Croup?

Hi everyone!

I sent a child home on Friday before lunch. They were wheezing (this isn't why I sent her home) and had yellow nasal discharge. DCM told me child won't be coming to daycare Monday.

I sent a text today to ask how she was doing and she told me she is doing a lot better but was up with CROUP Saturday night but slept almost 13 hours last night. I told her my policy for CROUP was 7 days at home after treatment has started. The reason I am strict with croup is because 3 out 5 of my daycare kids have asthma and last time someone had croup they were out for 3 weeks.

She replied no fever and no antibiotics she had the croup cough the one night but wasn't having trouble breathing and from what I read it was unnecessary to do the steroid treatment unless the had trouble breathing.

Any suggestions !?

It's whatever your policy is. Mine says child must be gone 24 hours, no fever etc. as long as child can function and keep up with our routine then they are allowed back. Chances are everyone is already exposed.

Unfortunately I think you need to follow your written policy. Otherwise you risk having to explain to the parents of your 3 asthma children as to why you did not follow the policy and put hem at risk of illness. I would be rather upset if my child with asthma caught a breathing related illness because the provider didn't follow their own policy.

If you policy said 24hrs then it would be different but you have the 7 days so the 7 days is what you have promised all other families.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bluebirdfollower

Hi everyone!

I sent a child home on Friday before lunch. They were wheezing (this isn't why I sent her home) and had yellow nasal discharge. DCM told me child won't be coming to daycare Monday.

I sent a text today to ask how she was doing and she told me she is doing a lot better but was up with CROUP Saturday night but slept almost 13 hours last night. I told her my policy for CROUP was 7 days at home after treatment has started. The reason I am strict with croup is because 3 out 5 of my daycare kids have asthma and last time someone had croup they were out for 3 weeks.

She replied no fever and no antibiotics she had the croup cough the one night but wasn't having trouble breathing and from what I read it was unnecessary to do the steroid treatment unless the had trouble breathing.

Any suggestions !?

---

Sounds to me that she may have been vague in her explanation. I wonder if she said croup to describe the type of cough versus the kid actually having croup. Also croup wouldn't just appear and then disappear like that and without meds. I think she has perhaps used that term to simply describe the severity of the cough. I understand that you have a policy for croup and if the kid had a diagnosis of croup then you should for sure enforce your policy regardless, but it does sound like she just used the wording for effect and the kid has simply got a bad cough/cold etc which would mean that 7 days away would be unnecessary. Tricky situation cause how can you know for sure??

I agree, it sounds like she may have been describing the cough as croup like. I would doubt any doctor would diagnose croup and not give meds but maybe? I'd ask if she's seen a doctor.

It's up to you though, it's your daycare! If she has croup and it's 7 days away, than stick with that :)

Croup would not come and go like that so it may be just the wording that is wrong
and the other kids were already exposed to it last week as it may take up to 5 to 7 days for a child to show signs of a cough/cold and even croup

Croup generally lingers. Both my kids had it several times under 2 yrs old. Mine usually started out with 3-4 days of cold symptoms, then went into about 3 days of very barky coughing/difficulty getting air in&out, and then another 3-4 days of cold symptoms. When we hit the crisis phase of breathing, it was a hospital visit in the middle of the night for steroids/inhaler-type meds to open airways. She may have described a barky cough, but a child with real croup will generally have a critical 1-3 days where breathing is extremely laboured. I kept my kids home from daycare for a week. Ask for a doctor's note to verify it's not really croup.

I have to agree. My daughter gets croup and it always results in an er visit, steroids and breathing treatments. As others have suggested possibly a misuse f terms?

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for the advice :) I recently spoke to mom and dad and they decided to take the child to see a doctor. They got a note saying it wasn't croup and that the child is okay to come back to daycare :)