When I started my daycare, I was 18 and had no children. I became licensed and had up to 10 kids at any given time. I closed my daycare 5 days before my first daughter was born. That daughter is now 6 years old and I have another daughter who is 4. When dealing with illness before my girls were born, I was really the only one at risk. But now that I have my two daughters health and safety to think about, I am rethinking how strict I need to be regarding my illness policy.

I already have a pretty strict policy. Fever free for 24 hours WITHOUT the help of medication, etc. And I list out all the illnesses that were in the state handbook saying their child can not attend if they have any of these symptoms. But, no matter how I do it, we STILL get sick!

This is my 4th week back after starting my daycare again, and we have already been sick 3 times! Initial cold came from daycare interview who never even ended up using me. That landed me a double ear infection. Then we got another bout of congestion, coughing from a family who only used me for two weeks, then moved the kids to another daycare because they couldn't afford to pay me for holidays!!!

I have one little guy who is 9 weeks old, and he started when he was 6 weeks. His mom always drops him off in the mornings. Well, Monday Nov. 21st, dad dropped him off so I asked why he was there instead of mom. He said mom and one of their little girls were home sick with vomiting and diarrhea. I immediately went in to panic mode because I know how these viruses work. They spread like wildfire! So I get out the Lysol wipes and wipe down the carseat handle, my doorknob and anything else I think dkd touched. That evening dkd picked up. So, Tuesday morning, mom is well enough to be the one dropping off. She tells me dkd is at home vomiting now and he's miserable. So I know it's inevitable that we are going to get this illness. Dkm tells me it wasn't really THAT bad, and she recovered in less than 24 hours.

So, Tuesday evening, it starts. My 4 year old vomits ALL OVER me after telling me her tummy was hurting. I called dkm to let her know I would not be open Wednesday, (the day before Thanksgiving) because I would most likely be up all night taking care of my little one. Well, by Wednesday afternoon, I was vomiting too. And then Friday my 6 year old had it, and Sunday my husband finally got it. Thanksgiving was ruined and I spent all my time off feeling miserable and cleaning up vomit.

I know this has been a really long story, but I guess I am wanting to know what you all would do if you knew one of your daycare kids families was vomiting and sick with a stomach flu. Would you still accept the child in to your care? Or would you ask that the child be kept home until everyone is in the clear? My 6 year old got it the worst and was crying for days after the vomiting ended with terrible stomach cramps. 24 hours my A**. It took me a good 3 days to recover from it. And my husband's back was hurting so bad from vomiting, he could barely get up and down.

I really want to add in to my contract that if anyone in the family is vomiting, then the child needs to stay home and out of daycare for the safety of all of my family and the other children in my care. Do you think I would be allowed to say something like that?

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I'm sorry you're going through this.

Everyone has already been exposed BEFORE the vomiting ever started.

Your family's immune system seems to be very low. I rarely get anything that the kids bring around. My kids don't get sick from each other too often.

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We hadn't necessarily been exposed before the vomiting started. I believe the SA sisters brought it home from school and if DKD wouldn't have come that Monday when mom and sister were vomiting, my family may have been spared. We probably do have low immune systems since I haven't had families in and out of my home every day until very recently. I did get my girls vaccinated against the flu, but unfortunately it doesn't cover stomach flu.

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Stomach bugs are direct contact so officially not contagious until a person is actually sick. That being said, they do spread like wildfire. My illness policy states that if a family member is home sick with a contagious disease, kids cannot attend. Doesn't matter if the sick person is normally a DCK of mine or not. This saved my bacon last year when my friend's family had the stomach bug for 2 whole weeks! They kept passing it around. If I had let the 1 year old attend, she would have passed it onto my whole family and crew. So if mom is home with strep throat, her kid stays home with her! I wrote it very specifically on purpose.

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I'm wondering if anyone else does this? This is appealing to me.

My family also contracted a stomach bug this year from a DCD who dropped off his child on Monday morning only to go home to continue vomiting. His child was sick by the end of the day and by Thursday my own family and two more of my DCFs had the sickness.

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I dont mean to sound rude, but you should be happy that the parents even told you.

We are all human and we are going to get sick, no way to avoid it. As long as their child is well and functioning, then why shouldn't they be able to come.

Sick people are everywhere. Grocery stores, walmart, target, you name it. Unless we live in a bubble, there's no way to avoid these things.

If I were sick, I would be dropping off my well child so that I can get the much needed rest to re cooperate and get well so that I can take care of my family again.

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I have EXACT SAME POLICY...
SEVERAL years ago..before I implemented this policy....I had a dcm show up with a 18 month old child..she was much later than usual.. she said... sorry I'm running so late..older sister is at home...THROWING UP... I give her this VERY disapproving stare...and said... and I guess you don't realize that THIS ONE will start with it NEXT.. she says.. Oh.. I don't think so.. she is fine.. I said..well.. logically speaking.. stomach virus = wildfire... siblings are usually the very next victim... and since you don't seem to realize it...
When I get it... NO ONE HAS DAYCARE... 30 SECONDS LATER... the little one threw up on her mother's shoes... SHE LOOKED AT ME.. grabbed her child.. and left quickly... The next day.. I got it.. I called her.. FYI...DAYCARE IS CLOSED...CARE TO VENTURE A GUESS WHY?????? It was after that I revised my illness policy..

www.tammyschildcare.com

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EEWWW. It least it was still while mom was there. That is horrible. Oh and guess what? My 6 y/o DD came home from school with pink eye yesterday Seems like a long time since that little one was here with it. I'm guessing she picked it up somewhere else (imagine that!). The 2 closest Rite Aids were out of the antibiotic drops. Does that say something about it going around?

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I LOVE it Tammy! I may have to take a look at your policies to see exactly how you worded yours. Parents just DON'T seem to get it when it comes contagious diseases! They don't get it until I'm calling saying the daycare is closed. And then they usually get mad!

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