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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Would you send your toddler to nursery with a common cold at the moment, if a symptom is a cough.

88 replies

Eloiss · 13/09/2020 08:29

This may have been done to the death but I haven't seen anything so apologies!

I have two toddlers and they both have a common cold (very snotty, sneezy but with a cough) no temp.

We know it's not covid because we've already had that and it was very different. This is a run of the mill common cold.

DP sees no reason DS can't go to nursery tomorrow (DD hasn't started yet as she's just 17 months) whereas I'm saying no. Although we know it's not covid it's bound to be a cause for concern for the nursery and other parents if he's coughing everywhere.

It's bad timing as I could do without having to stay off work to be with the children but it seems unavoidable.

WWYD?

OP posts:
MollieMaeve · 13/09/2020 08:34

But you don’t actually know it’s not Covid. My children currently have streaming head colds and allergies whilst I’m pretty sure it’s not Covid due to previous experience, I can’t be 100% sure without a test.

Childcare settings won’t take children without a negative test if they have a cough, I believe. If your child is coughing they will be sent home until they have a negative test. So for that reason I wouldn’t send her.

year5teacher · 13/09/2020 08:35

Have you all actually had positive tests in the past, including the children?
Unfortunately if you send your child to nursery with a cough and you haven’t tested him then he will probably be sent home and you’ll be asked to test. Annoying as it’s hard to get tests but ultimately I imagine that’s what will happen.

annie987 · 13/09/2020 08:36

No you can’t send him. They’d send him straight home anyway.

Medievalist · 13/09/2020 08:36

Agree very likely to be sent home.

Oysterbabe · 13/09/2020 08:37

She's need a test before she can go.

Nacreous · 13/09/2020 08:37

You need to get a Covid test, because they have a cough. So they can't go to school and you all need to self isolate until results are back.

vanillandhoney · 13/09/2020 08:39

No. Coughs need tests.

And you don't know it's not COVID. You can get it more than once and the symptoms can differ each time. Same with any other viral illness.

MolyHolyGuacamole · 13/09/2020 08:39

Disagree with PPs that child would definitely be sent home. I look after a child that went into school yesterday sneezing, runny nose and streaming eye. She stayed the whole day. It just depends.

unimaginativeusernamehere · 13/09/2020 08:39

If he has a cough then he can't go. Book a test for him.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 13/09/2020 08:40

You don’t know it’s not Covid as no test. People can’t self diagnose.

The nursery will send children home with a cough if they haven’t seen a negative test. Even with a negative test if there are symptoms you are not meant to attend anyway.

MolyHolyGuacamole · 13/09/2020 08:40

To be fair...she wasn't coughing now I think about it

Original poster
Eloiss · 13/09/2020 08:41

We've had positive tests in the past yes, we had the virus in March.

I'll have to order some more tests then.

Despite not taking him to nursery i wasn't going to order more tests as we're as certain as can be that it's just a common cold.

I'll have some sent out to us, we don't have a test site anywhere near here.

OP posts:
Quail15 · 13/09/2020 08:43

My daughter developed a cold whilst at nursery ( she was fine when I sent her in the morning) I had to come and pick her up early - no cough, just lots of snot and a very slight temperature ( although no evidence of a temperature when I picked her up). They won't have her back until she has a negative test.
I won't be sending her to nursery if I'm aware she has a cold in future, it's not worth the stress but I'm lucky and I will get paid for taking the odd day off for childcare.

Babamamananarama · 13/09/2020 08:47

This is a useful flow chart.

Would you send your toddler to nursery with a common cold at the moment, if a symptom is a cough.
Mincingfuckdragon2 · 13/09/2020 08:50

No, don't send them in. If the children pass on their cold, those who catch it will have to be tested for COVID and cannot return to work until they get a negative result. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be responsible for the carers missing work - it affects the carers as well as the other children in their care.

ladyvimes · 13/09/2020 08:51

Oh for goodness sake. A snotty, sneezing child with a productive cough does not have Covid! Those are not the symptoms. If the cough is dry then they will be sent home but if they’re coughing up mucus and are snotty they should be fine.

And yes I know a productive cough is now a symptom of Covid but it develops LATER in the illness and not at the start so is not an early symptom!!

Original poster
Eloiss · 13/09/2020 08:54

@ladyvimes

Oh for goodness sake. A snotty, sneezing child with a productive cough does not have Covid! Those are not the symptoms. If the cough is dry then they will be sent home but if they’re coughing up mucus and are snotty they should be fine.

And yes I know a productive cough is now a symptom of Covid but it develops LATER in the illness and not at the start so is not an early symptom!!

Yes this is what my DM is saying.

She's with DP on this.

If it weren't for covid I wouldn't hesitate to send him in as he's fine in himself.

It's a massive PITA.

OP posts:
Grrretel · 13/09/2020 08:55

@ladyvimes

Oh for goodness sake. A snotty, sneezing child with a productive cough does not have Covid! Those are not the symptoms. If the cough is dry then they will be sent home but if they’re coughing up mucus and are snotty they should be fine.

And yes I know a productive cough is now a symptom of Covid but it develops LATER in the illness and not at the start so is not an early symptom!!

Oh for goodness sake! That’s not the rules though, is it? You don’t have to try to guess what virus your child has - if they have a cough, you test Hmm

I’ve never actually seen an official source of this diagnosis based on different kinds of coughs that internet experts love so much - could you link to the Nhs/gov page?

CasperGutman · 13/09/2020 08:56

@Babamamananarama

This is a useful flow chart.
I've seen the flowchart before. The right-hand branch (if you would have sent your child in pre-COVID) seems sensible.

The left branch (where you would have kept your child at home before) is worryingly simplistic. It lacks any mention of testing or household isolation, a d seems to tacitly suggest that everyone else in the house can go about their busines and the infected child can go back to school when their symptoms improve.

Cam2020 · 13/09/2020 08:56

No. Coughs need tests.

No, continuous coughs need tests, so it depends on the cough. This blanket approach is exactly why I cannot get a rest for my daughter who has a continuous cough and we are now stuck indoors, going insane.

Original poster
Eloiss · 13/09/2020 08:56

They're very mucusy and snotty, i'd put my house on it being a typical common cold.

Though I can see it would be a source of worry for the nursery and the other parents so for that reason won't send him.

Work won't be impressed though, we've gone through two periods of 14 day isolation already.

OP posts:
Pumpkinnose · 13/09/2020 08:58

Sitting here with two snotty children. If they develop either a cough or a temperature they will not go to school and will have a test. I would not send them or expect school to accept any child with a cough without a test. They don’t have time to work out what kind of cough it is!

If no cough then they will go. It is in part, people with runny noses only who are clogging up our testing system.

As for the shambles that we are in because of the government not anticipating increased capacity well I have no words...

Frazzled2207 · 13/09/2020 08:58

I think it’s up to the policy of the nursery.
Fair enough if you have a persistent cough but if everyone who had the general sniffles with an occasional cough ordered a test (which is probably what is happening), those with “proper coughs” won’t be able to get one.

Original poster
Eloiss · 13/09/2020 08:59

It's a wet, mucusy, productive cough.

It goes hand in hand with sneezing and snot.

I will feel ridiculous even asking for a test, we've had 5 sent out already. Hopefully they won't mind sending more as there's no way we can get to a test site we're nowhere near one.

OP posts:
MKCH · 13/09/2020 08:59

I went to collect my little girl from nursery on Thursday and her key person said on leaving that she was unsettled and had a cough, and that if the cough was still bad on Tuesday (when she's next due back in) she'd need to have a test before she came back to nursery.
She just has a cold - I'm almost 100% certain - she is snotty and bunged up but no temperature and no constant coughing, just every now and again. It's the end of her first week at nursery so I'm not surprised she's picked up a cold bug.
But I took her for a test on Friday just to be sure, mainly so that come Tuesday I'll have already had a result (hopefully) and hopefully it'll be negative so I've already got the proof that it's a cold.
I understand their concern and appreciate that they have to insist on it but if I have to do this every time she gets a cold, when she's in a new environment with new people with new bugs, she's never going to be there!