CMs - do you exclude for conjunctivitis?

[midlandsnightnannybabysitter]

My DS (2) has been to docs this morning and has got conjunctivitis, has been prescribed drops. CM has told me she cannot take him tomorrow due to this (today wasnt a CM day anyway). After googling it seems there is mixed advice on this so was just wondering what other CMs did.

His eyes look red/sore but not gunky. He is fine himself, a little more tired than normal maybe but not so much I would describe him as being poorly - obviuously wouldnt want send to CM if he seemed poorly anyway.

Is it the childminders right to exclude if she wishes or should I have pushed the issue? Have found a lot on the net saying a child does not need to be excluded from nursery/school because of it.

The hpa advice is to not exclude, cm's can operate their own policirs though so you are a

I dont exclude for conjunctivitis

Sorry, meant to say you are bit stuffed

Any other concerns, or can you suck this up?

I would exclude until treatment was sought and the itching had subsided.. I don't want it and I don't want DD getting it, and a child with sore, itchy eyes wouldn't be able to participate fully in activities.

He started drops this morning so has just had one dose so far, he isnt itching/rubbing his eyes so does not seem overly bothered by it. Childcare nightmare for tomorrow but prob not a lot I can do about it - I thought about phoning docs to see if they would provide note of some kind to say no need to exclude him from childcare but even if I could get this (and dont know for sure I could) I cannot force CM to take him I guess so not a lot I can do!

HPA advice says they do not have to be excluded. You have to add CM's own policies to this. Many CM s have a policy about taking part in normal activities and they would not be welcome at places like toddler groups, soft play, etc. Also some minders have a policy about how long they should be on a new medication before attending, in case of a reaction.

Can definitely understand all points of view. I dont know if to text/phone her later and explain he seems fine and eyes not gunky etc and see if she will reconsider but dont want to rock the boat as overall am very happy with her as a CM.

I do exclude for conjunctivitis as it is highly contagious and I have a duty to safeguard the health of all the children in my care including my own. I also had a mindee with conjunctivitis just before last christmas and despite totally paranoid hygiene measures managed to catch it myself which was horrible and totally ruined the first half of my own holiday. I might think differently if it were an older child who could understand instructions about not rubbing their eyes, hand washing etc but babies are naturally going to touch everything and everyone and I just think it is better to all do our best to nip it in the bud and not pass it around. I think if I asked any of my parents "would you be happy for me to continue to care for X (other family's child) while he/she has conjunctivitis?" the answer would be no.

minderjinx Not all conjuctivitis is infectious, there is allergic and infective.

Infective conjunctivitis is caused by infection of your eye with bacteria or a virus.

Sometimes babies develop conjunctivitis in the first few weeks after they are born. This can happen if an infection is passed from the mother's cervix (neck of her womb) or vagina during delivery, or if the baby has a reaction to a treatment applied to his or her eye. Contact your GP if your newborn baby has signs of an eye infection.

Allergic conjunctivitis can be caused by an allergy, such as an allergy to pollen (hay fever), house dust mites or cosmetics.

There are four types of allergic conjunctivitis:

Seasonal allergic conjunctivitis - this affects both of your eyes and people often get it at the same time as hay fever

Perennial allergic conjunctivitis - people with this type of allergic conjunctivitis have symptoms every day throughout the year in both eyes, often on waking each morning

Contact dermatoconjunctivitis - this type of conjunctivitis can irritate your eyelids and it occurs most often in people who use eye drops

Giant papillary conjunctivitis - this is common in people who use soft contact lenses, although it can also occur in people using hard contact lenses and after eye surgery

I get the second frequently as I do not have tears, and use articial tears when I remember!

I do not exclude either.

Sorry you?re in a bit of a fix with childcare. The HPA guidance says it is not an excludable condition, but it is really up to your childcare provider?s policy whether they accept children with it or not.

I exclude for conjunctivitis sticky eye and runny eye conditions because I care for very young children who will rub their eyes and then touch toys/each other. And because a few years ago I caught it and had to close therefore letting down a number of parents and losing a couple of days money, it wasn?t pleasant and it hurt in more ways than one.

It is stated very clearly in my policy and I would imagine your childminder has it written into hers, you should have a copy and if not then ask her for one that way you can avoid these types of issues. I?m sure your childminder appreciates the difficulties you?re experiencing but she will be grateful that you have respected her policy.

CMs this might make you laugh, I know I did.

One night a parent very considerably rang up to find out whether I would take her ds who had "sticky eyes". She said she had taken him to the dr who had prescribed antibiotics for a cold (!) and she would not be asking me to put these in. She went on to say that the dr had said that her ds DEFINITELY did not have conjunctivitis.

I said I would take him. I don't exclude for conjunctivitis anyway but I'm guessing she didn't have her contract to hand.

The next day the child turns up with eyes almost stuck together from all the gunk. I cleaned them throughout the day and was happy to have him as per my policy of accepting children with conjunctivitis.

Anyway, we went out and bumped into a mutual friend of myself and said parent who exclaimed "oh, little x, are you feeling better?" She then said to me that said parent had cancelled a meet up in the week as x and his little sister both had.........CONJUNCTIVITIS!!!

I do exclude and the reason for this is that the child who has it may have mild case and not be too bother with the symptoms. Another may catch it and have a terrible time with it. This happened to my DD, a mindee came in with this and past it to DD who after a few days woke up screaming as she could not open her eyes and was so freaked out as she did not understand why the world was black. This carried on for several days even with drops so I think as a CM we have to think about the effect it will have the children that may catch it.

I'm an Optometrist and agree with your CM - it can be really contagious and can occasionally turn nasty.

Its easy to differentiate between infective and allergic - I don't think any CM would exclude for allergic.

wedoNOTdothat - you must be very tolerant! I would not be laughing in that situation. I would feel the parents took me for an idiot and my trust in them would be sadly diminished.

I think perhaps WedoNOTdothat meant that ironic laugh, born of despair, that we do when the alternative would be to sit down and cry!

Exactly Tanith, we've all been there..

minder jinx, you're right I know the parent thinks this about me. I'm not really bothered as the child is a delight and i do this job because i love working with children. The parent isn't causing me any stress because I do everything to the letter with her. She's tried it on before with different things but after being charged a late payment fee and being charged for late pick ups this stopped very quickly. She went scarlet when I told her I'd seen this mutual friend! And more fool her for making up such a ridiculous tale rather than bothering to read her contract and policy booklet. Anyone who's worked in childcare for a month knows what conjunctivitis looks like.

I exclude for conjunctivitus as I have had really bad conjunctivitus myself which nearly hospitalised me.