Pink Eye etc

[torontokids]

Hey,

So in my policies I have that ill children must be picked up etc etc but I find I am a bit more laid back about this and I was wondering what others think.

I had one kid throw up once, her parents were called and she was picked up right a way. and I do send kids home on occasion but I don't stress too much about it as I know that the other kids are already exposed etc. I had one kid go home with suspected croup and he was off for a week but other then him and this one kid that threw up I pretty much wait until pick up time.

A kid comes today and I see some eye discharge shortly after pick up. It looks worse by lunch and her eye looks a bit red. The kids are already exposed so I am not too worried. Have her nap, text parents and they said they will pick her up after nap. I am inclined to have her back tomorrow am once she starts the drops tonight. Am I being negligent or just normal? If my kids get it, they get it...like I said they were already playing together all morning. Thoughts.

[AmandaKDT]

Pink eye is really contagagious and very easy to spread, I wouldn't allow them back until it has cleared up. I had pink eye myself a few years ago and even I couldn't prevent it spreading from one eye to the other. It really sucks to have it too, you don't want to get it.

As a parent, I would be upset knowing that a child was allowed to be at daycare with pink eye.

[gravy_train]

I am kind of strict about my sick policy and would not allow the child back for a full 24 hours after treatment (so Thursday would be the earliest). Pink eye is really gross and can be hard to get rid of with toddlers because they cross contaminate each other. It also tends to make them irritable because the eye is so itchy.
I had it a few years ago and it was not something I want to go through again.

[Busy ECE mommy]

Most centres send the child home immediately, and they can only return 24 hrs after the first dose of antibiotics(if it truly is pink eye) I would send her home immediately and request a doctor's visit to confirm it. If it is not pink eye, then I require a doctor's note stating what the illness is, and if the child is considered contagious or not, and when they can return.

[mattsmom]

I have a policy that they are picked right away if they throw up once, have a fever, are too miserable (because of being sick) to participate in daily activities, and any contagious illness...such as pinkeye.
For things like pinkeye, which is very contagious and very uncomfortable for anyone who gets it, they are not allowed to return unless they have had treatment for it for at least 24 hours.
I wouldn't want my family or other dck's getting it, or any of the dcp's to find out that I have allowed an infected child stay at daycare.

[gravy_train]

My policy is similar to Matt's mom. I had a little guy with a weird rash once and I insisted the parents get a note from the dr confirming that it wasn't contagious before I allowed him back here. I don't have paid sick days in my contract so if I sick I'm out a days pay - most of my clients work for the government where they have paid sick leave, family days, etc that they can use.
PS- AmandaKT - that sounds really awful - both eyes? Yuck!

[5 Little Monkeys]

Pink eye is something that will spread very fast, especially with children. The more time she is in dc, the more time she has to spread it to the other children. I would have sent her home immediately and not allowed back to dc until 24 hrs after first dose of antibiotics.

I know what you mean about the sick child already being contagious and having spread it but something like this is different...in my opinion anyways :)

I would also be cleaning and disinfecting all of the daycare and toys so that it doesn't spread to the others and to myself.

[torontokids]

thanks for the feedback. I guess I am a little bit more laid back about kids getting sick in general. My daughter caught hand, foot and mouth disease at a dc centre and I didn't get annoyed that another child "got my kid sick." I figure it comes with the territory of having a little kid and also for them spending their days in a petri-dish of bacteria aka dc. I told the mom to keep her home for 24 hrs as per policy. Letting her stay for her nap though. Doesn't make sense to me to have her go home now as she is sleeping.

[mattsmom]

It's funny, though, when I had pinkeye myself a few years ago, I told the dcp's what I had and if they didn't want to bring them here, then let me know. I had all but one dcp send their kids to me!
Although most of them were the kinds of parents that would send them here no matter what and never kept them home.

[mimi]

There are variables in our reactions to all sorts of maladies, however, suspected pink eye with oozing is immediate segregation (eg, put in a high chair) and parents are called for pick up.

[5 Little Monkeys]

Torontokids...I get what you're saying and if I were a parent I wouldn't be annoyed at another child for getting mine sick either but I might be annoyed with my dcp who didn't let me make the decision if my child should be exposed to something like that or not. Obviously kids get sick and it's going to spread in dc's but sometimes there are precautions that can be taken to avoid some of the illnesses. If I had an alternate dcp then I would likely choose to send my child there until the child who had something was on antibiotics.

I keep all my parents up to date with illnesses that either I, my fiance or other dck's have and they can choose if they want to send them or not.

[mickyc]

My contract says that children with pink eye must stay home until it is better.

I ended up with pink eye last week. I let all parents know just in case. I had 1 child stay home the first day but all came after that. I went to the doc quickly and got eye drops and it cleared after 1 day. The doctor did tell me to not touch my eye and use a separate towel than my family.

[MonkeyPrincess]

oh man, pick eye sucks. i had double pink eye when my oldest was about 8 months old, he gave it to me. I ended up at a urgent care clinic at 10pm on Good Friday because my left eye was swollen shut and hurt a lot, my other one was not as bad. My son's was minor in comparison.

I remember how contagious, painful and hard to handle pink eye was. It's in my contract that if i even suspect any illness, including pink eye, the kids have to go home right away and are not allowed back til a minimum of 24 hrs after antibiotics is started, or more. Even though the other children are exposed, the longer the sick child is there, the more they will interact with the other kids, the more they will touch everything, etc, therefor increasing the other kid's chances of catching it, and worse- me catching it! Then that increases the chances of my kids and my hubby getting it, etc.... I don't put up with a lot anymore because when i did, it was a solid 4 months of constant sicknesses around here. My son got bronchitis last year and i tightened up the illness policy, there's not much i tolerate anymore.