Sending child to nursery with potential chickenpox?

[Asiama]

Posting here for traffic.

My son potentially has chickenpox - neither the nursery nor the GP are sure, as he has just 3 tiny marks. He is well in himself otherwise. The GP has said he can go in and the nursery have said they will take him if there are no new spots in the morning. AIBU to send him in?

My gut says that it's probably chickenpox as there was a confirmed case in his group so I'm worried about the impact on other children and parents.

@Suzi888

Nurseries will take children with chicken pox, at least they do in this LA, provided no staff are pregnant. Does make me wonder about pregnant parents of children attending the nursery, they just inform us via email and they’ll pop a poster on the door. Most parents seem happy for children to get it, so presume that’s why the nursery still take them.

I'm really surprised by this, as NHS Advice is to quarantine for 5-7 day, and Public Health England guidelines for educational and early years settings is to stay away from the setting/school for 5 days or until all lesions have crusted over.

Absolutely gobsmacked there is any LA or setting that will happily take children with full blown chickenpox, wtf. That is very, very poor and unsafe. Any nursery doing that is quite frankly dangerous.
Doesn’t look like chickenpox to me OP but you can never be too careful, I’d give it until the weekend and if no more send him Monday.

Tbh unless the nursery is super amazing in other ways I’d be considering looking for a new nursery.

Suggesting you just send him in while you all thought he was brewing CP is appallingly bad practise and I’d be wondering what other things they were happy for kids or staff to spread around, or what other guidance they deemed not necessary to follow.

What advice are you given by your consultant and/or specialist nurse? I’m immune suppressed and I need to let them know immediately if I come into contact with chicken pox as I’d need anti viral medication.

The photo looks just like chickenpox

There were about 3 times DS4 had one or two dodgy spots, nursery would hand him over and say there were other kids with it who had gone home, they had noticed them during the day and if any more came up to let them know, and if no more appeared overnight he was ok to come in and be inspected on the door next day. In the end he got it over Christmas and it was unmistakable from the start.

I would not have been happy to keep him off for 2 weeks each of the times beforehand, and the nursery were happy to take him and inspect at nappy changes. I thought they were very cautious about it.

I'm firmly in the camp that mum knows best with regards to knowing when their child isn't quite right.if your instincts are telling you he is I'll keep him at home.protect him and other people.

Please don’t send your child in if you suspect chicken pox. There could be vulnerable children or children with vulnerable family members.

Ds had chicken pox and they were very mild , only a few spots, they weren’t bad, I wasn’t too sure he actually had them. Fast forward 13 days and dd was very poorly with them, she was covered Everywhere and was lethargic.it was such a shame to see such a huge difference between them both, I could actually look at dd and see new spots appearing !

My DD2 got chickenpox from schoolmate at age 6 and sailed through it. She passed it to DD1 who developed thrombocytopenia and spent two weeks in the hospital and three months of follow-up blood tests. Don't risk other peoples' health and safety.

@Suzi888

Nurseries will take children with chicken pox, at least they do in this LA, provided no staff are pregnant. Does make me wonder about pregnant parents of children attending the nursery, they just inform us via email and they’ll pop a poster on the door. Most parents seem happy for children to get it, so presume that’s why the nursery still take them.

So they put staff who don't know they are pregnant at risk...

Also, that's a very sneaky way of making sure your staff have no choice but to tell you that they are pregnant very early on.

Nursery would be aware of any immunocompromised children in the setting so if they have advised you can still send him in, I would go ahead. I don't think you can be expected to keep your child off eveey time they have a random spot

DDs nursery would be singularly unimpressed if I were to take her in with CP, and if they found a rash/spots during a nappy change they'd ring me at work to come and collect her immediately. It's a pain in the arse re: work, but honestly I'd be a wee bit gutted if I thought she'd passed it on in the nursery.

And this is why I have paid £120 to have my daughter vaccinated against chickenpox.

OP - you should look into vaccinating yourself and your child if it isn't. I'd change nursery too if that's their version of infection control process.

@JustLyra I never really thought about that, but yes I guess so. We were always told if a staff member was pregnant, perhaps that’s why. The nursery was over two floors, with different rooms. I can remember they put a sign up once saying there had been an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth and oral herpes in one of the rooms. Whether staff can avoid a certain room I don’t know.

A nice warm bath and tuck him up in bed, nice & toasty.
If it's chicken pox, that will bring out note spots.

When I was working in a nursery, if we suspected a child was starting with chicken pox, we'd tuck them up really well at sleep time then when changing nappy after sleep, we'd check for spots, they tend to come out with warmth

@Chwaraeteg

Nursery would be aware of any immunocompromised children in the setting so if they have advised you can still send him in, I would go ahead. I don't think you can be expected to keep your child off eveey time they have a random spot

Wouldn't you rather not risk a pregnant woman picking up her toddler from the nursery ending up losing her baby, ending up on oxygen (as I did) or her newborn doing the same?

No, no, no, just no, please don't send him in if you suspect chicken pox.

[quote Suzi888]@JustLyra I never really thought about that, but yes I guess so. We were always told if a staff member was pregnant, perhaps that’s why. The nursery was over two floors, with different rooms. I can remember they put a sign up once saying there had been an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth and oral herpes in one of the rooms. Whether staff can avoid a certain room I don’t know.[/quote]
Sounds like a nursery with no belief in their staff having any privacy.

I worked with a boss like that once.

Fgs. You have seen the GP.
The GP has given you THEIR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE

But somehow you feel it’s better to come on MN and ask strangers who have no idea at all of it is chicken pox and if you should send your child to nursery.
What was the point of seeing the GP?

As far as I am concerned, GP has said it’s ok. You’ve checked. Your dc is well in themselves. Nursery is happy with it.
Child goes to nursery.

@Chwaraeteg

Nursery would be aware of any immunocompromised children in the setting so if they have advised you can still send him in, I would go ahead. I don't think you can be expected to keep your child off eveey time they have a random spot

For a policy of sending kids in with suspected CP to be ok nursery would have to be aware of any person any child, or staff member, comes into contact with who is immunocompromised or pregnant...

Given they cannot possibly know that they should not be advising sending a child with suspected CP in

Guidelines for early years state that you should inform parents if there are infections like chicken pox and hand, foot and mouth in the setting - not so that you can choose to keep your child off to avoid catching it, or avoid if you are pregnant, but so that you can look out for signs in your child and because they are highly infectious diseases....which is why all the advice is to quarantine your child and keep them home.

To the point, a GP would very aware of the all the issues associated with a child with POTENTIALLY CP.

Why do you think said GPQ has said it’s OK for a child to go to nursery if the potential risks re so high??

The nursery agreement is, imo, nowhere nor there. It’s important to tell them of course. But the point is that a HCPQ who well versed in
1- actually making a diagnosis
2- evaluating potential risk
Didn’t see it as an issue.....

I thought my DS might have chicken pox. They were exactly like chicken pox spots initially. Except they didn't blister.

He's actually had the same spots a few times since and I am always careful at 1st, but they have never actually been chickenpox.

With my eldest there was no questioning it

If its no worse or not blistered by morning I would say its probably not chickenpox.

@Chwaraeteg

Nursery would be aware of any immunocompromised children in the setting so if they have advised you can still send him in, I would go ahead. I don't think you can be expected to keep your child off eveey time they have a random spot

They may know about the kids in their setting but they aren't privvy to the children's parents and families health issues?

Seems very strange advice from both the GP and the nursery, given your child has been in contact with a known case? Although my GP told me that my DC2 "rash" was CP and then a year later she got actual CP twice!! First time a mild but obvious case, and six weeks later an undeniable outbreak.

Your DC could just have it very mildly. I didn't have a spot on me when my 3 younger siblings all got CP but I've been tested in every pregnancy and show immunity so it is thought I may have had a mild case when my siblings had it (not sure how scientifically correct that is and if a person with "mild CP" can spread it?)