Ugh....it's parents like this that just drive you to drink ! I've had two kids like this. One is no longer with me, and the other one just started up this fall. Just last week his parents brought him to daycare the day after he went to see his doctor, and was diagnosed with an ear infection. They brought his Amoxicillan and everything - expecting me to medicate him while he's here. Bold as brass. Sure - 2 days before Xmas holidays - come to daycare and share your bugs so that four other families can (potentially) have sick babies for Christmas. Sheesh ! For your situation, if you're lucky and the child has been taken to a doctor and diagnosed as sick, I think the best thing you could do would be to word your sick policy in such a way that it states a child receiving antibiotic treatment for something must have been taking antibiotics for a designated period of time (24 or 48 hours - whatever you decide on) before they can return. If it's just general mucus and other stuff, or if you have nothing solid that you can clearly identify as "sick" (as opposed to "oh he's just tired today" or "he's teething") I would simply tell the parents at pick up "I'm sorry, but Baby X is just miserable today - you can see his nose is really running. When he is this bad, he needs to be at home. Why don't you plan on bringing him back on "Thursday" after he's had a couple of days to rest ?" Clearly identify to the parents what symptoms are causing you concern, and explain why. This way, they can't plead ignorance Why do they even try this stuff on ? Anyways - once you've explained to them what a sick baby looks like, and it will allow you in the future to bar the child from your daycare without the parents claiming "that's not fair !" or you feeling guilty (hopefully) Sadly though, if this is just a "sicky" kind of kid, the parents will likely continue to bring him when he shouldn't be there. My advice - start looking for a replacement for him.