Croup

[snufflepuff]

One of my sibling mindees has got croup. I can't seem to find anything online about an exclusion period, does anybody know? It just says it is very contagious. I'm not sure what to do....my son has asthma, so just a simple cold can mean hospital trips, nebulisers, steroids etc. Goodness knows what croup would do to him. Mum is a nurse so knows her stuff, so I don't want to have the wrong info! I really don't want to annoy her by asking her to keep him off (she's quite scary, lol!) but I'm concerned for my son.

[Happy Bunny]

My daughter had croup last week and I was told by NHS direct that she was contagious for 5 days.

[sillysausage]

I've always been told that croup is not an infection in itself but is a manifestation of a cold/virus in the same way children get runny noses or coughs (both my kids got croup virtually everytime they got a cold for a few years when they were little). In the case of croup the airways narrow making it more difficult to breath especially when the air around is cold and dry (which is why warm steamy bathrooms helps to ease symptoms. Some children seem to be more susceptible than others.
I've never felt the need to exclude children but would respect your right to exclude them for upto 5 days because of the impact it might have on your own son. The seal cough usually lasts 2-3 days.
I found it was always worse in cold, dry, icy weather and I would always pray for rain as the croup would go quite quickly if the atmosphere outside was also damp.

[snufflepuff]

Mindee only attends on Mondays so it would only be tomorrow that would be a problem. Mum works nights so is working now and wouldn't have any sleep tomorrow if I exclude! I could obviously have the younger sibling still.

[Boris]

Croup is caused by a number of different virus'. You could have a cold virus and a child could develop croup. My daughter seems to get it everytime there is a sniff of a cold going round! It does make her quite poorly though so if the child is unwell I would exclude, otherwise it's only like having a cough or cold virus in the house.

[blue bear]

When one of my mindees got it I rang nhs direct, they told me it's only contagious in under 3's ( overs get repeat doses but not for first time iyswim) and I should exclude if I had other under 3's until cough subsided, it was 5 days, another mindee had caught it and both ended up in hospital together!

[snufflepuff]

Mum says 'it's not contagious, it's an airway viral infection'. She says he's fine during the day but awful at night....eek, don't want to argue with a health care professional!

[jumping j]

I recently had a lo with croup and mum and I were both told by the doctor that it wasn't infectious, as in croup couldn't get passed on, but it could manifest in a cold in other lo's, at the time all the children I had had some form of cough or cold so it didn't make much difference to me to have one more coughing! I did inform other parents but their response was the same as mine!

[The Juggler]

i don't think it is any more contagious than tonsillitus or a chest infection and would have the child back once treatment was started and they were well.

[rickysmiths]

I have had little ones with croup and never excluded them unless of course they were so poorly they were better at home tucked up for the day and the mum was very good at judging this. I never had a problem with the child and none of the other children over the 4 years the child was with me caught croup .

[snufflepuff]

Thank you everyone- he is here, has quite a cough but seems happy enough- I'm trying to encourage him to put his hand over his mouth! Little brother is also quite coldy as he had his MMR last week. Both have had calpol this morning although no temperature, just to make them comfortable. I have permission to give another dose later if they need it.