How often do you get a call to come pick up your child early? For a fever or whatever reason?
I'm asking because we get calls to come get him at least once every 2 weeks. They call if he has a 99 degree temp and we have to get him. This is a daycare center, with plenty of staff. They'll call because he'll have clear snot (what toddler doesn't), or a cough (which he's had for months and doc has said is fine). Its getting ridiculous. We love this place except for this issue. Its to the point where I wonder on any given day if I'll get a call. We usually take him to the doctor just to get him cleared (which is not cool at $15 a visit, just to hear he's fine). Is this normal?
He's had both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccines, so that shouldn't be a concern.
BTW, many times when we get him home, there is no fever. But since they got a fever, he has to stay out for at least 24 hours. UGH.
Re: ? for moms w/ kids in daycare full-time
Umm never. We never got a call from either of the daycares that Robbie was at.
I do know they will call if they have diariaah (sp) dipers or are showing signs of being sick or feaver that is high.
Oct 2011 3 1/2 years old.
Robert Williams Birth date 5/16/2008
It seems weird to me that they are taking his temp so much. Is he showing signs of being sick? or is it just something they do everyday?
My boys are in daycare full-time (but at an in-home) and we only get calls if they are REALLY sick or they are throwing up. So hardly ever!
We?ve gotten calls on mysterious rashes (once) and fevers over 100. They?re also call if he?s had an injury that?s more than a bump or scrape. Two weeks ago he tripped and hit his head on the corner of the bookcase. How he didn?t? slice it open is a mystery, but they called to let me know he was developing quite the bump and to give me the option of having him checked out.
In the beginning, we got called probably about that frequently. Now, we hardly get calls to come pick her up. I can't even remember the last time we got that call. I think it's partly because she gets sick less and partly because they don't take temps as much.
Is the policy at your DC really 99 degrees results in having to pick-up your child? That seems unusually low. Our daycare calls for anything over 100. And runny noses are part of the toddler territory. They don't worry about those at our school.
We've been to both the same daycares as Annette and we have gotten just a few calls in the 2.5 years we've been going there.
I think only 1 time it was a bogus call.. her cheeks were pink and flushed and they thought it was some allergic reaction. They had been playing outside in the cold and she is fair skinned..... hmmmm whatever.
We've been called 2x with a dislocated elbow, but that happens alot to her and we all know how she reacts.
Never for a fever, but only 1 time for not feeling well (and I happened to drive to Yakima that day so was 2 hours away when they called)
Do they have a written illness policy? They 2nd or backup daycare we have has a good one. It says they know kids get colds and they will only refuse a kid for flu symptoms and not cold symptoms.
That sucks for you! What type of thermometer are they using? 99 is NOT a fever! It's anything over 100.5 right? You may need to have a chat with them that 99 is NOT a fever and NOT grounds to make him stay home!
Short answer -- pretty much never.
But -- there are 2 sides to the coin.
If they are calling all of the time then they are doing that to everyone -- this can be a good thing because they are trying to keep sick kids out, thus keeping your kids healther.
My daycare has called twice -- once to tell me Ryan had a rash (it's his excema, nothing to do) and once on the the way home to let me know he had a high fever and I might want to make sure I had Tyenol when I picked him up. They also said they knew I was on my way and wanted to give me a chance to run to the store and grab meds before I picked him up if necessary. (How nice, huh?)
My kids are sick all.the.time -- we never get called but we are always sick, always! I have been at the pedi every 10 days since they started daycare at the end of October. If they aren't kicking my kids out for fevers (teething mostly) then they aren't kicking out the others that are truely sick, thus causing mine to be sick all of the time. Since they are usually home sick I typically miss at least 2 days of work (usually a long horrible weekend) to keep them home to get healthy so they don't pass it to anyone else. BUT, they have never told me I can't go back....
Either way it's a completely PITA.
I've received a couple of calls to tell me about his fever or cough, but our provider has never asked us to come pick him up. It may be though that we know her personally. I don't really recall ever hearing though about parents getting called so frequently to pick up their sick child. I think it is a bit overcautious.
Marcie
That's ridiculous! I've only been called once in almost 2 years to get DS. Even most pediatricians say it's not officially a fever unless is 100 or 100.4 (unless it's an infant). But seriously, many kids may have a regular everyday temp of 99 so that's just not realistic and it goes up and down throughout the day based on what you are wearing, activity level, etc. I can relate to being sick though. When DS1 started at 2 years old, he was sick every other week for about 8 months. Now, he's almost 4 and get the occasional colds/sickness but it's not nearly as bad. It just seems it would be impossible to send a child home with every runny nose or cough when the kids are just passing it back and forth. If' they are vomiting, that would be a different story.
That must be rough...
Um, once. In a year. And she was sick.
That is crazy. J has a lowgrade fever everytime she's teething and if they called me for a 99* temp I would lose my marbles. That's nutz.
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When Jack was at an in-home daycare, she'd called us probably 5 times in the year he was there. Most of the times were legit reasons (fever, lethargy, etc). He's been at his current center now for 1.5 years and we've gotten called just 3 times. But he's also older now and probably more immune to things kids can pick up at daycare.
I'm expecting to get more calls for Cole because he's younger and in daycare for the first time now.
I don't think a fever of 99 warrants them calling you. Especially not if he's acting fine and eating/drinking normally. But then again I'm not an overly paranoid parent about things like that...
Thanks for the input, everyone. I'm glad that it's the daycare that mostly sounds nuts and not me!
They have a written policy on fevers, but they've superceded it with the new Public Health policies (?) that a fever 99 or over should result in a kid going home. We have seen several pediatricians at PA and they all agree that 99 does not constitute a febrile (contagious) fever. I've had 2 of the docs write detailed letters to the daycare, but they insist they are following the policy put forth by the Public Health department. Further, they take the temp under his armpit, so they add a degree to it. That is in no way accurate. Today we got the call with a 100 degree temp. That means they got a 99 under his armpit. DH picked him up, brought him home, promptly took his temp several times (temporal scanner) and never got a temp above 98.9. I have no idea when or why they take him temp, other than they say they think he "looks lethargic" or "doesn't seem himself". And let me tell you, he HATES having his temp taken under his arm. He'll squirm and fight and scream and cry, all which make him very warm.
DH had it out a bit with the director today. We also took him in to the ped again this evening just to get their opinion. The ped we saw wrote out a long letter to the daycare pretty much telling them they are ridiculous and need to re-examine their policy. It was kind of a nasty letter, which makes me smile a bit.
We'll see how it goes. I'm kind of crushed because we really like this place and hope to send any other kids we have there as well. A good friend of mine sends her daughter there as well and she went through a brief period of getting calls, but hasn't gotten one in awhile. I'm just stumped. DH and I are going to make a sit-down appt with the director and really talk this through.
I'm glad to know this isn't really normal. If he really was sick, that'd be one thing - but he's FINE.