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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Conjunctivitis and nursery

25 replies

pleasethanks · 25/02/2012 21:31

DD is 18 months and has conjunctivitis. It is pretty 'gunky' when she gets up in the morn, but doesn't display many signs during the day. She has been on eye drops for about 5 days.

She wasn't at nursery last week as we were on holiday. She is due back on Monday, but I wondered whether it would be unreasonable to send her back with conjunctivitis......(she seems find BTW, other than gunk in the morning and post nap!)

OP posts:

BikeRunSki · 25/02/2012 21:34

My nursery would send her home. Conjunctivitis can be massively contagious, and have severe complications if not properly treated (DS was in hopsital for 9 days when he was 17 months old).

BillyBollyBandy · 25/02/2012 21:34

My nursery accepts with conjunctivitus but won't put the drops if for you, although I would think by now you are on a twice daily dose? So wouldn't be an issue.

jade80 · 25/02/2012 21:36

Apparently the guidance is that they can no longer exclude for conjunctivitis. Anywhere that does is still following the old guidelines.

BrandyAlexander · 25/02/2012 21:40

Think you need to phone the nursery on Monday morning as they all probably have a different policy. Our one is that the child can return provided that they have been having the drops at least 48 hours.

gordyslovesheep · 25/02/2012 21:41

Mine has the 48 hr rule as well - check with the nursery

sleeplessinderbyshire · 25/02/2012 21:41

conjunctivitis is viral in 90% of cases. The HPA have some brilliant guidance on children with infections and whom to exclude. Conjunctivitis is one they say not to exclude for

see page 22

Original poster

pleasethanks · 25/02/2012 21:45

Thanks, I will call, but given it is the weekend, I wanted a bit of an idea of what the 'done thing' was as I can't speak to them directly till Monday morning and I am due at work on Monday....

She has been on drops since Tues.

OP posts:

GrownUp2012 · 25/02/2012 21:47

I was told they have to stay home with conjunctivitis until they've been having the drops a couple of days. Same at school.

DickSwivellersTidyWife · 25/02/2012 21:50

HPA says they can attend, but if the nursery's policy says they exclude then there is not much you can do, they can make their own rules for illness exclusion.

I would ask them to review/update their policy in light of HPA guidance if they insist on excluding though.

Original poster

pleasethanks · 25/02/2012 22:22

Crapola, I have managed to locate the policy and they recommend that children with conjunctivitis stay home. Pants. I wouldn't mind if she was actually unwell, but she seems just fine, apart from gunky eyes in the morn!

OP posts:

DickSwivellersTidyWife · 25/02/2012 22:24

'Recommend' seems vague to me OP, I would try for the , I know you recommend they stay home, but they have been on treatment for 5 days now so unlikely to be contagious so she will be coming as usual, thank very much'

Original poster

pleasethanks · 25/02/2012 22:25

Or hope they don't actually notice any gunk and keep quiet.....

OP posts:

DickSwivellersTidyWife · 25/02/2012 22:27

I thought that too I would go apeshit at children being sent in after vomiting/diarrhoea etc , but really, she is not likely at all to be contagious if she has been on the treatment for days.

nobodyspecial · 25/02/2012 22:29

I used to use clean my DD's eyes with breast milk when she got it, and it used to clear up in days.

BigBoobiedBertha · 25/02/2012 22:39

Nursery and school here say that so long as the children have seen a doctor they can go to in - not even a requirement to use drops. I have dutifully been to the doctors every time my DC have had it and the doctors always wonder what the fuss is about too tbh. If your DD has been treated for several days she is unlikely to be contagious.

Besides I don't find that it is that contagious. I have never heard of an epidemic of conjunctivitis in schools the way you do with D&V and colds and every time somebody in our family has had it, it hasn't spread and I haven't been that careful to avoid it spreading either. I had it on and off for 4 weeks once and nobody got it.

Chances are your DD will be fine by Monday anyway so hopefully it won't be an issue.

meowchut · 05/03/2012 14:42

My dd has had conjunctivitis since Friday . She was fine when she went To nursery in the morning, came home at 1.30 and by the time I got in at 7pm her eye looked gunky. She has not been complaining of pain.We gave her drops we got through the pharmaciston sunday. I have now read the nhs guideline which says not to keep her off nursery and that antibiotics do not help. I do not want her to have antibiotics if they are useless, and I can't give her anymore eyedrops; it took two off us to hold her down fir the last lot and I think that is just bullying, it really upset all the family. All fine and good, but nursery sent her home today saying she can't go in till she has had antibiotics. I even showed them the nhs guidelines, and they just would not listen. I am angry because I am right and they are wrong. Also upset as dd loves nursery and is going to miss it, her friends, and a trip she has being looking forward to if I don't give her the antibiotics. If i do give them to her she will be having medication she doesn't need and that can only be administered by physical force. What to do?

controlpantsandgladrags · 05/03/2012 15:18

New guidelines are that nursery should still accept them? I didnt know that. Neither DD1's nursery nor DD2's childminder will accept them with conjunctivitis. I assume the guidelines are just that; guidelines and not rules that have to be followed.

meow I've never heard of antibiotics being given for conjunctivitis. My DDs seem particularly prone to it and it's only ever been drops (which you can buy OTC for a +2yo) Can you use some kind of reward system to get the drops in...don't know how old your DD is?

lazylula · 05/03/2012 15:41

My children have a conjunctivitis and they have never been given antibiotics, just drops or ointment. I do know it used to be recommeneded to use the drops for 5 days after the symptoms have disappeared and when I worked in a school the guidelines were they could return as soon as treatment had started.

choceyes · 05/03/2012 15:54

At our nursery, they will accept a child with conjuctivitis provided that drops have been administered. Recently my DD got gunky eyes at nursery and they rang and told me to get some drops for her but they didn't need her taking out of nursery. Most pharmacists won't give the drops over the counter as you need s a precription for under 2's I think. I phoned my GP and was told they will have a prescription ready for me to collect, i.e didn't even need to see DD.

meowchut · 05/03/2012 17:47

Thanks all. It all seems to be very confusing and I do wonder how the original poster got on with her child? My daughter is 3 and it seems the drops we got over the counter DO have antibiotics in, gp told me this today. Nursery says she can go in as soon as she has had antibiotics for a day, which she has had already. So they should have accepted her today, but they wouldn't believe you can get antibiotics without prescription.

I do understand that the guidelines are just that, but I get annoyed when non medical people think they know better than medical professionals. I also wish they would get their arguments straight; nursery say they don't want conjunctivitis in nursery as it causes pain and if the teachers got it they would have to have time off, gp says it doesn't cause pain and there is no more reason to take time off than if one had a cold.

hanaka88 · 05/03/2012 17:56

It does cause pain. It bloody hurts and is irritating. If my son gets conjunctivitis it's very bad for him because of problems with one of his eyes so if someone else's child has it they don't bring them near him. (tummy bugs and colds don't bother me, he rarely catches them anyway)

Just ring and ask and see what they say. If they say no it might be for a good reason (such as one child with a very dodgy eye)

hanaka88 · 05/03/2012 17:58

But I do find washing out with cooled boiled water alongside the drops clears it up a lot faster. One cotton ball, wipe from inside corner to outside once, new cotton ball for each wipe.

organiccarrotcake · 05/03/2012 18:04

The OTC drops, and those on prescription, tend to be antibiotic drops which of course are only useful if it's a bacterial infection.

Euphrasia is excellent for eye infections (look for it online and note it's to be mixed with water - VERY dilute).

Breastmilk as has been mentioned is also excellent. Hand expressing onto a cotton ball and wiping over a cleansed eye can be really effective because breastmilk is packed with stuff that munches up infections (bacterial and viral).

Whatever is used, bath the eyes with cooled boiled water or cooled camomile tea made with just off the boil water first, inside to outside, one piece of cotton wool per wipe removing as much gunk as possible without causing distress, then pop in either the eye drops, or wipe with the euphrasia solution or wipe with breastmilk. Repeat 3-4 times a day.

Snakeonaplane · 05/03/2012 18:06

If she has had treatment for 5 days and it's just in the am are you sure it's not a blocked duct? It's should have cleared up bt now if it was an infection. Blocked ducts are quite common in small children, dd had it and it looked the same as conjunctivitis but only in the morning.

meowchut · 05/03/2012 19:58

Thanks , have had both breasts removed so no breastmilk in this house :) no children with dodgy eyes, the only argument that made sense was that she didn't want it, and fair enough on that. I just wish she had kept it at that rather than making me feel like a scummy mummy?

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