I know many of us will send a child home if they have a fever of 100+, but many of us also state that if child has a fever at all, they cannot come to daycare until fever-free for 24 hours with no meds. How do you all interpret that? I thought it was a no brainer, until my dcb came yesterday.

Dcb developed slight fever yesterday. It was 99.2. Not high enough to send him home, but wasn't sure if he should have stayed home today. So, if you send home at 100+, do you let them come to dc if they have a slight fever that's below 100? I know temps can vary depending on where you take the temp and the type of thermometer you use.

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I will take a child if it's a low fever (99s) until it gets too high then I call the parents. They then don't come back until their temp has to returned to a normal temp for 24 hours .

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My policy is 101+. Under that, as long as they aren't too miserable to take part in our normal activities, they may be here. This policy applies to my own child as well--she actually had a 100.5 temp a week or so ago and I didn't worry about it--though I did alert the parents at pick-up that she hadn't been feeling spectacular and had a slight temp.

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my policy is the same as our school district policy. 100 degrees stay home for 24 hours after fever has broke. If a child has a temp of 99.2 but is acting fine then no problem....If she is acting sick then I let parents know. I take temps for baby and toddler dck with digital thermometer under the armpit. Someone said I should add one degree to this armpit temperature...not sure.

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Yup, that is correct, under the arm is 1 degree less than the actual temp-so a temp under the arm of 100.5 is actually 101.5.

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I'm very strict when it comes to illness and unless there is something else I know of that might contribute to a temp higher than 98.6 (a kid just came in from running around in the heat or just woke up from a nap and has been laying under a blanket), I consider anything higher to be just the first sign of things to come. Once a temp hits 99, I'm on the phone to the parents. The kids aren't allowed back until they've had a normal temp (98.6) for 24 hours without meds.

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Thanks mom of six!
I went to the mayoclinic website and they agreed with you.
Do you use under the arm or the fancy schmancy ear thermometer?
My own kids are old enough to use oral therm. I guess I have just been holding off buying the ear thermometer because I don't want to spend the money,

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What about the ear thermometer? Do you have to add or subtract on that one? I have that one and it almost seems to read low most of the time.

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According to the mayo clinic website it is just under the armpit that you are to add one degree.
I checked out the prices online for the ear thermometer and I was surprised by how much less expensive they are now. Maybe I should just buy one. The Mayo website said that the armpit temp was the least reliable spot to measure...I am not about to stick a rectal thermometer in somebody else's baby's bum and you can't get a baby to keep the thermometer under her tongue!! Does everybody else in the world use those ear thermometers I wonder? Whenever I have taken a baby's temp under the armpit it has substantiated the sick baby behavior that prompted me to take the child's temp in the first place. So I would not call the armpit unreliable at all. I think I am offially off topic...sorry.

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