This is my illness policy from my handbook. You can use any of it if it is helpful to you. And, now that I am going over it today, I think I will print out a copy for the parents as a refresher, too.

Illness Policies

There are many illness and infections common to early childhood. Young children are more susceptible to illness because they have not developed immunity to infections and because they are not yet able to practice good hygiene.

I will use the following resources for identifying control methods and exclusion periods for common illness found in childcare.

The first is a book from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc...ted_140616.pdf

And the second is from Minnesota called Infectious Diseases in Childcare Settings and Schools Manual

http://www.hennepin.us/residents/hea...-diseases#Sec7

When I don't have a note from the child's doctor, and I am told that the child has an illness, I will follow the guidelines listed in these resources to determine how long (if at all) they should be excluded from daycare.

These are the general rules I will follow.

• If the child has an illness that requires exclusion, that child cannot be at daycare.
• If the child is not able to focus or follow the routine and daily activities like they normally do, they will be sent home.
• I use Celsius and 38 is considered fever.
• If the child's temperature rises to 38C, they will be sent home. I do not administer medication for fever.
• If a child has vomited, for any reason, they may be sent home at my discretion.
• When a child needs to go home, I will call the parent immediately and the child will be prepared to leave. It is the parent's responsibility to have them picked up in a reasonable amount of time. That means approximately 30 minutes.
• A child who has a fever must be fever-free for 24 hours before returning to daycare. This means that if medication was given for the fever, they must be fever-free for a full day after the end of the medications effective period.
• I must be informed of medications the child is on. Parents must not give their child a medication for fever and bring them to daycare without telling me.
• If the child has an illness or condition that requires a diagnosis, I may request that they be taken to a doctor. I may also require that the doctor give a written note saying when they are allowed to come back to daycare and/or they require medication. I have a form for that.
• When I take a child's temperature, I use an oral thermometer for children out of diapers and a rectal thermometer for children in diapers. If the child is unable to hold the thermometer in their mouth, I will take it rectally.
• Parent's contact information must be kept up-to-date.


When a child is to be given medication at daycare, the following rules will be followed;

• It must be a prescription medication, prescribed by a doctor.
• It must be in the original prescription container. Please pay attention, if the medication is in a bottle, the label must be on the bottle, not the box.
• It must be labelled with the child's name, the doctor's name, dosage and expiry date.
• I will provide an authorization form that the parent must fill out. The parent's instructions for administering the medication must not differ from the prescription.
• I will keep the record of when I gave the medication until the prescription is finished. At this time, the parent will be given a copy.