Today I sent home one of my daycare babies with a temp of 101.2. Mom asked me to give her Tylenol to help bring fever down. When they brought the baby home, her temp was 100. I decided to email mom to see how the baby was doing. The mom said she planned on waking up the baby a bit early to check her temp before they came in the morning. Would most home daycares say that she could not come tomorrow regardless of her temp. I emailed back to say that she could not come back until the fever is normal for 24 hours. I hope she is not upset with me. Do you have the same policy in your home daycare??
Hi, I have been a home daycare provider for 15 years and have 4kids myself. A fever of 101.2 doesn't seem high to me at all, could it be from teething? I would let them come back if its low grade. If its a viris the other kids have already been expossed. I feel some kids will get and some can fight it off, they cant stay home for every little thing.
I run a home daycare in Dekalb, and I have the same policy...No fever, vomit, diarrhea for 24 hours. And with the fever, I require the child be fever free with NO tylenol/motrin for those 24 hours.
She really shouldn't be angry; If you think about it, if it were another child possibly exposing her child to a fever, I'm sure she'd be grateful of your policies!
Hope this helps!
For all the home daycares or preschools my children have been in, children had to be symptom free for a full 24 hours before returning. So, you are absolutely right to say, baby needs to stay home for another day.
If you need a good term, call it an "insurance day." You're "insuring" that baby is healthy before returning to your day care.
Good luck!
When my twins were in daycare it was fever free for 24 hours. For school it is the same thing, fever, diarrhea and vomiting free for 24 hours.
Your policy is pretty standard in most every arena... daycare, centers, preschool, public school. Kids should stay home from 24 hours after the last incident of fever, vomiting or diarrhea. If you don't have an illness policy, I would write one up.
Also, where I live, you can not give ANY medication otc or Rx without a note from the Dr. You might check that out with your licensing regs.
Good luck!
My in-home provider, my old private daycare, and my son's public school all have the 'free' for 24 hours policy.
M.
I am a daycare provider and that is my policy as well. it's also the schools policy. Hopefully that is stated in your contract, it is in mine. Depending on how high the fever is and what other symptoms there may be somethings I don't allow them to return with out a doctors not stating they are healthy enough to attend daycare. With the whooping cough out there and the HN1 virus or what ever it's called, I take no chances with the health of my family or my daycare children. J.
My daughter's DC is the same way; fever free without medication for 24 hours before she can return. She's been in 2 different DCs, and this has been the policy with both. You weren't out of line at all; in fact, I think it shows how much you care for ALL of the children you watch. No worries!!
From my experience, most daycares have a 24 hour fever free policy. My current Daycare defines a fever as anything over 100 measured under the arm.
If you don't have it already, it would be a great idea to draw up a simple set of guidelines around illness, weather days, etc.
My policy is at least 24 hours out and that they must be fever-free with no medication to suppress fever. I also like to factor in the child's energy, too. Bringing a lethargic kid with no fever to daycare isn't doing anyone any favors, kiddo needs to be home. This, by the way, is also my criteria for keeping my son home--if he seems to be dragging, I don't have him go to school, fever or no. I would remind the mother what your sick care policy is (do you have one in writing? It would be helpful) and let her know that you'd love to have the little one back when she's feeling better.
I think this policy also eliminates the chance that the parent might use Tylenol to suppress a fever and then drop the child off, knowing that we were going to take their temp. (This happened to me several times at the daycares I worked at.) Their kids would be so sick, and they would bring them in because the parents needed to work, even if it was only to get a few hours in before we caught on. But we always did. It was pretty embarrassing for everyone. Your policy is a good one!
It's not your policy, it is the state regulation policy. Copy the page that states this regulation out for the mom and give it to her the next time you see her. she can't argue with the state.
Yes, same policy the child needs to be fever free without the aid of medication for 24 hrs. before he/she can return.
Daycare regulations require that a child's fever be down for at least 24 hours without medication. In reality, if a child has an ear infection and has been treated by a physician to know it is not something else and had a fever they would not be excluded (already on antibotic, know it's not contagious, and child is otherwise acting fine). If for instance the drop off time was 22 hours from the last fever, most would allow to return but otherwise she should stay home today.
It's reasonable to not have a child at daycare or school for 24 hours after temp goes down. That's the rule in schoos. I may be wrong, but I think a person is contagious as long as they have a fever.
As everyone else stated - 24 hours in standard. Don't worry about whether or not she is upset with you. While it may be 'inconvenient' for her to stay home from work - she would appreciate it if there was another child sick and they were required to stay home so that that child didn't pass whatever on to her children.
