How do i approach a parent and tell them i suspect.........

[Kidstrak]

That their baby has an allergy to cats?!!!, the baby is 14m i have had him for 6m, when the baby came to me i was told of the excema that covered the skin mostly in the joints, i was told not to use cream on him as they done this at home, (although the creams are in his bag and say 3times daily and he is with me for 8hrs at a time) he scratches his body all the time and i have offered to put the cream on him, but parents say not to bother even though it weeps under his legs. He always is sleepy during the day as he doesn't sleep well during the night, up several times.

Anyway over last few months he has a constanly runny nose and a rattling chest like asthma some days more wheezing than others, but parents say he hasn't got asthma just a cold, but this so called cold has lasted far too long for my liking, poor little thing scratches his eyes also when they water.

Last week i noticed wart like spots on his bottom and said to his parents when they picked him up, they took him to the doctors who said it was a virus he had, and it would prob go away on its own, However earlier this evening i googled his syptoms and pet allergy came up, Cats! They have 2 cats! and the site also states about wart like spots which are a type of Herpes that happens when bacteria get into the excema!

Am i jumping the gun or does this little one have an allergy!!!!!

I know this is really hard for you kidstrack and that you have tried to talk to the mother, but to be honest i'd be furious if I found out that my childminder had phoned my doctor behind my back. Even though you weren't suggesting cruelty in an upfront way, the underlying message is that you think that the parents are in some way unfit. I realise you've tried to raise the subject a number of times but really think you have to stand up to this mother and just lay it on the line - that you don't feel that you can care properly for the child without doing everything you can to relieve his discomfort, and that if they won't allow you to do that then you don't feel that you are doing your job properly etc etc. Hopefully she would then get the message and sign the form. If not, and she ups and leaves it's her loss as you're obviously a very caring and committed childminder and she'd be mad to let you go.

I don't know if this is helpful. But my DD gets excema in her joints (mostly inside of elbow). I have found that all the creams sold in Boots and precribed by doctor (though never used steroids) don't really do much. But there is a product sold in the states (and rarely over here) called neosporin that works great. It is an ointment (looks like vasoline) with antibiotics. It comes in a small yellow tube. Occassionally I see it at Boots, but not very often. You might want to try it since the parents have not specifically forbidden you from using this one. And if you put it on in the morning who will ever know???

I haven't read this whole thread, but it does seem odd that they don't want you to put anything on him, yet leave it in the bag.

couple of points:

1. I would love to have someone like you looking after my kids - it's clear that you really care for those in your charge
2. why not just tell them teh truth? you were concerned so looked up possibilities. any parent would surely be delighted.

good for you !

I visited my HV with a concern about someones dc, they had an infection and were not being treated for it. She told me that unless a family member visited her with same complaint nothing could be done.

Kidstrak - hope you can get this sorted soon. Poor little thing. Excema with herpes is excema herpeticum and it can be quite serious.

My Ds has food allergies and he had bad excemea until they were diagnosed and eliminated from his diet. the excema cleared up practically overnight.

He did also have definate irritatio - would scratch until he bled with some of the food he is allergic to. Just a thought it could be anything.

I also was reluctant to use the steriod cream muc- but I did use it when it was bad. The peadiatrician told me that if I used it more liberally when it wwas bad, in the long run I 'd use less of it and the excema would clear up better too. And she reassured me that the amount and dose he was prescribed would not harm his skin at the rate I was using it.

I too think you need to sit down and share fully your dicomfort about all of this ,and before you do so decide what you will do if the parent still refuses to let you use creams or wont seek further help

elidel is a new cream out that i've found works better than anything for ds eczema, it's not steroid based either. You can use aqueous cream instead of soap, so can't you use it to 'wash' lo before lunch/snack etc etc that way parents can't object to cream and lo get some relief from te itching????

the parents could opbject to that, my dd1 and other children i have known of via eczema groups have reacted badly to aquous cream as it contains lanolin.

I've read through and it really does sound like the mother needs a kick up the arse. That poor little boy clearly needs something, but I don't think you should be applying anything behind her back. I hope you do manage to contact her HV and they can speak to her. My cm can be a pain in the arse and sent the HV round for one of mine for bloody nappy rash which annoyed me, but this is far mroe serious. Further to what kidstrak said, it does sound like a relatively minor kind of neglect - social services call it failure to meet health needs. I know because when I became involved with ss they questioned it of me, but found I was meeting their needs.

hi all thanks for the messages, i spoke with the mum on fri, mum wanted to up the lo hours after xmas so she was here for about an hour discussing when she wanted the little one to be cared for, i mentioned a few things and eventually got on to lo skin, i said as his skin hadn't cleared up she should seek a second opinion from doctor just incase it had become infected and had he ever been tested for a milk allergy or cat allergy she looked at me weirdly and said "do you know i have always wondered about an allergy" god i could of jumped up and down when she said that, infact i could of kissed her, i said if doctors says its infected the i must put the cream on when he's here incase he gets more infected with other kids being here,(talking crap i know but anything to let me put cream on him) So hopefully now when she takes lo to the doctor he will pick up on all that she is saying and give new prescriptions that i can then put on him! Still waiting on the supposed call from HV but not that it matters now.