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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To send baby to nursery with cold

108 replies

Bathbubbles · 06/12/2020 21:04

I'm back at work and my 8 month old goes to nursery once a week. When he came home last Thurs he had a terrible night was coughing boiling temp snooting sneezing etc. He's still not quite right but better. He still needs calpol 2-3 times a day as he still has 3-4 coughing episodes a day, snotty nose and general aches and is not himself wanting cuddles teary etc. AIBU to send him to nursery or should I take carers leave from work? I feel like he probably needs to be at home but when I've read up it says you only need to keep them off if they have a temp. I a) don't want the nursery to frown at me for sending a snotty coughy baby to nursery and b) don't want my work to think I'm taking the mick it's just a cold send him to nursery you don't need the day off.
Any thoughts please? First time mum wwyd

OP posts:
Rosebel · 06/12/2020 23:17

In normal times I'd just say send him in and tell nursery to call you if need be but it could be Covid.
I would get him tested just to be safe. At any rate a day or two at home won't do him any harm. And employers have to be understanding at the moment..

Osirus · 06/12/2020 23:20

If he needs Calpol, he needs to be at home.

PleaseLetIanBeDead · 06/12/2020 23:31

You would send a baby to nursery who needs calpol 3 times a day?
@Rosebel

Thatwentbadly · 07/12/2020 02:34

@Bathbubbles

No he hasn't had a covid test. I do think it's just a bad cold. My partner and I work In healthcare he's tested weekly and I do at home tests twice weekly and we are still negative.
Sounds like you can save the nhs a fortune as they can just ask you rather than testing people. Ffs. Covid is not brand new. He has all the common symptoms of covid in children.
GalaxyCookieCrumble · 07/12/2020 03:40

@LajesticVantrashell

Did you consider, at any point, that he was displaying two of the three most common criteria for COVID?!
Or teething Hmm
GalaxyCookieCrumble · 07/12/2020 03:42

@SquirtleSquad

You seriously work in healthcare???
And? She is a new mum, how dare you all pile on her like this, perfect parents eh!
SquirtleSquad · 07/12/2020 06:23

@GalaxyCookieCrumble the basic rules and symptoms of covid have been made as simple and clear to the whole country for the best part of a year, if a healthcare provider can't grasp the absolute basics that a boiling temperature and continuous cough means you don't sent a child into nursery and get them tested or isolate then god help the rest of us Hmm

Whostoblame · 07/12/2020 06:55

Even pre covid a nursery wouldn't take a child in with a temp who needed calpol a few times a day, he needs to be at home.

Tumbleweed101 · 07/12/2020 06:57

We would send a baby home if they were that poorly. We aren’t letting children in if they need calpol before arrival as it could be masking a temperature. We are sending them home if they have a temp or a cough.

Even in pre Covid times we would send home a child that looked poorly enough to be home as they pass it on to the other children and staff and usually are too clingy when you have lots of children to care for. Best place for an ill child is snuggled at home with a parent.

Desmondo2016 · 07/12/2020 07:07

I think this is the classic case of an AIBU where the OP didn't actually want to know unless everyone agreed she WNBU!!

It's concerning and staggering that she did not realise she MUST get the child a test and isolate.

I had similar at work last week when a boss was coughing in his office on and off for a few hours. In the end I stopped by their office door and asked them if they had been tested and they replied 'i know I'm coughing a lot but I had a cold last week so it's just related to that, not covid' chortle chortle. FFS!

FelicityPike · 07/12/2020 07:12

If your child needs Calpol, your child needs to be at home.

OverTheRainbow88 · 07/12/2020 07:12

When he came home last Thurs he had a terrible night was coughing boiling temp snooting sneezing etc. He's still not quite right but better. He still needs calpol 2-3 times a day as he still has 3-4 coughing episodes a day,

Either you are stupid or this is a wind up.

You claim to work in healthcare, yet your child has a cough and a temp and you don’t get them a covid test- your whole family should have isolate u until his result came back negative.

I really despair, and you claim to be a healthcare professional.

Also you and your OH may have a negative result but your kid may be positive.

HeadPain · 07/12/2020 07:12

Even without covid you should keep him off nursery and you or other family look after him.

ohmysquash · 07/12/2020 07:32

So he had a cough and a fever and you didn't follow guidelines to self isolate as a family and get him a test? Instead you have carried on going into a job in healthcare presumably with vulnerable patients of some description.

Great.

So yes now you will have to keep him home from nursery. Nursery, rightly so, will wonder if it's covid.

ohmysquash · 07/12/2020 07:36

@GalaxyCookieCrumble not good enough to presume it's teething. With two of the major symptoms of covid, it's covid until proven otherwise.

middleager · 07/12/2020 07:41

Even without the cough, a high temperature should be enough on its own to trigger the need for a Covid test. I don't work in health care, yet this is obvious.

My teenage son had a temperature one evening so he took a Covid test the next day. It was positive.

MissBaskinIfYoureNasty · 07/12/2020 07:41

Unbelievable. And from health care "professionals".

AaronPurr · 07/12/2020 07:46

I'm not often shocked by threads on MN, but this thread has me open mouthed.

I really hope the OP and her husband aren't actually healthcare professionals. 😲

rainkeepsfallingdown · 07/12/2020 07:47

The thing is, even if it is just a cold (which you don't know), when someone else picks it up, they're going to panic and think they've got Covid.

We should all be doing our bit to not spread Covid... but also to not spread winter bugs that aren't Covid. It's the kind thing to do.

ohmysquash · 07/12/2020 07:52

@rainkeepsfallingdown in principle I agree. It would be kind to not spread any cough and cold we have.

But if covid negative and well in self (ie. not the child that OP is describing!) then in many instances it is not possible to stay home from work. You would end up getting the sack if you didn't go in several times a year for a simple cough and cold that's proven not covid.

So unless workplace support for sick leave and carers leave changes to allow this then it's not going to happen.

FoxtrotSkarloey · 07/12/2020 08:01

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ.

MindyStClaire · 07/12/2020 08:05

Well hopefully you've got the message re covid - you all need to isolate, and test the baby if you want to be out of isolation in less than a fortnight.

Covid aside, have a chat with your nursery about their illness policy. Some won't take them if they need Calpol at all, ours will take them if they're well in themselves with it. Either way, it sounds like your baby is in no way well enough (the first winter is so so hard as they do seem to be out more than in, it'll settle in the spring) but you need to know what their policy is for the borderline days.

MillieVanilla · 07/12/2020 08:06

@flaviaritt

No the nursery won't report anyone to the police for not getting a covid test confused

How do you know that? The OP is required by law to self-isolate with her family as someone in her household has symptoms. If she takes her child to nursery she isn’t doing that. I’m not saying they should report her, but they would be within their rights.

Personally, I think they should report it, especially as she's a healthcare worker

There we all are wondering why when we are wearing masks and being careful that the virus is still rife and you get threads like this that beggar belief

Here's an idea Op, why not take him.on a tour of all the shops so he can really infect the maximum number of others, why stop at nursery?
Hmm

cuppateabiscuits · 07/12/2020 09:46

@HeeHawSeeSaw

If he is just coughing and snotty and definitely doesn't have covid (has a nagative covid result) then I would send him in. However, if he still needs Calpol I wouldnt send him in as it doesn't sound like he is well enough. Lots of cuddles in the warmth of his home is what he needs.
👍 My child had a head cold in our covid restrictions and it was best to stay clear of people. Teething and colds is hell. Rest up work can take on cover, as I am told... Your family come first. The first year of daycare is never ending sicknesses as baby builds that immunity I found it frustrating. I did switch to ibuprofen in a later state of teething which changed baby to completely calmer for longer than paracetamol reduced the snotty nose as well.
Changechangychange · 07/12/2020 11:11

If OP’s son is 9 months and he has only just started nursery, the likelihood is that she has been on maternity leave since before this all started, and hasn’t really kept up with swabbing requirements/isolation.

Yes, she needs to isolate and swab her child, but the outrage and calls for her to lose her Pin because she isn’t up to speed on this yet are way over the line.

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