RSV+ But Mom Keeps It From Me!!!

[Unregistered]

The illness is beside the point

The issue for me would be the fact that the parent lied to me about it in the first place. I totally understand that employers can't have employees that arr constantly home with their sick kids, but it comes with the role as a parent. Kids get sick and that means that sometimes parents miss work.

As a provider, I need to know when kids are sick and what it is that they are sick with because my obligation isn't just to the child who is sick. I am responsible for every other child in my care as well as my own family. I don't take that lightly.

[sahm2three]

http://www.cdc.gov/rsv/clinical/prophylaxis.html[/url]

That child should be taking preventative treatment, and if it is deemed unsafe for that child, that child should be in a private care situation.

You need to protect everyone, and you can't send all your other kids home for a week over every illness.

I would not term, or ignore a return to care note from a MD who was informed of the situation.

I Would inform icdck's parents immediately.

Are you kidding me?!?!? First of all, we don't need to FURTHER expose anyone to RSV. It is extremely contagious until the child isn't hacking all over the place! I SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THE CHILD HAD RSV!!!!! The immune compromised child IS taking prevention, but doesn't need to knowingly be exposed to it!! RSV isn't like "every other illness". I have a nephew who almost died from it! I don't take this lightly at all, and neither should the parent of this child! She has worked in a daycare setting before, she knew exactly what she was doing!

[ninosqueridos]

She has worked in a daycare setting before

omg it just gets worse!

[sahm2three]

omg it just gets worse!

RIGHT?! She worked in a center before I started watching her son, her son was being bitten there so she requested to be put on my waiting list! She started working somewhere else and he started in my care back in October. I just wish people weren't so selfish and would think about how their actions can have some pretty serious consequences!

[Crystal]

Yes, I'd be livid too about the lying. That's one thing I wouldn't tolerate. It is clearly stated in my parent handbook that lying about illness is grounds for immediate termination.

For your use, I am linking you to an RSV fact sheet from the Ca. Child Care Health Program. You might want to also provide it to your families.Notice the section about Immune Compromised children, your little guy can get an immunization to help prevent him from contracting RSV. It also states that because the child was contagious prior to symptoms, that there is no reason for exclusion, however I think it would be in the best interest of the group to exclude, especially considering that some children may have not been in attendance when it was contagious prior to symptoms.

http://www.ucsfchildcarehealth.org/pdfs/illnesses/RSV_0910.pdf

[dEHmom]

one other thing I have to say is...

for the parent of the immune compromised child, they probably should be available to take care of a child during times when flus and such are going around. I'm not saying they should have to do so, but I think they would probably be more than ok with keeping their child home to avoid getting ill.

I'm still think that the lying mom should be terminated, or at least STERNLY warned if you decide you don't want to term, that this will NEVER happen again.

i just feel that as a parent of a child with some disability of some sort, any sort, they probably have more flexibility with the childs care.

[Blackcat31]

I had a dcm who told me the other day "I think Billy isn't feeling very well so if he runs a temp or gets sick during the day, please call me. But if you do have to call can you use the reception desk number and NOT my private line because I want my boss to know my child is really sick because I've used that excuse so much recently that I won't be able to get away with it again unless I can prove it."

....and besides , the only thing I can think is that all those times she "pretended" to be sick, never once did she come for her child! Makes you wonder sometimes.....:confused:

So, maybe she lied because she was worried she'd already used up all her "free passes" at work and didn't want her boss to me mad. I try to recommend that all my parents have reliable back up care, but in the real world that is not always possible. I would honestly just have a very open conversation with her about this issue and tell her how betrayed you feel because of her ommision of information. Sometimes, you really have to explain things in many different ways to people for them to understand why you don't see it the same way they do.

[Missani]

Okay, I agree with you that she shouldn't have lied. However, there is a lot of miscommunication about RSV. RSV can be very dangerous in infants and immune compromised patients. However, it is still considered a mild and mostly harmless virus. Most children will have RSV in their lifetime. If they are not infants, it will likely be so mild that the parent will assume it is just a cold and never seek treatment for it. It is similar to any other cold virus.

"Unregistered" is right that it is a mild illness and that the exposure has already been done. And whoever was talking about their doctor saying it nonchalantly mimics my experience exactly.

Both of my children had RSV as infants. When my oldest had it, he was fine except was wheezing which is what prompted me to bring him in. He had bronchiolitis as a result of the RSV. That was easily treated and he had a bit of a runny nose but no fever. As a new parent, I asked the doctor about daycare. She told me that it wasn't really a big deal, that all of the kids had likely been exposed, and that there was no way from letting it run rampant that time of year. She did say that it can be harmful in some infants and to keep that in mind, but she told me to call my daycare and get their policy for it. Since he didn't have a fever, she said he could go back to daycare if they were okay with it. I called the daycare and the director told me the same thing. It was a Thursday and I ended up keeping him home on Friday because the poor guy looked miserable but acted fine. All of the babies in the infant room had it (4 before he was diagnosed, 1 the same day, and the other 2 after), and no one was seriously ill. When my second son had it, I brought him in expecting it to be RSV because it was similar to when my other son had it. It was, he had a fever, and I kept him home 24 hours after the fever was gone. When I reported it to daycare (a different daycare), they told me their policy was 3 days and 24 hours fever free. So, they had a different policy. RSV is not always serious.

I understand, though, that the real problem here was the lying. It sounds like she knew she was keeping it from you, and that is a problem. I, personally, wouldn't terminate but I would send out a letter reminding parents of the illness policies (like you mentioned.) I think lying is a big problem that should be nipped in the bud, but I don't think that this incident was such a big problem. With infants and an immune comprimised child, you do need to be on alert, and I think you should remind your parents of the importance of doing this. However, I don't think RSV should be thought of as "fatal" because in most cases it is very mild. It does have the potential to be dangerous, though, and you are right to be on top of the situation. So, now you just need to decide your policy on lying/keeping the truth from you. Is that (apart from the diagnosis of RSV) grounds for termination to you? That is what you need to decide and then stick to your decision.

[Symphony]

Yes, I'd be livid too about the lying. That's one thing I wouldn't tolerate. It is clearly stated in my parent handbook that lying about illness is grounds for immediate termination.

For your use, I am linking you to an RSV fact sheet from the Ca. Child Care Health Program. You might want to also provide it to your families.Notice the section about Immune Compromised children, your little guy can get an immunization to help prevent him from contracting RSV. It also states that because the child was contagious prior to symptoms, that there is no reason for exclusion, however I think it would be in the best interest of the group to exclude, especially considering that some children may have not been in attendance when it was contagious prior to symptoms.

http://www.ucsfchildcarehealth.org/p...s/RSV_0910.pdf

The child was symptomatic on Monday morning, so it is possible that the other kids were not yet exposed since it was a weekend you know?



I ask for doctors notes, but they are not the deciding factor for me. As a previous poster stated, often a doctor will say "no big deal" or "everyone has probably been exposed", but that is not always true for every child. My entire group isn't here every single day, so they are not always exposed. I also have a mixed age group (as I'm sure most of us do). RSV might not be any more than a cold for the preschool and SA crowd, but it is dangerous for infants! A doctor seeing a 4 year old with RSV probably assumes the child's daycare consists of other 4 year olds.

Personally, I think we put entirely too much trust on what the Dr says. When the Dr comes and cares for all the kids in my house, then he can make the decision of what's best for our program. I do ask for notes, but they are for diagnostic purposes, nothing more.

[momofboys]

RSV can potentially be fatal. I know. My son was born 5 weeks early & got bronchiolitis when he was 5 weeks old which resulted in a 7 day stay at our local Children's Hopsital PICU. He was put on a breathing machine it was so bad (I don't mean a nebulizer I mean a breathing tube down his throat). We were told at the time that he may not make it. No, it was not RSV but 1 month later (when he was 9 weeks) he then did test positive for RSV & had pneumonia. This resulted in another almost-week long stay at the hospital. It was a very scary time for us. I guess my point is my son was healthy & just got a bad cold which resulted in these issues. I didn;t do daycare at the time. But it was a terribly scary time in our life & since then I have never taken a day for granted. Please be tough with your illness standards, you are the only one who can/will enforce them. What that mom did was unbelievable. BTW my son is a mostly-healthy 7-year-old but he does suffer with moderate asthma which more than likely was brought on by his early illnesses.

[sahm2three]

RSV can potentially be fatal. I know. My son was born 5 weeks early & got bronchiolitis when he was 5 weeks old which resulted in a 7 day stay at our local Children's Hopsital PICU. He was put on a breathing machine it was so bad (I don't mean a nebulizer I mean a breathing tube down his throat). We were told at the time that he may not make it. No, it was not RSV but 1 month later (when he was 9 weeks) he then did test positive for RSV & had pneumonia. This resulted in another almost-week long stay at the hospital. It was a very scary time for us. I guess my point is my son was healthy & just got a bad cold which resulted in these issues. I didn;t do daycare at the time. But it was a terribly scary time in our life & since then I have never taken a day for granted. Please be tough with your illness standards, you are the only one who can/will enforce them. What that mom did was unbelievable. BTW my son is a mostly-healthy 7-year-old but he does suffer with moderate asthma which more than likely was brought on by his early illnesses.

So glad your son pulled thru! I have a nephew that almost died from it as well, and as a result, I do not take it lightly or consider it a "mild illness". I take it very seriously! If I had all 4 year olds in my care, it may not seem as huge a deal to me, but with infants in care, big deal

My special needs guy does take shots monthly I believe during RSV season. But there is NO reason to KNOWINGLY expose ANYONE to that illness. I don't take any childs life for granted!

[Unregistered]

It stinks

There are so many different vantage points when looking at RSV. It's too bad that there isn't just one authority on this subject because if everyone were given the same information, then maybe some of the conflicting data wouldn't exist.

From my perspective, RSV would be a pretty big deal more for my health than the health of the kids in my care. I'm one of the immunocompromised people that gets affected by a lot of illnesses that are minor for other people.

[momatheart]

So sad that some parents are so selfish and only think of missing work than harming others with their child's illness. I understand parents have to work and they have a job to do. However, I am sure they have more vacation time than we do. They can take a day or two off to deal with a sick child.

I get one week yes 5 days a year off for vacation from the center I work at. I know most parents get 2 weeks plus.

[marniewon]

OP - what did you decide to do?

[nannyde]

I would not term, or ignore a return to care note from a MD who was informed of the situation.

Where is it in the OP's post where she said the parent took the kid to an informed of the situation MD?

Are you suggesting the parent told the MD that she had an infant special needs child in the house? Did the parent know and tell the MD that there are children in the home this week that weren't in the home last week? Did the parent know if any new children were to start care this week?

This idea that everyone has already been exposed so it's okay to do future daily exposures is rediculous and shows that the average person and Doctor doesn't have a clue of how group care works.

The "kids have already been exposed" sells. It makes Doctors money because the parents keep coming back if they get that one. There is no possible way a Dr can know if the kids have already been exposed without contacting the provider and getting specific health info on the current kids, attendance during the contagious period, and info on any incoming kids to care.

There's also the issue of repeated exposures. Having a kid day after day who is contagious increases the liklihood of exposure. Nobody wants to talk about that.