Nursery 48 hour rule

[lunepremiere79]

So my toddler (22months) dd got sent home from nursery after 3 loose poos and because her cheeks were flushed. Told to stay at home for 48 hours. Now she looks totally fine to us, happy, playing with her toys, dancing to music, laughing, normal temperature too 36.3 degrees. My dh and I work full time from home right now and in back to back meetings all day long in professional jobs with lots of responsibility and we are totally stuck, what do people typically do in this situation? We dont have any help nearby. Would hire someone to look after her or would you just take a day off? Are the nursery staff being unreasonable?

They’re not BU. I’d just take a day off.

That's pretty standard rules. You should take the time off. It's a pain but sickness or loose poos is usually 48 hours. It should be in your contract

48 hours is fairly standard for nurseries.

One of us would take time off work.

Our nursery has similar so many loose poos and they're sent home. If they're following the rules (do you have a parents handbook? Should specify this stuff) then of course they're not being unreasonable.

Holiday or emergency carers leave. You have to have a contingency plan for this, it happens a lot.

One of you take leave. It's pretty standard I'm afraid. We alternate so it's not on one parent.

You need to get used to this now. The majority of primary and secondary schools also have the 48 hour rule AFTER the last episode of sickness or diarrhoea. They need to protect staff and children.No the staff are not being unreasonable.

Nursery aren’t being unreasonable. They can’t have stomach bugs or other infectious illnesses running through the rest of the children and the staff.

What’s your backup plan for when your child is ill? If you haven’t yet had to put it into action then you’re very lucky! She will get chickenpox, horrible tummy bugs, awful colds, and not be able to go in.

If you haven’t already made a plan for how to deal with this, one of you will have to take a day off. Everyone needs a contingency plan.

Schools have the same rules too.
Get used to it.

In Scotland it is actually in the NHS infection control guidance which childcare settings are expected to reference and follow. So they aren't being unreasonable

Perfectly reasonable to find a babysitter or someone who is happy to cover days at short notice. There maybe agency’s who do this but does depend on where you live and how much spare cash you have.

It’s the same for schools vomiting or diarrhoea is 48 hours off!

Yep it's a standard rule. We take it in turns to take the day off when this happens.

Have you checked your work contract?

In the NHS we’re allowed three days of carers leave (I think it’s paid), the assumption is that you use that day to organise care for the following days but of course for many people there isn’t any, we have nobody nearby to have him even during non pandemic times, so them we would choose between either unpaid time off or using some annual leave.

We both keep a few days of leave spare booked at the end of the year so if we need it for childcare we can remove it from the calendar and use it when needed, and if not we have a few days off at the end of March.

And obviously take turns between parents. Even with a professional job if you were hit by a bus you’d be off, caring for your child is no different, it’s a non negotiable part of being a parent. Frustrating though, I know!

Usually whoever has the less important meetings would take a day off or we would both WFH, flex our hours and tag team.

Some people have grandparents to help.

We used to take ours off milk, and substitute with watered down pear or apple juice for a few days. This seemed to help firm up the poos more quickly!

Pretty standard in all childcare settings. We take a day of annual leave each as we have no family close by.

It's completely reasonable, in our situation we would take time off to look after DD - using either paid leave or contingency leave (we get up to 10 days a year each).

We have no family locally so we expect to have to use leave etc to cover illness. DH works shifts 6am-3pm and I work 8.45-4.45. So we usually manage it by him finishing work at 1pm and me working 1-6pm instead and taking just a couple of hours leave each so it's less disruptive to work.

For longer term sickness we generally do alternating days off.

Take the time off until the child can go back to school/nursery. I doubt anyone else would want to take the child until the 48 hours is up. Did you not make any plans for when this happens?

I understand your frustration as possibly it’s just loose stools for some other reason, and not a tummy bug. But honestly, once you’ve been through a few rounds with vomiting bugs picked up at nursery, you will respect those rules. D&V are the worst of the minor childhood illnesses in my experience, so unpleasant to deal with and so contagious.

Dependents leave covers emergencies like these.

It is recorded separately.

Equally the whole bubble could be sent home and it could happen again.

It's the rules. I work in a school and so many parents attempt to flout the rules re sickness. Yabu but the nursery certainly isn't, all the children and staff have a right to be protected from potential sickness. Taking time off work when your child is ill is part of being a parent. When my own ds was off school sick as a younger child, he would often be bouncing by lunchtime but it's just the way it is.

It's a standard ruling. 48 hours also applies to many workplaces too. Like everybody else, one of you will need to take a day off or split your day between you. I think you're being very unreasonable about the nurseries decision.

Unfortunately now you're a parent this is what annual leave is for. It's annoying as can stop you being able to go away if happens often enough. Make sure you and DH both take the hit equally.

at the insinuation that people working out of the home in non professional jobs find it easier to deal with this problem.

Of course they're not unreasonable. I'm amazed that you haven't thought this through before.