purpletrunks
22-12-2012, 04:08 PM
Hi,
I am new to childminding (started sept) and new to this forum. I have joined todaya s I really need some advice with my current mindee. He is 14 months and since starting has been ill alot, probably at least every 3 weeks. Mostly just colds etc, but on two occasions his temperature spiked above 100, he had two febrile convulsions and he was taken (by parents) to hospital but not admitted. The diagnosis was just viruses.
Because he is ill so much the parents are struggling with the amount of time they are having off work. The past two times he has been ill they have tried to put him in with me, when I have felt he has been too ill to come. My EY consultant has said that he should not return until he is fully well, but I wonder if this doesn't provide enough flexibility. For example he has had a cough for two weeks but been well in himself in-between.
So this week he came in and mum said he had had a temp in the night, but that they had taken it before they left to come over and it was normal. 15 mins after she left it was 39.7. I couldn't get hold of parents for an hour so just went through the specific instructions they gave me to avoid a convulsion. When I finally got dad he asked that I keep him for another hour to see how the calpol worked. When mum got back to me 20 mins later she insisted that they came straight away. He was still ill the following day but late that evening (10pm) I had a text saying that he had played well all day but was still grizzly and still taking calpol to keep his temperature down but they wanted to bring him the following day for a shortened day, and was that ok with me?
I replied that he was very welcome to come if the temperature/ cough had gone and that why didn't she keep him at home until midmorning and then if he was well enough he could come (mum was off work that day). I pointed out that if he was still ill he needed more rest that I could give him, and that I couldn't take him to our music class christmas party contagious.
My response obviously annoyed them, they feel that a high temp is just his way of dealing with a any slight virus and doesn't indicate he was that ill. My argument is that we don't know what he has and a temp, even if he is prone to them, signifies an infection and makes him feel unwell. Things are ok but in the new year I wanted to give them some clear guidelines on what symptons mean he can come or not. My policy just says that I can not take a child who has a contagious illness or whose sickness compormises the care I give to others.
What guidelines do you suggest? When is a child well enough to come?
It is important to me that my service is flexible and that I can meet the boys needs - he is ill so often he is loosing out on loads of experiences with us. I worry that they think I am trying to keep him out so I get a day off.
Sorry for the long rambling post,
TIA
I am new to childminding (started sept) and new to this forum. I have joined todaya s I really need some advice with my current mindee. He is 14 months and since starting has been ill alot, probably at least every 3 weeks. Mostly just colds etc, but on two occasions his temperature spiked above 100, he had two febrile convulsions and he was taken (by parents) to hospital but not admitted. The diagnosis was just viruses.
Because he is ill so much the parents are struggling with the amount of time they are having off work. The past two times he has been ill they have tried to put him in with me, when I have felt he has been too ill to come. My EY consultant has said that he should not return until he is fully well, but I wonder if this doesn't provide enough flexibility. For example he has had a cough for two weeks but been well in himself in-between.
So this week he came in and mum said he had had a temp in the night, but that they had taken it before they left to come over and it was normal. 15 mins after she left it was 39.7. I couldn't get hold of parents for an hour so just went through the specific instructions they gave me to avoid a convulsion. When I finally got dad he asked that I keep him for another hour to see how the calpol worked. When mum got back to me 20 mins later she insisted that they came straight away. He was still ill the following day but late that evening (10pm) I had a text saying that he had played well all day but was still grizzly and still taking calpol to keep his temperature down but they wanted to bring him the following day for a shortened day, and was that ok with me?
I replied that he was very welcome to come if the temperature/ cough had gone and that why didn't she keep him at home until midmorning and then if he was well enough he could come (mum was off work that day). I pointed out that if he was still ill he needed more rest that I could give him, and that I couldn't take him to our music class christmas party contagious.
My response obviously annoyed them, they feel that a high temp is just his way of dealing with a any slight virus and doesn't indicate he was that ill. My argument is that we don't know what he has and a temp, even if he is prone to them, signifies an infection and makes him feel unwell. Things are ok but in the new year I wanted to give them some clear guidelines on what symptons mean he can come or not. My policy just says that I can not take a child who has a contagious illness or whose sickness compormises the care I give to others.
What guidelines do you suggest? When is a child well enough to come?
It is important to me that my service is flexible and that I can meet the boys needs - he is ill so often he is loosing out on loads of experiences with us. I worry that they think I am trying to keep him out so I get a day off.
Sorry for the long rambling post,
TIA