childminders: how ill does a child have to be before you won't look after them?

Personally I say if it's more than a cold I can't have them. Non-contagious is fine if it doesn't affect daily routine/care of other mindees.

Will they go out for walks/school run?
Are they happy in themselves?
Do they need Calpol occasionally (ie not every 4 hrs on the dot)

Would be OK

But if I have to stay in with a miserable child and give calpol on the dot then no

Does that help?

i have had 3 children today and 2 of them had noses like taps
big green candel waxes from their noses all day
but we went to playgroup, they ate their dinner, they played well, no calpol was given so i was fine with them being here

the other week i had a baby pooing green water, the first one was like yuk but maybe its her teeth but as the second one happend 0.2 seconds later i was like no this child is going home
i sods law i got her germ at the weekend

I have them if they have colds and coughs but not infectious diseases which is hard as you don't know they are infectious until spots come out!

The lad I mind has been off this week due to head stitches, the nursery was not able to have him and neither was I as our standards are supposed to be the same. I did not want his stitches bursting while i was picking up my lad from school/or any activities I do at home and then having to sit in A and E with a 14 mth old baby for hours while his parents arrive at the hospital.

Children usually want either one of their parents when they are ill, if a parent is able to take time off that is great or Grandparents can step in, we have to think about the other children in our care.

suppose they are but hey ho ................

local nursery put a sign up resently that they would not accept children with runny noses as there had been alot of staff off due to colds being passed around
well it was the gossip of the playground most parents were cross as they said that basically their child would be at home more than they were at nursery
unsurprisinly alot of parents took their children out (i got some ) and found other childcare arrangments

With a common cold, children get these all the time and can usually continue to join in with the usual routine. My first aid courses have advised that children should stay at home if the snot is green.

I think many parents & childminders feel that the common cold is something we can't avoid and when we've got it we are able to carry on with our lives regardless unlike other illnesses which may pose a serious risk to other people.

Children should stay at home if:-

• they have a temperature
  
• have had sickness or diarrhoea in the previous 48 hours
  
• have a contagious illness that poses a risk to the other minded children and their families and to the childminder and her family (pdf or ring up for free poster Guidance on Infection Control in Schools and other Child Care Settings
  
• are too ill to participate in the general routine (eg too lethargic to walk, really miserable & needing their mum)
  
• are so ill that their care requires more attention than the childminder can give without adversely affecting the quality of care to other minded children.
  
  HTH

I have this sickness policy and basically a child can be admitted with anything else providing they are fit to do the days activities. If they are not fit to do the activity they are not fir to be in childcare.


Sickness Policy
Sick Children will not be admitted to childcare with:
Difficult or rapid breathing.
Unusual rash.
Untreated infected skin patches.
Fever over 100 degrees F.
Excessive coughing.
Children with any of the following will not be admitted to childcare.
Sore throat or difficulty swallowing.
Stiff neck.
Or any communicable disease.


SICKNESS AND DIARRHOEA

A child MUST NOT be brought to the childcare for 48 hours after the last bout of sickness or diarrhoea. This for protection of other children and myself. If I become infected the whole childcare must close for 48 hours.

CONJUCTIVTIS

Children will only be admitted after treatment for 24 hours.

IMPETIGO

Children will only be admitted after treatment for 24 hours.

Please respect the time limits they are for your child?s protection as well as the whole setting.

Noticed on Ayla99's post with the link to the Health Protection Agency's factsheet (which I have myself) that they show conjunctivitis as NOT being an illness/infection that requires exclusion. The subsequent post says what I think, that is is an infectious/contagious condition. I would be very wary of taking any child still displaying the symptoms whether on medication for the previous 24 hours or not - conunctivitis spreads like wild fire!

I agree about conjunctivitis and still don't allow them in with that as it DOES spread very quickly.

Green Snot - that's interesting as I've had green snotty kids and have had them as to me it's just a cold. If they are too ill to do normal stuff though I would send them home (she says after all the problems I've had recently).