ASAP advice please Child Coughing excessively

[DisneyPrincess]

Quick advice please before I contact the parents ... or not... this almost 2 y.o. girl came in couching like crazy, dad left her in my care anyways.

SHE KEEPS COUGHING LIKE CRAZY. Non-stop. Right now she is lying down on the floor. I try to have her drink water but she doesnt want to. Dad said to contact them if its not better.... why would he leave her in the first place, she was coughing non-stop as we were talking and as he left ?!?!?!

This child has ''asthma'' issues but even though she's not contagious, shouldnt she stay home, she is EXHAUSTED from couching. I know you dont call parents if theres no fever but.... we have to go with common sense here ?!!

Why do they put me in the ''bad guy'' position to make them miss work and then have to pay me anyways.

I am seriously having a nervous breakdown about parents !!!

[mimi]

Trust your gut. If this child is in distress with her coughing and her cheeks are pale then def call the parents. Forget the parent is busy and don't allow them to make you feel bad. A child does not need to have a fever to not be at daycare. Especially if she has asthma, she should go home and see a doctor. Pneumonia is going around.

[Other Mummy]

DisneyPrincess, please don't feel bad. Part of our job is takin the bull by the horns and making a call on whether the child can participate fully in daycare. My guess is that your dcc cannot. If the poor child is hacking continuously and the DCD told you to call if it does not stop, then call.

Don't give it another thought. DCD should not have brought the child to daycare today. And DCD obviously realized that for him to tell you to call if it does not stop. He was hoping it would I guess.

[DisneyPrincess]

Its just that she missed a few days 2 weeks ago for same situation, now again...

Last parent who told me to call if it gets worst, was super mad at me and still today we have a akward relationship. I dont like him AT ALL !! His daughter starting getting sick AGAIN yesterday and today he kept her home. He called but obviously wasnt too happy about missing work for his sick child. This child also was sick two weeks ago and had to stay home.

So its non-stop sick kids these days of course, its normal but parents are really harsh. They should know thats part of have kids. I've been there with my girls but... my job and my husband's job was more flexible :\

I use to be tough and ever since I wanted to be firm with parents (not so in a bad way but still) I've had bad response from them and I guess I took a few steps back and weakened !

I sure am tough when its time to get paid though lol That will sure not affect me, no pay, no stay ! So far I never had to take out my claws. I make sure at interview to mention I have to ''laissez passé'' !

Thanks ladies, wish we were actually all working together, I would feel less lonely in this business :(

[gcj]

You should feel bad NOT to call! Call ASAP. It's in her best interest and everyone else's. She shouldn't have been brought in that state and you don't have to feel bad. She doesn't belong in daycare in that state.

[Monday 2 Friday Mama]

I would call Dad and have him take her home. I don't know if you're aware of this, but the "flu" that is making the rounds out there is a respiratory flu - it has no GI issues, but involves lots of coughing. It might be worth the parents while to take their child to their family physician and get things checked out. My son had the flu back in November and I didn't catch it - like a lot of people, I thought it was just a stubborn cough. :( I felt like the world's worst Mama.....

[sunnydays]

Definitely send her home and ask the dad to get her check out with a doctor! My 2.5 year old daughter has pneumonia right now and it is no fun! It started about a month ago with a terrible cough (wet cough, coughing fits), she had antibiotics for 10 days and it seemed better although there was still a bit of a cough, and then this past weekend it started to come back...so now she is on another antibiotic and still coughing up a storm :( She has had almost no fever through all of this, just the bad cough. Fever is not the only reason to send a child home. If they are unwell to the point of not being able to participate in the day, then they should not be at daycare. Also, if she has asthma, it could be dangerous!

[Sandbox Sally]

Real quick - I don't know where you are, but my daughter's friend's mom called me yesterday to tell me that all four of her kids have WHOOPING COUGH, which is incredibly contagious. My daughter has been massively sick with a cough, and I am strongly assuming that this is what happened to her - she had whooping cough.

Be careful, please. I think I'd ask to get a clearance letter, because it's definitely going around, and the best that vaccinations are doing right now is lessening the severity of the symptoms, which mostly means fewer hospitalizations.

[Crayola kiddies]

If the child can't cope in daycare then the child shouldn't be there

[DisneyPrincess]

She went home barely 1 hour after arriving. No problem with mom whats so ever. I just explained that I do not want to seem like I dont want to take care of her but... She told me not to worry. She was really nice.

But I did have that experience with another parent in november last year and man... he was in rage for having to come back 1 hours after leaving her even though when she entered the door, she was obviously not feeling well. That dad is the one that is not easy with me. He had threaten me to have to look at other options (daycare) and turned out they never left. Of course... there is NO DAYCARE available :P

The things is, what do you do if that type of scenario (coughing or yellow thick runny nose) goes on and on and on... they wont be happy missing work for a 2-3 days or even a week if must! But its NOT MY FAULT if their child is sick !!

Their answer is, its daycare, everybody gets sick, its the season, its normal.... Yeah I know all that but am I to aloud everybody to just put their germs on other friends and even get me sick.... THEN I AM THE ONE SICK AND HAVING TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR CHILDREN WHILE THEY GO TO WORK. Grrrr they wont be happy if I close because Im sick because of their children.

I have a letter from the doctor that the child from this morning can have some coughing not necessarily because of flu but because of asthma... its really hard to judge in that case. But I dont look very good to other parents when they here a child cough like crazy and their child will be exposed to that. They dont know its asthma. So if ever it happens with their child they'll blame me for keeping sick children. Even if its asthma, she was still getting exhausted and I dont think they'll see the doctor again, they already have the pomps. Just dont seem to be working to my opinion :(

In the end, the question I just ask myself is why you bring me your sick child when you know she's sick !!! :(

Anyways only one child left already and this day is DONE !

[Crayola kiddies]

Maybe you beed to update your illness policy ....of course you can't keep children home for every little cough .... But they have to be able to cope and I have in my policy that if a parent is unsure if they should bring their child to contact me and we can discuss it. I also have that a parent can't give their child fever reducing medication and bring them to care.

[Momof4]

I'm really glad you sent the little girl home DisneyP. That would be really frightening if she already has been diagnosed with asthma and couldn't breathe because of coughing. What were those parents thinking? She must have been up all night coughing! Oh dear.

[playfelt]

If the child is coughing that much at daycare then she also needs to be using her inhaler more often too which can be used more often when they have a cold/coughing.

The other scenerio since there is so much going around is to just let everyone get sick and get it over with instead of it dragging on and on. But yes that usually means we get sick too. I had a couple days last week I should have closed but managed through mostly because no one felt like doing much anyways and the two babies had long am and pm naps meaning I had less kids to keep an eye on.

[DisneyPrincess]

She ended up going to the hospital during the night and the doctor said they had to use the inhaler all winter season since she is so ''prone'' to hum... coughing fits. They didnt know that :\ She is still home today to recuperate.

I feel bad for the little one. It was more of the issues : why bring her to me if she's not well !

*Oh and I didnt update my sickness policy but its more for new parents, old parents I explained my expectations, I think I'll give the modification to everyone now...

(my other case, the child who is sick alllll the time since a month now) : CAN YOU TELL A PARENT : ITS BEEN A MONTH THAT YOU'RE CHILD IS SICK NON-STOP RUNNY NOSE, SOMETIMES CLEAR SOMETIMES THICK YELLO, ARE YOU THINKING OF SEEING A DOCTOR ???

[playfelt]

I might be inclined to use the child going to the hospital as a reason to give out a health reminder. Asking because of the fact the child has asthma and coughing to the point she had to visit the hospital (leave out the part that it was because parents weren't treating the asthma) ask that parents please be as vigilent as possible in seeking a medical diagnosis of illness - especially coughing and other cold-like symptoms so you can limit the illnesses going through the daycare.

Then if mom doesn't take the child you would have every right to say re: notice - please get doctor's confirmation of why the illness.