Is your child too sick to go to the childcare?
Your 3-year-old is playing listlessly with her oatmeal. "My tummy
hurts, Mommy," she says. There's no fever, no vomiting and no diarrhea, but she's
not her normal bundle of energy.
Now comes the tough part. Do you send her to day care, or keep her home?
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association have
guidelines that can help you make up your mind. Drawn up in 1992 and revised in
2002, they cover kids in group care and school.
Kids should stay home if the illness:
• Loses a risk of spreading a serious or harmful disease.
• Needs more care than the staff can provide without a risk to the health and safety
of other children.
• Would keep the child from joining in activities.
"Deciding whether mildly ill young children can or cannot go to child care or school
is difficult," says Timothy R. Shope, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at
the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. "Parents have very little
time to observe and assess morning symptoms before driving them to a child-care
center or school.
"For example, vague abdominal complaints could be the beginning of vomiting or diarrhea,
but can also be due to anxiety about school."
Keep Children Home for:
• Fever higher than 38.3°C orally or 38.8°C rectally
• Diarrhea or blood in stools
• Persistent abdominal pain
• Vomiting twice or more in 24 hours
• Conjunctivitis (pinkeye), strep throat or chickenpox, until no longer contagious.
• Sluggishness, uncontrolled coughing, constant crying or other signs of possible
severe illness.
Children with colds, runny noses or mild fever may be able to go to school or day
care depending on other factors.