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Nurseries

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Original poster

What do you do when your child is sick - alternative arrangements

10 replies

tigger15 · 13/03/2008 13:54

DS has been sick quite a lot recently (about once a month for past 3 months). The nursery is reasonable in that they will accept him after first 24 hours on antibiotics and if develops a temperature while there will ask permission from me and then give him calpol and if that doesn't work we are then asked to pick him up.

I've no issue with that but the problem is that the days the occasions I have to pick him up and the following 24-72 hours depending how sick he is and how ready he is to go back are having a really bad effect on mine and dh's jobs.

What do people do when this happens? If ds is really poorly I'd rather one of us stayed with him but if it's not quite so bad I would be happy for someone else to look after him 1 to 1 and then either dh or I could come home a bit earlier. My parents live close by but both work and are only able to do one day max depending on their schedules when he is sick (as obviously he doesn't check anyone's diaries first ) or a few hours so I can't rely on them. My in-laws live at the other end of the country.

Please tell me what you do in this situation.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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pelvicflawed · 13/03/2008 14:34

I guess we've been quite lucky with our DS as he's only had a few illnesses in the last year but as we don't have family nearby we've had to take leave from work each time (I've kind of rin g fenced a week of my leave for emergencies - depressing I know - thought it means at the end of my leave year this month I'm looking forward to a few days off). We were only talking about it last night though and what we would do if DS had to be off for a few weeks - say he got chicken pox - and I think we might explore parental leave - but of course you don't get paid for it. Can you offer to work from home? (not easy I know with a semi- well little one). Will watch with interest what others suggest.

RubySlippers · 13/03/2008 14:39

have a look here

has your DS only just started nursery? When mine did it seemed like he was ill all the time, and then is settled down

Monkeybird · 13/03/2008 14:41

we just have to take time off and/or try and catch up from home but we have jobs which allow that.

nurseries don't have the capacity to look after sick kids and sure you'd have to have a good understanding with a childminder for them to do this on an ad hoc basis.

IMHO this is one of the most difficult bits of going back to work - nobody tells you about the 2 years of chaos while your kids develop an immune system from all the bugs they get...

Rosa · 13/03/2008 14:41

I am really sorry but I would stay and look after him . Your child is sick and needs someone he loves and trusts to look after him.

cat64 · 13/03/2008 14:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster

tigger15 · 13/03/2008 16:33

I have tried working at home when he's sick. It's given extremely grudgingly and then unless he's really poorly and asleep I get very little done and spend half the night and most of the rest of the week trying to catch up.

Ds has been at nursery for 7 months.

Cat64 - cold comfort!

Rosa - I said in my OP "If ds is really poorly I'd rather one of us stayed with him but if it's not quite so bad I would be happy for someone else to look after him 1 to 1"
and that's what has happened. But he's often been at a state where either he's fine but on antibiotics(conjunctivitis) or just a little fractitious but happy with someone else. I had that today and took him to nursery since it's nearer mine and dh's work with the idea of seeing how he went and if a prob then dh could be there within 20 mins. He had a far better time there than he was having at home.

I guess one solution would be to find a student with few lectures who likes kids to start babysitting him, build up a relationship and be on hand if he's not too sick but can't go to nursery. The emergency link is interesting but I probably wouldn't be happy leaving him with someone he didn't know even if he was well.

Thanks for the ideas

OP posts:

pelvicflawed · 13/03/2008 17:58

For what its worth I think they do start (she says hoping not to be proved wrong!!) to get less sick after a while - DS has been at nursery a year and apart from one ear infection a few weeks ago most of the stomach bugs,snivvels,conjunctivitus etc etc seemed to be in the first six months or so. It may be that they start to develop immunity to every single little bug - cross fingers for you.

shreddies · 13/03/2008 18:05

It's so hard isn't it. We're in the same boat and just have to keep juggling time off. Thankfully both of us have very flexible employers, but I find it very very stressful. I think you just have to write off some annual leave and make up the work when you can.

Kathyis6incheshigh · 13/03/2008 18:10

Yes a lot of the time you are trying to cover, the child is actually fine but the nursery won't let them back until they have been better for a minimum number of days, eg after a tummy bug or conjunctivitis.

mazzystar · 13/03/2008 18:15

I work freelance so I take time off. We have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, both of whom have been unable to go to nursery for three weeks since Christmas. I just have to manage my workload as best I can and catch up at weekends and evenings.

It is hard.

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