Am I terrible, nursery and hand foot and mouth

[meepmoop]

DS has hand foot and mouth, the nursery said they are happy for him to stay but they have a couple of pregnant ladies working. She did say it was up to me if I wanted him home or he can stay with there.

I said if they are happy to have him I'm happy for him to stay. Which they said was fine but now I'm feeling bad as I think they might have wanted him to go. Surely though they should have just said for him to go home if they didn't want him.

The pregnant women are in a different room to him but I think they mix together sometimes

if they wanted him or needed him to leave, they should have said. DS went to nursery when he had hand foot and mouth and it was fine.

is it dangerous for pregnant women? I don't recall anyone mentioning that to me!

Ignore this, they've changed there minds. Off to go get him

I don't think it's hugely dangerous in pregnancy.

Although there's normally no risk to the pregnancy or baby, it's best to avoid close contact with anyone who has hand, foot and mouth disease.

This is because:

• having a high temperature during the first 3 months of pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, although this is very rare
• getting hand, foot and mouth disease shortly before birth can mean the baby is born with a mild version of it

They should have policies for illness and guidelines for exclusion periods. There's no official exclusion period for hand foot and mouth, some nurseries set their own though. (I work in a nursery, we did have to exclude for hand foot and mouth but changed our policy a couple of years ago and now children can attend.) Yours clearly doesn't exclude otherwise they'd have made you keep him at home. In the situation of pregnant staff I guess the responsibility is on the employer to make adjustments according to their risk assessment for pregnant staff.

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.publichealth.hscni.net/sites/default/files/Guidance_on_infection_control_in%2520schools_poster.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjVw4Ldr8XiAhW1unEKHURaCGoQFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw2-ZUBzlWfZYDt03KhqQCd8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">exclusion periods pdf

Mine always attended nursery and childminders with HFM, there is no exclusion period recommended as far as I know?

The one that is dangerous for pregnant women is slapped cheek - I was exposed during pregnancy when I visited a nursery unit for work and wasn't told that they had it - I had to have blood tests to check I was immune.

I think I'm usual circumstances it wouldn't be a problem but they don't want to put staff members at risk even though it's tiny. Annoying but I do get it.

My nursery has a 5 day exclusion for hfm.

As a cm I used to accept it, until the Christmas my 10 yr old caught it from a mindee. He was so so poorly. Older children and adults can suffer more acutely than little ones who can have it very mildly.