To send DS to school on Monday after he just vommed?

[MarmaladeShatkins]

I expect I'll get flamed but hear me out, first...

DS just puked up, big time. Thing is, he's perfectly fine now. He said he had tummy ache, lay down looking peaky for half an hour, chucked, now he's fine. I suspect it may have been too much to eat earlier in the day combined with cycling in the park in the sun. I'm pretty much certain that there's no bug involved.

I am SO reluctant to keep him off on Monday, even though school has a 48 hour rule. DS's attendance went down to 98% by the end of last term, as he had a week off sick with D&V after the May half term, then another 4 days off with a weird bug where he lost his appetite/slept all day. The school sent me a note home with him on the last day of last term saying they were monitoring his attendance and they'd consider contacting the relevant authorities if his attendance was low again.

So what do I do? It's early in the new term to keep him off a day for no real reason and I am paranoid about the school. Stupid arses, what do they want; us to keep sick children home or send them in so they don't balls up their OFSTED report?

I'm pretty sure I'm sending him in, if he doesn't throw up again/show any signs of illness. AIBU?

Also, there is no-one with a compromised immune system at DS's school AFAIK.

I have a child who is sick very often due to abdominal migraines - caused by tiredness, dehydration, stress, and heat. We do not follow the 48hr rule it is possible to be sick for many reasons.

If no sickness by Monday morning that will be at least 36 hours so I should think it would be fine.

I phoned school once as my son had eaten 1/2 a pinapple . I cut it up and made the mistake of saying help yourself

He was up all night on and off all night so kept him off ..He was fine after a lie in the morning. I phoned school in afternoon explained the situation and asked if he could come back the next day they said yes so long as no more symptoms.

I was also confident in my assessment. Sometimes common sense does prevail.

Fine....if he's not sick then you have nothing to feel bad about then....you certainly don't need anyone else's opinion then

zzzzz The OP's child doesn't appear to have a sick bug...that's the whole point.

I'm sure if he comes down with one, she'll adhere to the 48hr rule.

But there are no epileptic children or diabetic children at school. So what you are levelling at me doesn't work. No-one will be blue-lighted anywhere.

He doesn't have a sick bug, either. So I won't take my sick bug anywhere. :)

How on earth would you know what conditions other children do or don't have though?

Would any of you ring in to work sick, if you'd been sick from a hangover?

No because I am practically perfect & wouldn't get drunk the night before I was due to work

Yes I think the point is that you cannot know what conditions other people have. Just because there's nothing you know about doesn't mean it could not be very serious for someone else if you were mistaken and didn't err on the side of caution.

Surely vomiting from: booze, pregnancy, overeating, migraine, and any number of non d&v reasons would void the 48 hour rule?

Does the 48 hour rule apply to teachers? Surely they would not make a pregnant teacher stay off every time she was sick?

Common sense needs to apply without people getting so angry! OP has said her son does not have a bug.

If he vomited at 9 tonight and has not vomited or had diarrhoea come 9am Monday morning, isn't it a pretty safe bet that all is well?

Why not ring the school Monday morning, explain, and let them decide? Surely they can't have an issue then.

It's your call Shatters but I am so bloody at schools that complain about attendance and hand out awards for 100% attendance as good health is a lottery and down to luck, not down to hard work.

I am an emetophobe so get frightened about parents sending DCs into school before the 48 hours is up as one of the reasons for 48 hours is that you are still contagious (even if you feel fine, it's in your poo). D&V is passed through the oral faecal route and children aren't brilliant at washing their hands when unsupervised.

Is it just me or are there much higher rates of D&V now than in the 80's?

yanbu at all if he is only sick once ffs. Kids end up in school all the time with bugs because you don't know they have them till the first vom. I once went to work with a tummy bug when preg because I mistook it for a resurgence of my morning sickness doh..... . All of this immuno stuff, dd has asthma kids go to school with colds that could make her ill.

It's a small school, as I've said. I know of allergies, asthma and all sorts. We are asked by letter to be extra vigilant with sick children when the need arises. Ffs we've even been told no food with nuts due to one child having an allergy. If someone had epilepsy at our school, it would be known.

If school weren't so draconian about absence, then I'd play it extra safe and keep him off. When they're threatening authority intervention, I think that sending him in when I'm positive he's fine is sensible. I just wanted to make sure that I was being.

"Surely vomiting from: booze, pregnancy, overeating, migraine, and any number of non d&v reasons would void the 48 hour rule?

Does the 48 hour rule apply to teachers? Surely they would not make a pregnant teacher stay off every time she was sick?"

This.

You don't only vomit when you've for a bug but the 48 hour rule treats it as a blanket condition.

Why do people care so much about attendance? Surely if a child is ill they are I'll and no amount of threatening letter actually matter?

48h rule applies to D&V bugs.

Our school has a 24h rule for one single vomit, 48h for more than one or vomit plus diarrhoea.

DS2 vomits at the drop of a hat - over eating followed by jumping up and down in the sun will do it every time. It's mechanical rather than infectious and yes I can tell the difference. He would be kept off 24h to ensure he's otherwise fine in the scenario you described. If further symptoms I'd make it 48h after the last one, but if nothing further then it would be in on Monday.

However small the school is, I seriously doubt you know the medical history of every pupil and find it bizarre that you believe you do.

I would prob send in on Monday if he hasn't shown any other symptoms all wend. My 8yo dd once downed a pint of squash then ran around too much and threw up some of the squash.

There was no way I would keep her off school because of that, she was totally fine and I knew that she wasn't in any way ill. As pp have said there has to be some common sense applied.

But that is what I would challenge - the 48hr rule is there for a really good reason, but common sense is required. Unfortunately I think the schools get over zealous because so many people ignore it. I am surprised that you had a letter at 98%. DD's was 95.7% (not in a small part due to the apricot incident...) and I didn't receive a letter.
Anyway...hopefully you are right, he will be completely fine & school will not be a problem for Monday

Well. You say that but it's not just the letter, is it? I don't actually want the authorities knocking on my door and issuing court summons. When you hear stories like this, it does worry you.

"However small the school is, I seriously doubt you know the medical history of every pupil and find it bizarre that you believe you do."

I'll repeat for a final time: whenever we have had immuno-comprised individuals around school in the past, we have been warned not to send sick children in.

DS is NOT sick, so this is moot anyway.

"I am surprised that you had a letter at 98%."

We got a flag at 99%! They are so cheeky. It's all down to OFSTED, I expect. Our school fell from outstanding to needs improvement in one year (change of head, change of system) and they're treading on eggshells.