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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Infected Toe And Cried All Day!!
daycare 03:46 PM 07-18-2011
This is a weird one.. Lol
I have a DCK who had a horrible habit of picking and biting at his toe nails. Well today at nap time he woke up after sleeping for 30 min scream crying that his toe hurt. It was red and pusing.
I text mom and dad asking what happened at home if anything and they both said he tore off some of his toe nail yesterday.

He had been crying since 1:00 this afternoon and it's now almost 4pm. No one slept and everyone is miserable.

What would you require this family to do? It does look infected and the child is just plain miserable. Would you require that they seek medical attention? Should I allow for him to come tomorrow if he is still like this?

I'm not sure what to do in this one as it sounds so tedious, I'm just concerned about how miserable the child is.
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Country Kids 04:08 PM 07-18-2011
Did it bother him earlier in the day? Suprised it just started hurting at naptime. I would have them take him to the doctor and looked at. Tell them he is unable to play without crying and he has to be able to participate in order to come to childcare.
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daycare 04:13 PM 07-18-2011
Originally Posted by Country Kids:
Did it bother him earlier in the day? Suprised it just started hurting at naptime. I would have them take him to the doctor and looked at. Tell them he is unable to play without crying and he has to be able to participate in order to come to childcare.
yeah this was my thought too. I thought that he was trying to get out of nappipng, but this is this kids favorite time of day...lol Plus it was not whining it was scream crying and has been going on for over 3 hours.

He did not mention it at all before naps. I do have in my policy that children need to be able to participate in normal day to day activities in order to come to DC..
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CheekyChick 04:22 PM 07-18-2011
If he is that miserable, I think his parents need to take him to the pediatrician ASAP. As far as him attending tomorrow, I would tell his parents that if he wakes
up miserable, he should stay home until the toe situation is resolved. Poor little guy.
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familyschoolcare 04:34 PM 07-18-2011
if the wound is oozing he should get a doctor note saying it is not contagiousness that way if a parent ask you can honestly say the doctor said it is not contagiousness. Honestly this is a problem that is common in my family and my daughter now 12 bit her toe nails until age 9. Any way long story short the child needs to see a doctor any way to ensure the nail is not ingrown and the longer that parents wait the more likely out patient surgery to correct the growing of the toe will be needed. If the child see the doctor early enough it can be treat at home with out surgery.

As far as some people saying they are surprised that it suddenly started hurting at nap time. That does not surprise me that is when the child had nothing else to think about. Therefore the pain seamed worse than before and besides the pain goes from uncomfortable to pain at some point. why not nap time.
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familyschoolcare 04:35 PM 07-18-2011
Oh by the way socking the toe in vinegar helps keep the infection down and soften the skin around the toe nail helps the healing process all around very well.
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daycare 04:41 PM 07-18-2011
Originally Posted by joynerportia@yahoo:
Oh by the way socking the toe in vinegar helps keep the infection down and soften the skin around the toe nail helps the healing process all around very well.
thanks so much for responding to the post... I feel so bad for the little guy....He has been so miserable and just crying his little eyes out. I will ask the parents to have him looked at and if they decide not to, I will send him home if he's misearble like today.

I will also mention soaking the toe in vinger...thanks again for your help..
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sharlan 06:06 PM 07-18-2011
I would have him soak it in some warm epsom salt water until the parents get there.
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countrymom 06:10 PM 07-18-2011
sounds like his tylenol wore off.
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familyschoolcare 06:28 PM 07-18-2011
by they way for this type of injury Advil will help better.
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daycare 08:09 PM 07-18-2011
So I text the mom about an hour ago to see how the child was doing. She said that the dad had to drain it and now the child was feeing better.

My thought is that if they had to drain it, more than likely the child has an infection in his toe. I told mom that if he is in the same condition tomorrow that I will need for him to stay home. She was a little upset about it, as she just purchased another business and can't afford to take any time off.
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Meyou 03:53 AM 07-19-2011
Originally Posted by daycare:
So I text the mom about an hour ago to see how the child was doing. She said that the dad had to drain it and now the child was feeing better.

My thought is that if they had to drain it, more than likely the child has an infection in his toe. I told mom that if he is in the same condition tomorrow that I will need for him to stay home. She was a little upset about it, as she just purchased another business and can't afford to take any time off.
If he can function normally I wouldn't worry too much about it. I used to get ingrown toenails all the time when I was a kid and it can be painful. My dad drained them for me with a sterilized needle (sorry it's gross). My dd gets them from time to time and I do the same. Once the pressure is gone, the pain mostly goes away.
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daycare 10:53 AM 07-19-2011
update..
DCM sent me a text this morning saying that they are taking the kid into the ER. He screamed all night long. Not too sure why they waiting until this morning to take him???

Any ways, the child has a very infected in-grown toe nail and has to have a minor surgery to have it removed.......WOW....just when I thought that I was over reacting, it was serious.... GUess this is why I need to make sure that I treat each situation with the same amount of caution. You never know..
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momma4many 11:04 AM 07-19-2011
Originally Posted by daycare:
GUess this is why I need to make sure that I treat each situation with the same amount of caution. You never know..
Exactly what I was thinking. Thanks for the good reminder That had to be hurting the poor little guy all night!
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SilverSabre25 11:16 AM 07-19-2011
Yuck, poor guy. Last October I had an infected in-grown nail. It was nasty.
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Meeko 11:19 AM 07-19-2011
War story.........my dad was in the army in the UK during WW2 . They had to travel by train from London to their post somewhere in Scotland. They were goofing around and my dad got off the train on the wrong side. In other words he fell onto the tracks instead of the platform. He wasn't hurt other than he hurt his foot. They all (including him) thought it was funny.

Later that day, they had to march to their post which was several miles.

When they got to the post, his toe was hurting a lot so he went to the infirmary. Turns out, the area had become infected and then gangrene had set in. My dad had his big toe amputated and spend weeks learning how to walk again.

Lesson learned....never mess around with a foot injury. Feet tend to be sweaty places where bacteria love to thrive. My dad's experience may be extreme, but he always told me to be careful with a cut or scrape or such on a foot.
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laundrymom 11:33 AM 07-19-2011
That poor sweetbaby!!! That's real pain!!!! Ugh. Hopefullythey will be more proactive in the future.
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familyschoolcare 11:40 AM 07-19-2011
At least the child is getting the help he needs.

P.S. I would have and have waited until morning to take my child to the ER as long a it is not life threatening no reason to wait 3 hours in the middle of the night when you can walk right in, in the morning.
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Tags:crying, infection, tylenol
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