Do other parents keep off for 48 hours for one episode of vomiting?

[ruralliving19]

My elder DD12 is off school today; she was sick in the night. Just once but she says she has a stomach ache and still feels sick. Wretched 48 hour rule means she'll be off tomorrow too. This is her second episode of sickness since starting Y7 in September. Last time she was sick once and not again. This time I suspect will be the same. She is on the sofa under the duvet watching TV. I'm stressing about the fact her attendance was already down to 96% as a result of 2 days off last term and will now be even lower. Would you have sent her in?

YABU - I would have sent her in
YANBU - You were right to keep her off

The rule at my daughter's school is 24 hours without an episode of vomiting or diarrhea. I do always keep her off for 24 hours after she's been sick. If the rule was 48 hours, I'd keep her off 48 hours.

YANBU

My eldest gets car sick so I won't keep him off for that but otherwise yes I leave it 48 hours. He throws up quite easily in general so I've had a few pointless 2 days at home when he was fine and not contagious. We also had a time when a day later the entire family was down with a terrible D&V so I'm very glad we didn't send him to infect the rest of the class that time.

48 hours. School specifically request that.

But then they’re supportive over absence!

Yep I do, it’s the school rules

Sometimes common sense should apply. It sounds like your DD does have a bug because she still doesn’t feel well.

My DS once vomited once on a Sunday because he had been to a birthday party where he had eaten too much then jumped around straight after. I kept him off on the Monday just incase but he was fine, it obviously wasn’t a bug. I sent him in on Tuesday but was asked to collect him due to 48hr rule, it made me eye roll quite a lot...

Just to reassure you, DD’s attendance is in the region of 85% this year. There’s no problems.

Of course keep her off. Who gives a shit about attendance figures when she's legitimately unwell?

I generally ignore 'feeling sick' or 'tummyache' because she often says this and it's usually a response to anxiety. But I don't think anxiety can actually make you sick....

Definitely 24h at least plus she still feels sick.
It is rubbish if you have a child prone to V (my 5yo has 3 times since sept and it's going around yet AGAIN ((tears))).

Could it be migraine/periods etc?
Also it's only affecting the youngest not anyone else in the house so the bugs must have gone around about 2012-2015 approx. The preschool kids all seem to have been ill this year.

Anxiety can definitely make you sick. My sister was regularly ill at the thought of doing things. Is she quite anxious generally? Could a trip to the GP help?

I rarely catch anything when she's sick and neither does her sister, but we both have pretty cast iron stomachs, it takes a really nasty bug to floor us. I think I have had probably 2 stomach bugs in 10 years.

She does get headaches but mainly if she doesn't drink enough. I watch headaches very closely because she has a skull condition that means I watch for signs of raised intracranial pressure.

She hasn't started her periods yet but I think it's imminent.

I wouldn't say she is anxious at a level that she needs to see the GP. It doesn't normally stop her doing things. She's aware that she feels sick if she's worried about something and she has techniques to calm herself. She has seemed pretty calm recently, I'm not aware of any big anxieties at the moment.

If my dc had been sick in the night I would most likely keep them off the next day. But I think there is often an obvious difference between a contagious d&v bug and an isolated instance of being sick. So based on that and how he is in general I would probably send him back after a day if he was ok.

Does annoy me when people send obviously sick children into school more because of the clear discomfort to the child. I can't get too het up over contagion and germ spreading in school - it's a fact of life. Most bugs and illnesses and most contagious before you even see any signs so it's unavoidable really.

Just look after your child when they're poorly and need to rest surely?

But I don't think anxiety can actually make you sick.... It absolutely can.

But I don't think anxiety can actually make you sick....

It can. DD regularly throws up due to anxiety.

Keep her off. Sounds as if she has a bug if she was sick in the night (that can't have been through anxiety) and she is still feeling sick.

The wretched 48 hour rule is what prevents all the kids having even lower attendance because otherwise there’d be constant vomiting bugs circulating.

What annoys me is when schools (pressured by the LA) complain about attendance because you’re following their exclusion rules.

I always got sick as a teen when my period was due. I'm normally in the "keep them home" camp but with a young hormonal teen who doesn't seem to have a bug I'd send her in.

I always follow the rule, especially as I use a childminder too. I would hear if one of the others there had been ill straight after mine.

Just the other week, DD9 was sick Sunday night, just once. I kept her off Monday & Tuesday. By Tuesday lunchtime she was so looking forward to going back to school the next day, & hadn’t been sick at all since that first episode.

Wednesday morning, she was sick again. Very strange. So had to keep her off again, wed & Thursday. She went back on the Friday.

Yes, I do. My son’s school has a fair few immunocompromised children attending and I’d hate for him to take grim bugs in unnecessarily.

This reminds me of a time when she was about 3 when she was sick every evening shortly after bedtime, just once, and was fine the next day. She was sick every evening for about 3 weeks. Took her to the GP and they never did get to the bottom of it. Wonder if it's the same kind of thing.

She has perked up now, eaten some biscuits and asked for some plain pasta for lunch.

The rule at primary was 24 hours but I generally kept them off for 48 hours as they often needed an extra day to recover. At secondary there is no guidelines so generally I see how they are after 24 hours. If the rule was 48 hours though I'd keep them off.

We always stick to the rules with DS, which has been an absolute PITA work-wise sometimes but having known a family with an immuno-compromised child I'd never flout the rule because of the devastating effect it can have.

If it’s a illness yes of course but DD gets anxiety sick, car sick and motion sick from treading water or bouncing. DS can gag sick or cough sick. None of these would.

I know though and sick in the night looks like a sick bug to me

You were right to keep her off because you arent 100% sure it’s not a bug... my eldest gets car sick, my friend’s DD is sick when she has her period, so I wouldn’t keep them off for those reasons