him medicated without telling me or even knowing why he had a fever. this was not a new or young mom either but a very educated mom that should have known better. i lost a lot of income and my other parents were not too happy either.

[redmaple]

You may want to check with your insurance company as well before giving any type of medication. I was informed I would not be covered should there be any issues resulting from medication I gave, even with parental consent forms. My insurance company said not to give anything, not even Tylenol. If the person on the phone is not sure, have them check with their underwriters and get back to you.