Do I say something to these parents??

[Faloola]

I'm a childminder, I look after two sisters who are 4 and 1. I have two kids of my own (9 and 13) and I sometimes watch friends kids if needed.

On Tuesday, I was watching my mindees and my friends daughter popped in for an hour. She was having problems with her skin and was due to go to the drs which is near mine so waited with me. She's 14. She played with the babies then went off to her appointment.

Today, my mindees dad dropped off the kids, and the 1 year old had a scab on her stomach and neck. He told me it was nothing serious, they'd been to the drs it wasn't infectious, and gave me the cream to put on it. Fine. But later on, my friend who's daughter had popped round came by, and told me her daughter had had impetigo. I showed her the babys scab and the cream, and she confirmed it was the same cream her daughter had.

So the daughter has given the baby impetigo, at the time I had no idea that's what it was, and wouldn't have let her around the babies if I had. Do I mention this to the parents? They've obviously lied to me regardless of the fact that they know me or my kids or anyone else could be infected.

OP, I'm sorry but I'd be rather pi$$ed if I found out that random 14-year-olds played with my baby (regardless of the skin problem).

ten days incubation period my arse, it has a incubation period of 1-3 days.

AllieZ - why would it bother you that a 14y girl had shown an interest in your baby?

Oh - realised not just you. but a fair few people.

Never realised that so many people had so little trust, esp to trust the judgement of someone they have care for their child.

soverylucky

Erm... I can honestly say I do not trust anyone else with my children unless I know them very well indeed. I thought that was normal

I'm glad I'm not alone! No Londonmother, I do not trust people who I don't know with my child. Why is that difficult to understand?

Whether or not the OP was is right to let someone who is not another mindee or one of their own children handle the baby (and IMO it is fine, if you decide a childminder is right for your baby than you accept they are in someone's house and that other people will also be in that house on occasion, including family friends, their children's friends etc), how can some of the posters - icelolly, sara - talk that way about someone with a skin condition?! Like whackamole, I suffer psoriasis and it looks bloody awful sometimes. I'd be hugely offended if my DD inherited it and then was told not to touch another child in case she passed it on. Hugely offended.

To those who don't trust people they don't know well with their children, that's fine but don't come online and have a go at a perfectly normal childcare choice.

OP - I would give them a call, in the light of being open and honest. If I was the baby's parents I would appreciate the honesty but certainly wouldn't be upset or angry. People can be carrying infectious illnesses without knowing, and they get passed on. That's life, including for babies.

Actually nelly I suffer from psoriasis when stressed.

My concern as a parent would be a person handling my baby before a drs appointment. I wouldn't want my baby's skin complaint & medication to be shown to a third party.
If impetigo is present,then a deep clean should be done IMO.
I would be annoyed with the friend for not highlighting exactly what her daughter had,knowing I was a cm.

You absolutely have to be upfront about this. Attitudes such as have been prevalent in this thread are the perfect breeding ground for communicable infections. Nits, scabies, fleas, impetigo, chicken pox, colds, flu etc. find it best to spread where no one can say
"i found some headlice, you should check your children" without being vilified.

They are also the reason people with non communicable in fections are often ostrasized ,ignorance.

As to the comment about letting other peoples children play with your mindees as long as they were at no point left alone with them I don't see the problem.

You probably would have been better off looking up the cream on wiki than showing it to someone but as long as you have only discussed it with the one friend who was by default involved anyway, again i wouldn't have a problem with it.

Going by the op,the friend's daughter went to the drs on Tuesday & then told the cm on Friday.

Your mindee was infected with impetigo in your house, due to your own laxness, and you are feeling pissed off that her parents "lied" to you?

I hope the parents are understanding and don't decide to take this to the care commission as the policies are very clear and safeguards are very clear.....as a childminder, everyone living in the house must be listed and recorded /police checked -as it is a given that they will be regularly interacting with the minded children but are not allowed to feed, change nappies or other care needs unless they are also a registered child minder and are working at the same address as a childminder...any visitor (including other child minders) must not have any 'physical' contact with any minded child, cannot give meds or any part of the child minders role and responsibility though of course it is perfectly fine to be within the area of any child. it is only the minders job to console, handle and give care to the minded children...
does this make sense to ppl?....it's the physical contact which is the issue and the 14yr old should not have been touching her!...whether she has or hasn't given the baby any infection is relevant...it's the minders job to be vigilant and ensure that physical contact is not happening....do I need to list all the reasoning for these safeguards?

Impetigo can be really serious for a baby. Defo say something.

The only thing to do in this situation is be honest with the parents , tell them that their child had contact with another child who has since been diagnosed with impetigo.
I personally wouldn't have an issue with my child having contact with other children who were not related to the childminder , my childminder has other mindee's as do the other childminders that they socialise with . As long as the childminder is present and not leaving them unattended with other children/adults. It doesn't sound as though the OP left the girl with the mindee , just that she interacted with her whilst in the OPs house .
Im not sure about how about how infectious impetigo really is . I looked after my friends children in the summer holidays a few years ago , one of her girls complained of a sore ear and when i looked she had a big weeping crusty sore behind her ear . I took her to boots and asked the pharmacist if there was any cream she would reccommend for it . The pharmacist took one look and said that looks like inpetigo , she needs to see her GP . So i rang her Drs and got an appointment and when freind got back from work she took her and it was indeed impetigo. I continued to look after her girls , my friend didnt get it , her other daughter didnt get it , i didnt get it and neither did my son , all of us had close skin to skin contact with the child for the week before she was diagnosed and got treatment . All the children were aged between 3 and 5 .

Sorry posted too soon , my last point was that if it really was that infectious , at least one of us would also of got it , especially the children .

frumpet. You were lucky. It really is that infectious.

I guess we were flogginmolly , although i suspect the general grossness of our children as toddlers probably played a part too

Impetigo spreads when the stuff in the blisters touches a break in the skin (like a scratch or sore place). Toddlers tend to get impetigo because of their general snottiness means they get sore spots under their noses and they have lots of physical contact with each other (and people in general).

Frumpet, like you, I think we must be a lucky family! DS has had it a couple of times but the rest of the family has never been infected. He was always cuddling us all, so we had lots of chance to catch it. I'm thankful.

Short course of antibiotic cream and it's all gone. It's not like it is mumps.

Complications are rare and the child is one year old, not a new born which is the main age group the NHS tell you to avoid.

It looks very much like impetigo, and I think it would be a big coincidence if after playing with friends daughter who had impetigo the baby got a skin condition that looked like impetigo and used the same cream but wasn't.

Er.............. you said you'd never seen it before.

No it wouldn't be a big coincidence at all. A toddler having the same cream just means the todler has the same cream.

You DO need to tell the parents their children have been in contact with impetigo, the GP may have asked them if they have.

Why is it a problem to show someone some medication? Uptight much?

Love how the thread has cascaded into a personal attack about the OP's ability to run a business. Never fear deeply dramatic OP's - they're not your children "at risk" here.

OP - I'm assuming the parents are perfectly happy with their choice of daycare seeing that they chose you. If they like the style of people dropping in and are aware then that's great. However, I would be honest with them as you said and just say its just come to light that your friends daughter has impetigo.

I would be furious that my cm lacked the common sense to stop a teenager who was on the way to see the doctor with a skin condition from playing with my young baby. Absolutely furious.

It's your job to protect the baby not to write everything off as 'it's life', yes accidental contact is life but knowingly letting the teenager play/touch the baby is a breach of the duty of care IMO. And now you want to have a go at the parents?!

If a friend came in with their child who was the way to doctor with suspected chicken pox-would you let them play with the baby?

Seriously accept responsibility-you are in the wrong IMO

And as for the medication-not its not uptight to not want your children medication to be shown to random people-it's called privacy and something a childminder should have a grasp of

couldnt you just not worry about blame, and just hope the kids impetigo clears up?