Childminders Club: Ds has gooey eye...........

[HellyBelly]

Ds has another cold and last night must have rubbed his nose up his eyes as there was a dry mess up his face this morning

Anyway, he had some crusty bits in his eye lashes, not much but first time - again, thought was due to it drying in the night from his nose. However this afternoon I've noticed a couple of gooey bits in one eye (in the corner, just a little bit).

Does this mean he has conjunctivitis? I've never come across this so don't know how you know for sure?

Also, if this is what he has (I won't be able to see Dr til tomorrow), I will obviously have to call parents and let them know but what if they still want me to look after their lo's? What do you do in this case? My policy says exclude mindees until eyes are clear.

Got to go as baby crying but thought I should seek some advice.

Thanks :)

my mindee has exactly the same thing, developed yesterday. He has a cold and has obviously rubbed his eyes after picking his nose! I had him yesterday but mum saw GP in the evening who (I think) has diagnosed conjunctivitis and definately an ear infection on top. Obviously, he didn't come today, but if mum wants me to, I will probably have him back tomorrow.
My policies say 24 hours after prescribed treatment started.
So, not sure about your other mindees, maybe just tell parents and ask them what they think. Obviously you can't exclude your own ds

Cheers for that. Pretty sure he has got it as he's had one more bit and it was really gooey this time and a brighter colour - yuck! :(

Phoned mindees mum (only got one tomorrow as other on hols) and she still wants her to come and is happy for me to take her with us to Dr's so all sorted. Funny thing is she's just woken up from nap and had a tiny bit of goo too!!

Hope it clears soon. Will have to let babies mum know too.

Out of interest, what is everyone elses policy on this? I'm wondering whether I need to be so strict on my policy as to say exclude until eyes clear? (I got help with this originally)

I would offer parents the choice about sending their child to me if mine had this problem (knowing full well that they would happily send them). My children were older (youngest was 8) when I started minding so, even if they were off school, parents were fine about their children coming.

Conjunctivitis is a dodgy one if mindees have it as, technically, they are not supposed to come - I know it's an absolute no-no with nurseries. However, I have had mindees here with it, and all the other parents are fine about it (I've asked in advance). We are obviously very careful about "sharing" too much!

I was told by a GP that there are two sorts of conjunctivitis, and only one of them is infectious (but us lowly minders and parents wouldn't know which is which) - not sure if it's true?

Cheers TP. Everyone so far is aware apart from Friday's baby's mum - will contact her shortly. Even the lady with baby coming to vist (interview) tomorrow still wants to come which surprises me. The mum of mindee ds's age said she mentioned itchy eyes last night so may end up with it but I'm fine dealing with these 2 HOWEVER if ds ends up really bad (he's been quite bad in the last hour), I will contact Thursday baby's mum again and say I can't have the baby as I need to look after ds properly - baby cries a lot due to teething and it's a long day that one.

Thanks for the advice, off to the Dr's tomorrow so will hopefully get something to clear it up quick :)