AIBU to be mega pissed off with DS nursery???

[user1468829213]

Opinions please...my 13 month old has been absolutely fine this week apart from teething so a bit more clingy than usual. No raised temperature or illness. He went to nursery as usual Wednesday & was absolutely fine when I dropped him off, nursery updated the app to say he’s fine eating normally etc. Then at about 2 they call to say he woke up from his nap hot so they did his temp & 39.5 so we need to collect him as so high but till we get there they gave him some calpol. DH went to collect him 30 mins later & he said he seemed fine, got him home did temp & 36, put him down for a nap & temp still 36 when he wakes up & happily eating Easter egg on sofa!
Nursery told my DH because of his temp he needs a negative covid test before coming back...bit extreme I think with his temp rise seemingly lasting less than an hour but fair enough rules are rules. Do him a lateral flow test as we have these in the house & negative...send this off to nursery to which I get a message saying it needs to be a PCR test.
At this I ring the nursery to tell them DS is absolutely fine & I’m not putting him through another PCR test unnecessarily. Their response was if he doesn’t have a test he will need to isolate for 10 day’s as he has ‘covid symptoms’. I tell her surely a fluke temp rise of less than an hour isn’t covid & definitely teething especially as it went down straight after having calpol. She sees my point so rings the director but she again won’t back down & says it’s ‘government guidelines’ & he can’t come back without having a negative PCR test.
Since I was backed into a corner we took him for the test yesterday morning even though yet again he has been ABSOLUTELY FINE & I have myself seen no evidence of a high temperature or illness & are taking their word for it he had a temp of 39.5.
The thing that really makes me angry is their ‘Covid terms & conditions’ means we still have to pay them for his sessions thurs & today un till we get the negative result back...husband works in professional cricket & has had to miss the first game of the season too so not good.
AIBU to be mega pissed at nursery, It all seems so unfair for such a sudden rise & fall in temperature that I never saw evidence of myself??

As a former Nursery Manager, I think the setting have been very sensible and that you are indeed being very unreasonable.

Totally reasonable request from the Nursery. Your child has one if the recognised symptoms and needs to be tested or if you don’t want to test, you keep him off for 10 days. They’re following procedure. You seem more bothered about your lack of childcare than getting him checked to prevent possibly passing the virus in to other children or staff. As for payment, of course you still have to pay, it’s not the nursery’s fault your child is ill. Very self entitled post.

And yes paying for your child's place is standard when they're sick. It's not stinging your bank balance, you would've been paying it anyway??

It does seem you don’t trust your nursery?
But this is all usual I remember when my daughter had bad teething she always got runny bum - two nappies like that meant she had to go home as they couldn’t risk a sickness bug! Even though they knew what she was like!
Chicken pox meant 6 working days off and still had to pay the nursery!
I had a lovely nursery and trusted them - rules in turn meant my daughter was being protected.

@confusedfriday

It was like this for ages in nurseries and schools. Why do you think you’ve got to be an exception? Because no one else lost jobs or income or had to find an alternative childcare due to Covid? Your sense of entitlement is ... wow.

This 👆

Part of the reason why I am no longer a Nursery Manager.

Plus, what’s your husband being a professional cricket player got to do with anything? It’s hardly an essential worker role.

If this happens again take your own thermometer in and check. Maybe theirs is faulty.

@LadyPenelope68

Plus, what’s your husband being a professional cricket player got to do with anything? It’s hardly an essential worker role.

I missed this. Surely that's one of the least important jobs so he can't easily stay home

Hi OP, sorry if PP have already said this. The issue is giving the baby calpol. Calpol can reduce fevers. If they hadn't given the baby calpol, then you may have seen the baby having a high temperature when the baby came home. Calpol can take anywhere between 2 to 6 hours to wear off so you cannot say for certainty that there was no fever until at least 6 hours have passed.

Sounds like the nursery has a strict policy. Just to say that nurseries have strict policies, even in non-COVID times. DC1's nursery would send home babies if they had 2 runny nappies in a row. So if they gave the children beans for lunch and then changed two dirty nappies, home the babies went. Okay, yes, it could be a tummy bug. or it could be the beans (or insert any other food you think that your child will have runny poos from that you know they just fed them...)

Sorry you are in this situation and I feel for you. Hope you are able to work out work and childcare arrangements.

All the best

I’ve had to deny entry to children because they’ve had a high temp and I’ve also had to send children home with a high temp
All have been tested and all have come back negative
Thankfully most parents have been fine about it
Luckily, we have had no cases in our nursery so I guess our policies must be working
Op, how would you feel if the nursery didn’t exclude for a temperature and there was an outbreak? The nursery would have to possibly close, staff and children might get ill, the nursery might suffer financially and never return open again
Or would you be happy because you wouldn’t have to pay in that scenario?

The nursery are correctly following the government guidance.

They are right that a symptomatic child needs the PCR test not lateral flow. A high-temperature is a symptom without debate. The fact it reduced after Calpol and could be attributed to other illnesses is largely irrelevant.

Having to pay while you wait for the negative test result is frustrating however wouldn’t you still pay if you had him at home because he was unwell?

Unfortunately I have had to have my DC tested twice and paid full nursery fees each time. The first time the test took nine days to come back. Absolutely infuriating. You have my sympathies on that.

@BadMudda
Tell me about it. I work in a primary and had to send a few children home with the temperatures. Parents were so unhappy. But what am I expected to do? They were also unhappy when all the bubble had to be sent home due to the fact I myself got sick with Covid that I potentially caught at school. My own children were sent home to isolate multiple times so I had to ask DH to take unpaid time off so I could be at work. Did I get frustrated? Yes I did. But I’m no special.

To be honest even pre Covid, if we had taken a child's temperature and found it to be 39.5 - we would have followed our protocol of re testing, administering Calpol and calling parents to pick up the child .

Obviously now it is Covid times, and the new protocol is to isolate and test.

You do realise that when they gave him calpol that that would have taken his temperature down? You seem surprised his temp was normal when your husband got him home.

@user1468829213

Thanks I suppose the consensus is IABU to be pissed off...!

Just for those who work in nurseries or have children in one is it also normal practice that a parent should still have to pay for the sessions he/she misses whilst waiting for the negative result? I was hoping it would come this morning so he could go in but nothing yet so looks like he’s missing 2 x days which stings the bank balance a lot!

I work in a nursery, and whilst I don't deal with invoices, I believe this is the rule at our nursery too. It's frustrating for parents, but I think the nurseries opinion is probably that parents will still get paid for the missing days and they still have staff to pay. Not great if parents don't get paid though!

If the nursery ignored protocols with other children in the setting and let them all come in-‘oh, it was just a little cough/not much of a temperature’ in order to not inconvenience the very busy parents (maybe some of them are professional footballer or polo players) and covid spread through the setting, I’m sure you would have something to say about that.

You’re being totally unreasonable. Also we have rapid PCRs now that are way easier to do, you could have been out of isolation earlier if you’d booked immediately. And cricketer is very far from an essential job.

Our nursery has been very clear about this - any temp over 37.7 needs a covid test. Children are more likely than adults to be asymptomatic. It's not fair that nursery staff are put at risk. It's now in their T&C's.

My old nursery was very helpful, if a child's temperature was rising They would call you to take the child home but because it wasn't a "covid" temp they could come in again next day as long as they were well.

It has always been the case that you pay for nursery when your child is unwell.

The age old myth about teething giving a high temperature also needs to change, many many illnesses were passed to my own children by ‘teething’ children. I will concede that sometimes it makes them a bit flushed and warm, but 39.5 is not a bit warm. You could ask them to hold off the calpol and monitor if it’s straight after a nap, but their hands are pretty tied with the current policy. It just is what it is. Covid will spread quickly in a nursery.

Perhaps to put it another way: you are the parent of another child. The nursery let a child back without negative PCR following a short lived temperature. Child seemed fine. Then there is a cluster of positive cases and the whole nursery is closed for isolation.

Also: YABVU using a lateral flow on a 13 month old - they are only approved for secondary age and above (so 12 years +)

I tell her surely a fluke temp rise of less than an hour isn’t covid & definitely teething especially as it went down straight after having calpol

I don’t think you understand what paracetamol does to temperatures.

They are doing the exact right thing.

Isn’t it better to be safe than sorry
Yes it’s frustrating but it’s a fact of life at the moment.
Speak to the nursery reg the fees

I seriously doubt any nursery would lie about a child's temp to solve their staffing issues and especially not give them unnecessary medication if not warranted.

I'm a teacher so I've sent kids home with a temp in school to be told their temp is normal at home. Likewise I have a 3 year old and I have had him sent home with a temp that was normal the entire time he was home. They may have spiked a quick temp. The thermometer may have been acting up but ultimately as annoying as it is the guidelines are there for a reason and a very good one at that. Lateral Flow tests aren't as accurate and even if he tested positive on a lft he would have to have had a pcr to confirm anyway.

We still get charged for days off sick. Likewise we still get charged for the week they closed at Christmas and the 2 days they closed at Easter nevermind the days I keep ds home because I'm off work also (and give them notice) that's the thing about childcare unfortunately. We don't get charged if the bubble / nursery has to close for 10 days isolation.

Guidelines also state that child must remain off for 48 hours after a temperature regardless of a negative covid test.