OT: For Anyone With Children In Daycare...

[design_mom]

then why do doctors say that after 24 on antibiotics it isnt contagious anymore

I'm not a doctor, but I think it has to do with whether the pink eye was caused by bacteria or a virus. Both can cause pink eye, but the antibiotics only work on bacteria. If it was caused by a virus, you just have to wait it out. And, from what I have been told, you can't easily tell which is causing it (and by the time the symptoms show up, you've probably passed it all around anyhow.)

Kim

p.s. My daughter's nasal drainage is almost always opaque yellowish-white no matter what's causing it. We've been to the ped several times with "just a cold" because someone was convinced that she had an infection. I'm sorry for the daycare folks who have to wipe her nose all day (I'm sure they do it a lot) but, you know, if you're around young kids, that kind of goes with the territory, don't you think? (I never take her to daycare when she has a symptom that would exclude her attendance, but I can't stay home with her every time she has a runny nose.)

 

[Mkrop]

Let me start off by saying I too have a child who I have sent to school with a runny nose& cough because as we are in the process of working on, he has allergies (in fact we have an allergist appt today). but if I had kept him home everytime he was suffering with his symptoms, he would have missed a lot of school.

So not every cold is a reason to have the kid home sick.

But with that said, the daycares and babysitters have rules about what is allowed and what is not and those should be followed. It is for the welfare of the other children and the staff. It is one thing to send a child in and then for them to develop sickness midday and have exposed the class but to KNOWINGLY send your child in sick is wrong. And I think many of us have seen parents who do this. I had a boss who sat there at a meeting wtih another cooworker and they both had there cell phones out and were laughing because they had both sent their kids to school with fevers and were just waiting for "the call" but were hoping to squeeze in a couple hours of work. Well to me that is unfair to other families and staff because now they have been exposed! This same lady would then get "the call" go get her kid and bring him back to work and set him up in her office. Well then we were all exposed as well because I many times would have to go in there and talk to her. One time she even ask me to amuse him in my cubicle while she had a conference call, I was young and naieve at the time but there she just exposed me to his illness and then asked me to do something that certainly wasnt in my job description.

I also know how hard it is to juggle the sick days with work but I just think it is unfair to "dump" your sick kid on others. It is the parents that abuse the sick rules that are in the wrong.

I think the OP's nephew is taking advantage of the fact that she does have sick rules or pickup rules and that is unfair to her and her family!

 

[meandtheguys2]

As any second year medical student can tell you, people frequently will have a yellowish or greenish discharge with a viral URI (a "cold", in layman's terms). It doesn't need an antibiotic, and it doesn't necessarily mean that the child can't be at school or an adult at work. That's a very large problem in medicine today: people demand that their child with a viral infection be treated with antibiotics, which leads to problems like antibiotic resistance and difficulty in treating life threatening infections. Clear nasal drainage is equally contagious, and keeping children home when they have any chance at all of spreading a viral uri would use all their parent's PTO before January of any given school year (the average child has 6 colds a year, and the average cold lasts 7-10 day, and the average parent has maybe 15-20 days PTO per year). Additionally, viral infections are contagious even before the patient shows symptoms in many cases, and children can continue to shed virus (ie, contagious) for several wks following. Examples are influenza and viral gastroenteritis.

So, I agree that a fever is a reason to keep a child out of school, as is diarrhea and vomiting. A child that is too lethargic to concentrate should stay home. Kids with diseases like strept throat, chickenpox, pinkeye, etc, have guidlines for when kids can return. However, most pinkeye is viral, and extremely contagious, and not affected one iota by antibiotic drops. But, once one kid get it in a class, it spreads like wildfire, and soon every one has it. But, almost universally, schools will allow kids to return after 24 hours on eyedrops, which is totally illogical in my opinion.

So, what is the best treatment for a viral eye or ear infection? I've always had a problem with people insisting that kids be put on antibiotics/drops for each?

eta: my kids always have yellow snot. Whether allergy or cold related. I'd always heard that snot develops color sitting in the passages.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I feel so bad for you! I do have to tell you that there are many parents who take their kids all over town when they are sick, not just daycare. I have had the "joy" of the aftermath of these kids going to the library, playgroup etc. I mean if I can look at your child that I don't know and tell that they have a fever ans are miserable why can't you as their parent see that?!

 

[Luv'sTink]

Once again, thank you for your replies......

So if a child has "pink eye" and is put on drops who puts the drops in during the day? Will the school do this or day care with a note from the doctor? Same with antibiotics?

I have decided I have been the luckiest Mom because my DS has never gotten this stuff so I have not had to deal with it.

 

[design_mom]

Once again, thank you for your replies......
So if a child has "pink eye" and is put on drops who puts the drops in during the day? Will the school do this or day care with a note from the doctor? Same with antibiotics?

It depends on the daycare's policy. The center my son was at when he was a toddler changed their policy while we were there. Per the new policy, they would not administer any medication. You could either come during the day and give it yourself, or they had the name of an RN who was willing to do it (for a fee, of course.)

The daycare my daughter attends is much more willing to do it. (She also needs breathing treatments sometimes.) For over-the-counter meds, all medicine has to be in it's original packaging. It either has to be given exactly as prescribed on the box or have a doctor's note. (For instance, if it says "for under age 2, yconsult a doctor" you have to have a note if your child is under 2.) Prescription meds are given according to the script.

For all medicines, you also need to fill out a form that says what the medicine is, when they had it last, when they need it again, etc. You have to fill the form out daily (you can't say -- give it to them every day this week).

I think it would be a good plan for you to come up with a written policy for your nephew so that everyone shares the same expectations.

 

[Luv'sTink]

Thanks again!

 

[chrismom2005]

Once again, thank you for your replies......

So if a child has "pink eye" and is put on drops who puts the drops in during the day? Will the school do this or day care with a note from the doctor? Same with antibiotics?

I have decided I have been the luckiest Mom because my DS has never gotten this stuff so I have not had to deal with it.

my ds only got pink eye once while he was in daycare and he had an ear infection at the same time so they only perscribed him the oral antibotics and his daycare gave him that i dont know what they would've done about drops

 

[grlpwrd]

I wonder where Luv Bunnies got her medical degree, and why she is working as a preschool teacher instead of practicing medicine. After all, when I attended medical school, I ended up with $50,000 in student loan debt, and needed to work in my own field to make my loan payments.

As any second year medical student can tell you, people frequently will have a yellowish or greenish discharge with a viral URI (a "cold", in layman's terms). It doesn't need an antibiotic, and it doesn't necessarily mean that the child can't be at school or an adult at work. That's a very large problem in medicine today: people demand that their child with a viral infection be treated with antibiotics, which leads to problems like antibiotic resistance and difficulty in treating life threatening infections. Clear nasal drainage is equally contagious, and keeping children home when they have any chance at all of spreading a viral uri would use all their parent's PTO before January of any given school year (the average child has 6 colds a year, and the average cold lasts 7-10 day, and the average parent has maybe 15-20 days PTO per year). Additionally, viral infections are contagious even before the patient shows symptoms in many cases, and children can continue to shed virus (ie, contagious) for several wks following. Examples are influenza and viral gastroenteritis.

So, I agree that a fever is a reason to keep a child out of school, as is diarrhea and vomiting. A child that is too lethargic to concentrate should stay home. Kids with diseases like strept throat, chickenpox, pinkeye, etc, have guidlines for when kids can return. However, most pinkeye is viral, and extremely contagious, and not affected one iota by antibiotic drops. But, once one kid get it in a class, it spreads like wildfire, and soon every one has it. But, almost universally, schools will allow kids to return after 24 hours on eyedrops, which is totally illogical in my opinion.

There is certainly virtue in your knowledge, but was it really necessary to be so condescending?

 

[Nanu57v]

Okay, I'm a center director. Pinkeye, sent home and can return after on drops for 24 hours. Of course the drops do nothing if its not bacterial pinkeye, but that's the policy.

Other ways to get sent home: Fever 101 or above, throwing up, closely occurring boughts of diarrhea, rash/pinkeye, persistant or unmanageable coughing or discharge. We will not administer OTC meds, only prescriptions. 24 hour rule for fever and throwing up.

Parents send their kids to work sick, because for each day they miss, that's probably 100 dollars they lose. Even if they can get a half a day in before they have to pick up their child, its 50 dollars they still made. 50 dollars can buy a lot of stuff. We have parents who will give kids tylenol to lower their temp, drop them off, and then when the temp goes up come and pick up the child. Of course we don't condone this behavior, we just know it happens.

What would be a good idea is for you to sit down and come up with some rules and discuss them with your family, and then you can use them on any other children you might watch, too.