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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to take DS out and about when he's off school because of sickness?

91 replies

cornflakegirl · 08/07/2011 09:06

DS1 (6) was not well after school on Wednesday - he was complaining of tummy ache, was quite hot, and fell asleep on the sofa for an hour. He threw up in the middle of the night. School have the standard 48 hours after D or V policy, so he's off school.

However, by yesterday morning he was fine. No more vomiting, eating fairly normally, although he didn't do anything too strenuous. Today, he's still not allowed into school - would it be unreasonable to take him to soft play or something so that he's not just stuck in the house?

OP posts:

worraliberty · 08/07/2011 09:36

What you can't assess...considering not even a Doctor can, is whether or not he's contagious

Therefore, 48hrs is to err on the side of caution.

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 08/07/2011 09:36

Bimbo - no, are you?

OP posts:

nenevomito · 08/07/2011 09:38

Conflakegirl - you asked if YWBU, you've been told yes. Its obvious that you didn't want to hear that, but if you'd already made your mind up, why ask?

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 08/07/2011 09:39

worra - but I can't assess after any other illness either. Yet I do make those decisions.

If it had been me that was ill on Wednesday, I'd be back at work today.

OP posts:

BimboNo5 · 08/07/2011 09:39

I am actually an infection control link nurse where I work so have a fair idea WHY the timescales for exclusion exist based on the nature of the viruses/bacteria. To just blindly ignore it is pig ignorant but hey you know best, sod the other kids vunerable to infection as long as prince tippytoes is kept entertained.

BimboNo5 · 08/07/2011 09:41

If I was off sick from vomiting on Wednesday i'd be TOLD I could not return to work until 48 hours from the last episode of diarrhoea or vomiting. I expect most good workplaces would be the same.

worraliberty · 08/07/2011 09:41

worra - but I can't assess after any other illness either. Yet I do make those decisions

Well clearly you can't make this one or you wouldn't have started the thread?

Actually, why did you start the thread if you're just going to argue with anyone who tells you, you can't be sure he's not contagious?

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 08/07/2011 09:42

babyheave - because I want to hear other people's opinions.

OP posts:

ChristinedePizan · 08/07/2011 09:43

Take him to the shop, take him out on his bike, take him to the park, take him to the video shop to choose a DVD but don't take him to soft play. There are too many babies and little ones there.

BimboNo5 · 08/07/2011 09:44

You've heard peoples opinions, not to mention the facts behind them. You are still arguing the 'but I know best' toss though.

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 08/07/2011 09:47

Bimbo - I work in an office. I've never worked in an office that had rules on how long you have to be off after sickness.

OP posts:

27tilly · 08/07/2011 09:47

It's people like you that piss me right off. My pet hate is people who don't keep their kids at home when they have had D&V. My son caught it from some inconsiderable bint who took her kid in to nursery 2 days after his last bout of sickness and passed it round most of the nursery..My son ended up dehydrated and in hospital over night. It's ONE more day. It's not all about YOUR child. Think of other kids too.

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 08/07/2011 09:48

Christine - yeah, I think I agree with you and meditrina on that.

OP posts:

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 08/07/2011 09:50

27tilly - I'm sorry to hear about your son, but why are you upset that someone followed the 48 hour exclusion guidelines?

OP posts:

SenoritaViva · 08/07/2011 09:50

Putting the 48 hour rule aside, I actually think going to soft play today is probably unwise. They run around SO much and get so excited that I think whilst he is still recovering it would be better to avoid something that was so athletic. I understand that the park is out but there are still things you could do indoors, some baking, craft, puzzles, make a big den, rent a movie and make popcorn, create a show to put on for you when you get home (make puppets or whatever).

eurochick · 08/07/2011 09:51

Taking him to soft play where he could infect other kids would be very selfish. And I agree with worra that he should be using this time to recover.

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 08/07/2011 09:52

Bimbo - since you work in infection control, can you point me to any information that explains why all episodes of sickness need 48 hour exclusion, please?

OP posts:

pregnantpause · 08/07/2011 09:52

My dd has been the unfortunate victim of your kind of selfishness. Mother brought her ds to playgroup after a bout of sickness because he's fine 'in himself' so she concluded it was something he ate. My dd1 caught the bug and was vomitting by the next day, as were 2 other children in the gr9up. The mother insists this was coincidence to this day.

YANBU

Cocoflower · 08/07/2011 09:52

Surely germs dont stop getting spread just because your in a shop or playground!

Please just keep him at home. Its not fair on other people, especially people like pregnant ladies who are limited in choice of medicines and are trying to grow a healthy baby.

Just don't, please.

ZZZenAgain · 08/07/2011 09:53

I wouldn't take him to a soft play but I might go for a walk. A day or two at home is not that awful IMO even if he loves school.

27tilly · 08/07/2011 09:53

It was before the 48 hours he had been sick in the night and she kept him off that day then sent him in the day after. My mistake. Maybe the park would be better, A pair of wellies and a coat should be fine. Fresh air will do him good.

HoneyNorwegianRidgebackdragon · 08/07/2011 09:55

Do you know what I am sick of threads like this. They are so not about opinions. The op wouldn't post if she thought it was fine she'd already be out.

Take your 6 year old where you want, imo at 6 he should be able to cope with a little boredom and so should you.

If you want your situation validated to go ahead, than go ahead. Just stay away from my Dad he's just had open heart surgery and an infection could kill him, or your neighbours kid might be at the park, but she only has cancer so she'll cope fine with d&V or a little temperature and sickness I'm sure. Or you could be like the wonderful woman who brought her child to the local library for storytime knowing full well that they were getting over D&V that had been nearly a day after the event and she was bored. Did she stick around and help clean up her daughters diarrhoea of the carpet after an accident, did she hell.

Data indicates stay off / away for 48 hours
Anecdote on here indicates stay off/ away 48 hours.

herbietea · 08/07/2011 09:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Poppet45 · 08/07/2011 09:58

YABU OP. There's a 48 hour limit because without taking a stool sample to find out precisely what the bug is, this blanket ban is long enough to ensure that your DC won't make someone else potentially very sick, whatever they had. In many cases it probably is an overreaction, but because you don't know for sure it's best to follow it. The blanket ban works much better than some mum's hunch. Please bear in mind if you take your son to soft play he's likely to encounter much younger kids, surely you can remember that fairly mild bugs in yourself are catastrophic in littlies? We've just gone through this, I had one night of a bad tummy bug - which wasn't much fun being 20 weeks pregnant - but DS then had 10 days of it. Thankfully no sickness but 10 days of appalling diarrhoea, awful nappy rash, night wakings with awful tummy ache, him getting quite nastily dehydrated and a lot of stress for us all. All probably because some other mum at playgroup thought she knew best than NHS health epidemiologists. Please find something else to do that won't make other people sick.

nenevomito · 08/07/2011 09:59

What Honey said.

Am I being unreasonable?
Yes?
Oh and what makes you all experts then?

Why bother?

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