Cold sores

[chatname]

DS aged 7.5 months had first day at nursery yesterday.His named nurse had the most massive cold sore I've ever seen. Am I being unreasonable to be a bit concerned about ds getting infected? Cold sores are pretty contagious, but then again I guess there's not much the poor woman can do about it!

She really shouldn't be working in a nursery with that. Besides, they are quite treatable these days, with acyclovir, so she should see her doctor and stay away from babies until it is better IMO.

gosh, should I have a word with the manager or what? I don't want to cause bad feeling, but maybe I should say something?

say something.

They would be quick enough to send your DS home if he had one.

That's gross! She could at least put a band aid on it since she's working with babies/children...Very contagious.

lol she probably caught it from one of the babies! and she probably doesn't get paid sick leave, as long as she is washing her hands she should be fine

Well, I can sympathise that nursery nurses prob don't get paid a lot. But I would hope they would get sick pay and that the nursery would therefore not encourage staff to come in if ill/infectious?

I am a nursery nurse and we don't get paid sick pay, this is the norm for a lot of nursery nurses. At the minimum wage level , days off unpaid is not an option

It would be extremely unlikely to catch herpes from a baby IME.

Nurseries should have very clear infection control policies and procedures.

I am surprised it is legal not to have paid sick leave! That sounds awful. It certainly isn't going to foster a healthy environment for the children.

I am sure that your baby will be fine. Although the idea of seeing the nursery nurse with a massive coldsore would be off putting and worrying. You can only catch coldsores by kissing, or contact with the infected area. Now not being funny I don't think nursrey staff should be kissing children with or without coldsores. I suffer with coldsores (unfortunately) but I ensure that i do not touch the area when I have one, and I do not kiss or share cutlery or cups or anything with my little one. And she has never had one.

We went in for our second session today. It wasn't easy to find a manager to talk to, and I felt awkward about raising this issue and the nursery nurses were all so nice.

So I didn't say anything.

Talk to them. But to put it in perspective, my husband has frequent cold sores, but neither I, nor our daughter do.

I don't think it would be practical to send a nursery nurse home with a coldsore. I work in a nursery, on minimum wage, and frequently get coldsores before I get a cold. 99% of the time I catch the colds from the children. We don't get sick pay, I couldn't afford to not work for 3/4 days that I have the coldsore, (sometimes I have them for up to a week) and the nursery wouldn't be able to justify paying agency staff to cover a member of staff who otherwise feel 100%.

I practise good hygiene, I wash my hands constantly anyway, use hand sanitiser whenever I walk past the sink (at least every half an hour) and sterilise the toys we play with.

The thing I find hardest though when I have a coldsore is not being able to cuddle and kiss the kids as I would usually, but apart from that having a coldsore is no different to a normal day's work.

(Having said all of this, I use compeed patches, so nothing can be passed on anyway...!)

I'd be banned from life if the criteria were coldsores - I get one on average once a month. I've had two this month. DD is 2.7 and has yet to catch one from me or DH. As long as there is no kissing or sharing of utensils it's not a major issue.

Maybe the nursery nurse could wear a plaster, but I think staying out of work is extreme.

I am sorry but my DD almost ended up in hospital when she was first exposed to coldsores (at about 15m old). The first infection is usually very serious...and often entail many ulcers in teh mouth...which (especially in a child so young) can lead to dehydration as it is too painful for them to suck.

Also - although it is thought that contact is required for transmission - as others have said it can me transmitted by aerosols.

I have to say that there probably aren't any regulations which protect your child in these circumstances - but after sitting in my GPs surgery in tears ervery day for 5 days because I didn't want my DD to end up in hospital - I would never put another baby or toddler in the position where they are in contact with someone all day.

Lots of kids have inbuilt resistance
Or they develop it

My dd had two big coldsores aged 3 and 4

Since then ( she is 9), nothing

Meanwhile my dad gets them regularly

I think it's hard to avoid coldsores in life really, just depends how your body reacts to them

Yes it is hard to avoid. But in children under 2years it can make them very very poorly.

They wouldn't allow parents on SCBU without a mask if they had a coldsore...they do make babies very poorly.

babies on a SCBU are there because they are ill. Children in nurseries are there because they are not. By putting your baby in a nursery with dozens of other children and adults you are exposing them to all sorts of illnesses. It's your choice.

I appreciate that babies on SCBU are very different to babies in a nursery....and take on board those comments.

But a coldsore infection did threaten to put my 15m old otherwise healthy daughter in hospital. Having been through that experience (having previously thought "it's just a coldsore") I would never knowingly expose another child under 2 to someone (including myself) with a coldsore. Obviously difficult to control with my own family - so I would excercise caution. I think that compeed patches are supposed to cover the coldsore and prevent infection.

I'm so glad to read this convo. Our CM once had what looked like a cold sore when she used to look after my DS; I asked her about it but she said it was okay. I trusted her...thankfully nothing happened but if it happens anywhere else I'll turn into Overcautious Mummy!

Just to be clear....I would only take such extreme measures in a small (under 2ish) child. My older DD who was Yr2 at teh time also caught it and although she was also very poorly for over a week - hospitalisation was never a threat as she was odl enough to know that she had to drink through the pain (and was drinking from a proper cup rather than sucking from a bottle or beaker).

Haiving said that it seems to have been the trigger for mesenteric adenitis in her which is a long term condtion which causes extreme abdomninal pain whenever she gets any viral infection (including colds)...the pain can be so extreme that children have ended up in theatre with suspected appendicitis.

All I am trying to articulate is that many people underestimate the dangers of "just a common coldsore".