Nursery demanding daily lateral flow test for 18 month olds and younger!

[Realitysucks]

Ok so I'm fuming! On Friday we received an emailed letter at 5pm stating from Monday 13th December till 31st December 2021 every child must provide a negative lateral flow test EVERY DAY or they will not be allowed to attend nursery!

My son is 18 months old, has had to have nearly 20 PCR tests since starting nursery in feb this year all negative!

We test twice a week as a household including my son but this is a step to far!

I'm now going to have to put him through the stress of testing every single day !

Surely they can't enforce this?!?

Just don’t do it? Tell them you have, they won’t know

No no you have to show the test to be allowed entry !

I thought you weren’t supposed to do them on under 12s? I don’t see how they can enforce it!

Batshit, I’d do the tests on myself.

Exactly what I thought! Even the updated government website says under 11 do not need to test but to be safe we do! They are telling us to order the tests from the website but it says don't order for under 11s!

I understand they are trying to keep staff safe but this simply is not right!

Test yourself instead OP, they won’t know and in the meantime I’d be complaining to Ofsted and the local public health office. You can ask them to keep your name out of it if you’re bothered about the nursery knowing it was you who complained.

Surely you don’t have to do it in front of them?

As long as you feel you’re taking every precaution to keep your family isolated from the virus, and you’re already testing him as frequently as you say you are, I’d just show them tests I’ve done for myself.

I’d appreciate that they’re taking things seriously, but daily testing for toddlers and the distress it causes them just doesn’t make sense. And I’m saying that as a parent whose dc have both just tested positive after catching it through their childcare setting.

Not a bloody chance would I be doing this. Taken it yourself/stick it under the tap, then produce the neg test on entry.

No way would I be testing my little ones every day. I haven’t had to test my two year old at all yet and I am hoping it stays that way.

You need to change nurseries

That’s horrific. Most under 4s don’t tolerate the tests well and even the ones who are reasonably compliant tend to wriggle a bit. The swabs are big for the noses of small children and I can’t help but think daily tests might actually damage their noses!

No way would I do this and I’d be really concerned at the lack of understanding of young children that your nursery is showing by requesting this. It’s bonkers

How could you get enough tests?
They only send out enough for 2 a week for the free government ones don’t they? Unless you can buy them somewhere?

Oh my god! That could cause some serious trauma for young children. My own toddler is properly hysterical when anything comes near his nose after being tested so many bloody times - he hasn’t ever had covid, just the normal run of toddler colds, coughs and fevers that they get at nursery as standard.

That is madness. Definitely talk to them, report and do it on yourself!

Oh I’ve just seen you can buy them but looks like daily test would be very expensive!

Not a chance I would be doing this to either of my DC who are 1 & 3.

I had to do one on 3 yo and I actually managed to do it whilst he was asleep as he could sleep through an earthquake. I can't imagine adding the daily battle of that to the stress of getting them out in the morning!

Just do on yourself or run the swab under water.

That is ridiculous.

I wouldn't be sending my DCs to a nursery that demands a daily intrusive test on such young children, it's just not right.

I know there are ways round it but it's just so stupid! I can't see anyone doing this every day on an under 5. So surely everyone is just going to fake the result, then what's the point ?!?

We are all supposed to be taking this seriously, we've stuck to all the rules, had to endure a lockdown birth, maternity leave and now this! I'm so fed up of it.

I know there is nothing we can do and the virus isn't going anywhere, we stay as safe as we can, we don't go out, we've got 1 vulnerable in the household who can't be vaccinated. So of course we want to be safe.

I think I'm going to make a complaint to Ofstead as it could be really dangerous to the little ones.

Absolutely not. DD has been tested 3 times since the start of the pandemic, and after seeing how distressed she became the last time I will not put her through it again unless she absolutely has to (hospital etc).
You need to provide them with government advice against testing young ones with the lft.

Just put the droplets on the test and it ei be negative.

thats awful, you need a new nursery

do the test on yourself or water!

no way i would be testing a toddler daily

Just drip water on it so control line is activated. No way would I be subjecting DD to it. It's rotten for them.

Either do it on yourself, or just show them the same test every day.

Your nursery are batshit.

No way would I be doing that.

I would complain to whoever they are regulated by and in the mean time if you really need the childcare then fake the test. They don't know whose nose it's been up.

My son was absolutely traumatised when we first tested him, it caused a nose bleed and a full blown meltdown which lasted hours afterwards. Shaking, sobbing, struggling to breathe, wouldn't eat, it was horrendous. And it was negative. All because he felt a bit warm in nursery and they wouldn't take him back without a negative test.

After then I refused to test him ever again unless it was unavoidable because he had genuine concerning symptoms. Not over getting a bit of a sweat on after a run about on a summers day.