Childminders: When baby is ill

[FaneFeyre]

Hi childminders, would like your opinion on this:

DD (aged almost 5 months) seems to have woken up with her first cold this morning. No temp, just sniffles. I dropped her to her childminder's this morning and mentioned that I wasn't sure about leaving her since CM has a 7.5 month old baby and I didn't want DD to infect him! She assured me that her lo has frequent snuffles too.

CM has just texted to say DD has just vomited and had a runny nappy; said she seems fine otherwise & no temp. The text was just an FYI, but should I pick her up? I'm a ftm and like I said this is DD's first bout of being off-colour so I don't really know what to do - maybe she would just be more comfortable at home?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Just text and say you will pick her up if needs be leave the ball in her court

For me D&V is an immediate pick up and exclusion until 48 hours clear, as per HPA guidelines.

With most CMs:

Colds with no temp = fine to go if well enough to continue with usual activities
D or V = child sent home and needs to be off until 48 hours has passed since the last bout (last runny nappy/vomit).

I'm surprised the CM hasn't send them home immediately but if she doesn't have any other mindees, that might be why. I personally would still send home as I don't want to get a bug plus I loose money if I'm off ill.

HTH :)

Great, thanks for your input, appreciate it.

If your cm is doing things strictly by the book, she should ask you to collect your child and exclude for 48 hours as a precaution against spreading any illnesses to others in her setting, including herself.

I am a cm and I have not enforced this policy if I have had mindees that have vomited but are otherwise well. This did bite me in the bum when, just before Christmas, I accepted a mindee who had dioriah (sorry, bad spelling) and vomiting which turned out to be stomach flu. Everyone in my setting, mindees, my family and me, all came down with it! I have learnt my lesson.

Collect your child if you think they would be happier at home, I know when my child is ill I want to be with her for my own piece of mind as well as her comfort.

Op, as an aside, I am 99% certain that Ofsted only allows one child under the age of one (including CMs own children)?

You can get a variation Gnocchi - DD was 9mo when I started, my very first charge was 7.5mo

Gnocchi - we're in Ireland so different regulations in any case.
Going to pick up babs as soon as she wakes from her nap. She'd just be more comfortable at home.

Gnocci- you are wrong I started with 2 9 month olds from different families.

Well, I did say I was only 99% certain, though I obviously didnt think about different countries having different laws.

My Dmum is Ofsted registered CM who has always been told (along with advice from Ofsted online) that CMs were only allowed 3 under 5 year old of which no more than one can be under 1.

gnocci.... you ask ofsted for a variation

when i first registered I asked for my certificate to say "2 children under the age of 1" and I got it. I can still only have 3 children in total in the early years group though

FF... If I had a child in my care that was vomiting, I too would send home and exclude for 48 hours. I have the other minded children and my own family's health to think about

Gnocchi 99% of CMs know that Ofsted often don't know their arse from their elbow Every person you speak to at HQ interprets the guidance differently!

Positive Outlook, this helped me to remember.

DI And Ronald Regan Have Oranges Every Afternoon - DIARRHOEA

OP, it is very thoughtful of you to be considering this question.

I have just one very young mindee and a pre-schooler of my own. If the mindee throws up or has diarrhoea I do exclude him for 48 hours because I don't want my own son to get infected - this would mean closing and losing the income because I never charge if my own family are ill.

However, sometimes, if my mindee throws up when he is already with me, I figure that the damage has already been done, and I don't insist that his mum picks him up straight away.

Diarrhoea - Doesn't It Always Run Really Horribly Over Each Ankle?