Illnesses!

[Momboss]

Im so tired of all the illness. Especially the coughing and runny noses. Why is it so hard for parents to keep their kids healthy? I feel like im just breathing in air full of germs every day. My own kids are rarely sick and they have a daycare IN their home.
Also, why dont parents give their kids medicine to help with their symptoms? How sad that they just let them be miserable. Its also making me standoffish with the children and not letting them be in my face because i dont want to keep getting sick. They can get their hugs and kisses from their parents, im done.
Ughhhhhhhhh!

[Alwaysgreener]

Sorry I don't give my kids meds or rarely take them myself.

If they have a fever I give them a bath and snuggle them. A fever is there to fight off the illness.

Cough medicine is a placebo in a way, so instead I give a spoonful of honey or hard candy. It soothes there sore throat. (Horehound) I put Vicks on their chest so they can sleep at night, also run a humidifier as needed.

I also don't want my families giving meds, it hides symptoms, they could have side effects and they are still contagious.

To avoid getting sick, eat garlic daily or try elderberry.

[Momboss]

Placebo even if the child doesnt understand? I disagree, medication does help with symptoms. Daycare child had persistent cough and it stopped when i told mom he needed medication. Less cough means less spreading of germs.

[Alwaysgreener]

When my foster son was sick, I called his Dr office after hours and they said not to give him cough medicine as it did not do anything that honey couldn't do. He was prescribed honey for his cough, good old fashion straight from the beehive honey.

I never tell a parent to medicate because I am not licensed doctor. It is a liability to recommend medicine even otc. I will say, for my kids I use xyz but talk to your child doctor before doing so. (Even when I suggested ChapStick to cure child's raw nose when she had a runny nose.)

[Blackcat31]

Momboss what cough medicine did mom get for the child and how old are they? From my understanding the actual ingredients that DO help stop a cough are no longer in cough medicines for kids under 12 yrs so just wondering.
My pharmacist says the ONLY cough medicine that actually suppresses a cough is for adults and usually prescribed. He also said Delsym is recommended for kids under 6.

Also coughs are caused by multiple things and a cough itself is not contagious. The root of a cough may or may not be contagious. For example allergies can cause a cough and allergies are not contagious
https://www.medicinenet.com/is_a_cou...us/article.htm

[Alwaysgreener]

Cough Medicine and Children

Because of a lack of good evidence that cold and cough medicines help -- and a very small risk of serious side effects -- the FDA said in 2008 that toddlers and babies shouldn’t get these products. Drug makers agreed to change the labeling of over-the-counter cough and cold remedies. Now they’re only recommended for children ages 4 and older.

The American Academy of Pediatrics went further. It says there's no reason parents should use them in children under 6.

But moms and dads might not be listening. In a nationwide poll, more than 60% of parents with children under age 2 said they've given their kids cold or cough medicine.

[Alwaysgreener]

https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/f...u-shouldnt-you

[Springvalley]

I began taking vitamin C & D when covid hit to boost my immune system. I've done the elderberry but eventually i quit taking it

[Momboss]

Blackcat31 this was definitely illness. Half the kids have this cough and runny nose. My throat is swollen now. I caught their allergies I guess. I give my 4 yr old dimetapp (spelling?). It works wonders for him when hes had a cough.
my oldest son has severe allergies, i know what allergies are in comparison to illness.

[Blackcat31]

I would have sent him home immediately (or even turned away at the door of you noticed symptoms) and not allowed him to return to care until 100%

I’m sorry you got sick too. It sucks when germs are so in our faces all the time.

I have a super strict illness policy and most times parents love it….. until it’s their kid that’s excluded lol! But I’m not a nurse and I have my hands full with healthy kids so definitely don’t want the slightly sick, not really sick but symptomatic or the not contagious- never covers their mouth kids in addition to the healthy ones.

Hopefully once Spring finally arrives the illness dies down. Hang in there until then! (((Hugs!)))

[flyingjewels]

I have alway treated my kids. They don’t feel good, I’ll give them medicine. Tylenol or ibuprofen for the body aches and reduce high fevers. Then I buy either Zarbees brand cold and cough or Hylands Cold and Cough you can give 2 years and up and that stuff works. It does stop the coughing and nose drainage. Once my kids are old enough for dimetapp and mucinex kids I give that to them. Also Vicks kids rub.

I don’t want families dosing and dropping off but if it’s a cold that is lingering, sure, give them something that will help the symptoms. But I don’t ask them to, I stay out of it. Some families do and some don’t.

[Alwaysgreener]

Zarbees I believe it is basically just honey.

Hylands makes me nervous, they have had recalls in the past.

[flyingjewels]

Alwaysgreener

It is mostly honey, I just don’t buy honey lol. But I’ll buy zarbees. 🤣 I haven’t read of any recalls recently, but I’ll have to look it up.

[flyingjewels]

I just had a nasty respiratory virus come through here. A child was coughing randomly is how it started. Turned into a nasty virus everyone caught, even my husband. I was the only one that didn’t catch it, this time. Parents get their kids sick a lot too I notice. That’s what happened here and it’s not the first time. Grown adults that can’t cover their mouths with their elbows and wash their hands with every nose blow or wipe. 🙄 it’s like really people just need to be educated a lot more on cross contamination.

[Annalee]

I just had a couple of kids get hand foot mouth… Not sure if it’s true, but I learned something a doctor said… There are three kinds of hand foot mouth that’s very similar to chickenpox and once a child has it, they won’t get them again… one particular child ironically has had hand foot and mouth twice but they were two different kinds so there’s only one more kind they possibly could get? Anyone ever heard that? I do find it odd only two kids got it out of my 12 and we had a round of that several months ago so it does look like the ones that got it the first time did not get it this go around due to immune
to this particular virus. So it does look like there may be some merit to that?

[GirlMomma]

I’ve never heard of HFM being similar to chicken pox. Every child’s immune system is different, so it’s possible that they’ve built up an immunity to it.

When HFM came through here two years ago, DD’s didn’t get it 🤷♀️

[Annalee]

if you look at hfm, it's spots with blisters on the end like chicken pox??

[GirlMomma]

Yeah it is. It’s similar for sure. I have never heard of it being like chicken pox and once you get it you won’t get it again.

My cousin treated it like chicken pox when her boys got HFM. It honestly made me mad. She had them playing soccer with other kids so “they all could get it at once.” 🙄

[Springvalley]

They make delsym for children that you can give if your kids have a cough but if we have a child get sick either during the day or at home, we automatically exclude for symptoms and require they stay home for 24/48 hours or until symptoms are gone and if they have a fever, we require they are fever free without medication when they come back to the daycare. When they pay their tuition, we always tell parents that if they will bring a doctor's note when they return, that they only have to pay half of their tuition instead of the full amount and if they are on CMA, we send in their doctor's note so that it doesn't count against them on how many days they can use.

[GirlMomma]

I don’t medicate DDs for fevers, I let the fever do its job - unless they seem uncomfortable. I do treat cold symptoms with Mommy’s Bliss, Zarbee’s or Hyland’s as I have noticed they relieve DD’s symptoms. Mommy’s Bliss has been my favorite.

DDs take a daily vitamin with Elderberry. DD11 is very rarely sick! DD3.5 gets sick, but not too often. She is exposed to the DCK as well as kids at the pre-k she attends two days/week.

[Momboss]

I give my kids fever meds after 101 degrees. Fevers can become dangerous. I was at 106 once as a child and was hallucinating.

[GirlMomma]

Momboss if the fever gets that high, you could absolutely hallucinate and have a seizure. I am sorry that happened to you, you should’ve been at the hospital! 🫶

[Alwaysgreener]

Momboss I can understand your fear of a high fever, my mom freaks out too. As an infant I had 103.5 temp, my mom called the doctor and he said to call back when and if I hit 104. My mom was mad, still is, but my temperature went down with out any medical intervention.

At 101 my ds4 is still running around, at 102 he slows down, I bath my ds and snuggle on the couch with him. I keep a close eye on his temp, watch for other symptoms and he falls asleep on me. His fever is gone by morning with no medicine. I am there with him caring for him, bonding with him and building memories with him, I don't regret a moment of it.

Now If he hits 104, I would be on the phone to the doctor while heading to the nearest ER.

Don't let fears from the past control you. Recognize it and take control of it.

[Pestle]

I don't medicate for a fever without doctor's orders, because if the fever is high enough to actually need medication, my child is sick enough to need to see the doctor.

Cough drops are reasonable for my school-aged child; cough syrup is for grown-ups unless a doctor has advised it.

When it comes to the daycare kids, any medication that treats symptoms is a medication that masks symptoms. A kid who is sick enough to be on medication is a kid who needs to be at home with their family.

[Momboss]

Im starting to understand providers going to “symptom free”. I just feel like i would lose a ton of clients then. But nobody takes illness and health seriously anymore and constantly bringing it into daycare. They dont care that their child is miserable and would rather cuddle st home with mom/dad

[Pestle]

For me, there are some symptoms that I just don't worry about. A mild or infrequent cough, a clear runny nose, a little bit of crankiness. Those are all symptoms, but they are symptoms of every darn thing. I don't exclude for a fever under 100.4°F and I check after 15 minutes to see if the fever stays or not. There are some kids whose temperatures fluctuate throughout the day.

[GirlMomma]

I forgot to mention this above:

I’ve always heard not to suppress a cough because it could turn into pneumonia. I’m not sure how true that is. That’s why I use natural-ish/homeopathic OTC medications (Mommy’s Bliss, Zarbee’s, Hyland’s) because they are meant to soothe instead of suppress.

[Alwaysgreener]

I wouldn't be surprised if suppressing a cough would cause pneumonia. It's your body's natural way of fighting off the invasion of germs. Think of it this way, if suppress the cough or reduce the fever you're taking away your body way of fighting the war against the germ/virus. Now add in a infant or toddler that is unable to let you know how they are feeling, you could miss a major symptom because you masked it with drugs.

My grandma used to say it doesn't matter what you do to fight a cold, doesn't matter what drugs you use, what remedies you use, the cold has to work itself out and you will always be sick for 10 days.

It never fails whenever I have a cold I go back to when I recall symptoms starting to the day that I felt better and it's always 10 days.

[flyingjewels]

I take medicine to push through. It doesn’t cure anything but can help you from feeling worse. Or if I’m coughing all night, I want to sleep so I’ll take cough suppressant. I do the same for my kids. If they aren’t complaining too much and are sleeping okay, I don’t treat usually. My oldest gets bad body aches like me. Doesn’t matter what it is, she will get body aches so I treat it with ibuprofen because they make you so miserable. My youngest is totally different. I’ll give her hylands when she does get really bad colds but she’s always like sick a day then she’s done. Her immune system is a lot better than her sisters. So far it seems to be anyway.

[Momboss]

Exactly, taking meds helps make you feel better while you get over an illness. Why be in pain if you dont have to. Life still goes on and things gotta get done lol hard to do if you feel bad.
I have parents send their kids to daycare coughing litterally every minute along with their runny nose getting all over everything because unless i wipe it every 5 min and do nothing else for the other kids, its gonna get everywhere. Its these instances that drive me crazy that parents dont have consideration for the other kids and their provider. Thats why i say either medicate or keep them home. If they arent confortable with medication, then they have to keep them home. Its their choice.