Nursery and calpol

[MammasChicken]

Im a FTM and DC will be 9 months when they will be attending nursery. This whole childcare thing is very new to me and i admit i am finding it pretty daunting, as i have no one in my life to talk about this stuff with so am trying to figure out how it all works and what the best practise is.

I'm applying for nursery for my DC atm ready for next year and 1 nursery in particular seems to have some odd terms and conditions/policy

Such as (for e.g) that you can not send your child in to nursery for 24 hours after calpol has been administered. Also if they have to administer it whilst DC is in their care it states they will need collected immediately after its given and won't be accepted back into the nursery until 24hrs has past after the last dose DC recieved. You also have to keep DC off for a full day when they have their immunisations. And if your child is teething you need to have written approval by the manager that they are allowed to be given specified and agreed treatments like bonjela, paracetamol, etc to help and yet the above rule will still apply.

Are these normal requirements? Yes i understand if DC is actually unwell in presentation etc but It seems very odd that this is required no matter what the circumstances. One of the main questions doctors seem to ask is if you've tried giving calpol/OTC paracetamol before calling. Plus they still expect you to pay for that whole time they are refusing DC to attend for what seems like something minor.

Maybe I'm overthinking but some of these Ts & Cs seem slightly odd to me.

Any advice.

That does seem a bit OTT. Ours ask you not to bring them if they've had calpol that morning, but otherwise just common sense. Have you any other options? Are your work likely to be flexible? Do you have an OH who can share the inevitable sick days?

It's unusual not to have an exception for teething but with most other illnesses, if the child is ill enough to need calpol, they're too ill for nursery (sorry, the first year is brutal for days off work). There'll always be some parents who try to dose them up and send them in when they shouldn't, so nursery need to be pretty hard line about it. You may find they are more flexible once they know you and have established you're not a piss-taker, but they need the official rules to be strict so they can force the micky takers to keep their clearly sick kids off.

Our kids were at 3 nurseries overall. It was normal in all of them to have to be picked up after being given Calpol, but not the 24hrs rule in any of them. Nor the immunisations 24hrs.

If you’re going bank to work, I’d be wary of nurseries with those policies – kids that age probably consume three pints of calpol a year! I highly doubt all the parents are disclosing when they’ve had to give Calpol for their gripey kids of an evening and then they’re in the next day.

Ours were fine with giving Calpol and having them if if they were in good form once dosed, but I think that's increasingly unusual.

Im a lone parent with minimal support for childcare. Dad isnt involved at all and if he was is only allowed supervised contact so he would be no help. I have no other family members or friends to help step in.

Im struggling to get work to be flexible. I work 20 hours, they've agreed I can spread my hours over 4 days to make them shorter and can have 1 set day a week so far on the condition that I work 1 late shift a week (don't know how that's possible as local nurseries closes at 6pm). Also nursery will not be flexible so I need to stick to set days and times from the offset which will be tricky with work not agreeing to that.

It's just me who can manage all this so it seems I'm either going to have to pay for full days childcare I don't need to cover me and end up with a wage simply for childcare or I end up using childcare in an emergency that probably isn't safe (I.e exs family or elderly relatives) which i really cant do.

There’s a couple around here with the same rule. It does seem to stop illnesses being spread, to be honest, we’ve only ever had one day off nursery for illness in two years.

Calpol gets rid of the symptom not the illness. They'll be in nursery spreading what they have to the other children.

Nursery charges per day so you’d be better off doing 2/3 days not 4 surely?

Obviously the older Calpol Lover, may have managed to convince their parent of a bad belly ache which really needs Calpol and doesn't exist! Otherwise though, you presumably suspect your child needs Calpol because they are exhibiting signs of pain. If their behaviour is showing something isn't right, then presumably they have got something wrong, which is possibly an infection and so no they shouldn't be in nursery. Even if it isn't, if they are behaving as if they feel unwell, then they will need extra care from a parent. I'm sure if your child has a condition which causes pain often, nursery will discuss this as a special situation.

I haven't heard of such a rule. In both our old and current nursery, they are fine to come in but you need to let staff know when they had their last dose of Calpol, and you need to provide it yourself and give permission to administer if needed.

The paying when not attending for illness is normal. But they seem OTT.

My little one started nursery in October at 9 months old and they’ve given her calpol a couple of times. They just ring me, I agree, they give her calpol. She’s never been sent home for it.

Our nursery has similar rules to this OP - will not allow you to sign in calpol and you reduce a temperature, only if it's for pain relief. (So naturally all kids are now "teething" all the time (!) 😅) and you have to collect them as soon as they have a temperature and not return until 24 hours after it's gone.

All I can say is that our eldest was with the same group of nursery when he was younger and the rules completely changed during the pandemic and have never gone back. Before covid appeared they had no issue with administration of calpol or ibru with parental permission and were happy to be led more by how the child was. It's a pain, especially as our DD can get mild temperatures and still be happy and running around laughing, but not a lot we can do! (Plus other than this meds lockdown situation we absolutely love her nursery and so does she).

My two year old is in her second nursery setting.
The first one was very similar to what you describe, and I found it impossible to work, they would ring me constantly to collect, wouldn't give Calpol and would call you for the slightest thing. Even to tell you your child had scratched themselves accidentally in their sleep (scratch not visible at pick up) I understand documenting it on the app but I was getting at least 3-4 calls a week over things like this.

Second nursery couldn't be more different. Happy to take them whilst they are on antibiotics and administer them, happy to give Calpol (have a form on the app so we can note when we last gave Calpol, and they know not to give it too soon).
I had a call a few weeks ago to say little one had a temperature and can they give Calpol. As she was happy in herself and her temp started going down they were happy to keep her there. Old nursery would have made me collect immediately.

First nursery was big chain and very profit driven, second nursery privately owned and very understanding that parents have to work.
I do and have taken time off and collected when little one has been very poorly, unsettled etc but we can't do that every other week!
Staff seem a lot happier at this one too, the first nursery they were always very stressed and you could just tell unhappy. My toddler loves going to nursery now where as she cried going in every day previously.

Sorry but there is no way I am not giving my teething baby calpol before nursery. If I had a toothache would I not take paracetamol before work? I won’t leave a child in pain.

That sounds normal to me. When my dc were at preschool they also weren't allowed to go in if they had a sibling with certain illnesses as there were immune compromised children at the preschool. So ds2 had 4 weeks off preschool for chicken pox, 2 weeks off when his brother had it, then another 2 weeks when he had it. Meanwhile his cousin who was at a different preschool was allowed to go in with chicken pox as they said she had probably already passed it on to the other children before the spots came out.

I'd look at other nurseries. They sound anti medication and it would be really hard to manage.

I understand and completely agree that illness management is important in nursery but what I'm afraid of is exactly what @Hoplittlebunnyonrepeat describes. Its going to be impossible for me to take multiple phone calls a week asking me to come and collect DC for the slightest thing. A temperature doesn't always mean a sick infectious baby, but I wouldn't even make enough money to fund the nursery at that precautionary rate.

I get paid by the hour worked not salary so I really cant afford to lose out on a lot of my wage for unnecessary collections and still be expected to fund the full time as if its been taken. I am a one earnings household, I can just about survive on half of that going on childcare just so I can return to work as it is. Any additional costs or loss of earnings due to childcare issues will likely mean I can't actually afford my basic household costs. And this is what I really need to be careful of and endure the nursery is worth it and not just the right setting all round.

They sound annoying. There's no reason for 24hrs off after immunisations as a blanket rule. The most recent ones we've had were the pre school ones for my eldest, and the one year ones for my youngest and neither of them seemed remotely bothered by them. They were completely fine to go to nursery!

Our nursery is quite sensible I think. A mild temp (below 38.5) and no other symptoms (including no tiredness, no upset, eating fine, etc), the nursery will call us and ask if they can give calpol, and then the child can stay. A higher temp, or combined with any other symptoms, they go home. Realistically this means they will still get sent home most of the time as they generally will have other symptoms, but it stops it happening for a minor teething temp. I think with my eldest it was twice they gave calpol at nursery without sending home, and both times she was totally fine. TBH I wouldn't even give calpol at home for a mild temp with no other symptoms, but the nursery prefer to because if the temp doesn't go down with calpol, they then send them home.

And actually neither of mine had the horrendous start to nursery that I read about on here with regard to frequent illnesses. So I don't think the policy led to more illness.

Op make sure you're getting what money you can for childcare back through UC.

Have you looked at a childminder? They might be more flexible. I'd also start looking for a babysitter who can cover you for your late shift.

Mine are now teenagers but if I recall, the rule at all their nurseries at the time was not to bring them in if they’d had calpol that day at all, had to pick them up straightaway if the staff had given calpol (fair) and I’m pretty sure if had to wait for 24 hours after the first dose of antibiotics before you could take child into nursery incase they had a bad reaction. Which was a pain for my first child as she had so many ear infections but massively improved after each first dose of antibiotics so was usually fine to carry on with her usual routine.

The rule about the vaccines definitely seems overkill to me but I suppose these rules occur when parents have taken the piss and bring their children into nursery when they’re far too sick to be there and it’s miserable for everyone.

Ours will administer Calpol and if it gets the temperature down they're happy to let them stay. Having spoken to mum friends at other local nurseries that does seem to be particularly relaxed - most others send them home if Calpol is needed. But not for 24 hours! Never heard that before and can't see how you'd get through the winter months in that case. I would shop around a little more if you can.

We have been at two nurseries and both had the same rule around no calpol before nursery and if they need to give calpol, then they must be picked up. Our first also had no nursery for 24 hours after having calpol so it just meant no one told them when they had calpol.

The immunisations is a bit extreme though.