September not only marks the start of autumn but can also begin the season of nursery illnesses! As cold and damp weather drives everyone inside, coughs and colds flourish and industrial sized boxes of tissues are needed!

At our nurseries we try to get the children outside as much as possible but it’s inevitable that there will be runny noses this autumn and winter.

New To Nursery?

If your baby or child is just starting at nursery it can feel like they are getting every bug going. Generally this is good news! Until now your child has only been exposed to a limited amount of infections, those from your immediate family. Now they are coming in contact with lots of variants of these bugs and building a natural immunity to them. By the time they start school they will have plenty of resistance to these common infections and therefore their education and enjoyment of school will not suffer because of them.

Building immunity against infections is important for later life too, for example it’s much better to have chicken pox as a child than as an adult.

When Should You Keep Your Child Off Nursery?

We appreciate that it can be difficult for working parents to arrange time off when their babies or children are poorly. It might be tempting to send them to nursery if they don’t appear too ill. We wouldn’t expect you to keep your child off for mild coughs and colds, but if your baby or child has a fever, flu, a contagious disease or is feeling really under the weather, they should have a day or two at home. It’s not fair on them to force them to nursery when all they want is to snuggle up with mum or dad on the sofa, and it’s not fair on the other children (and their parents) to bring a potentially infectious and poorly child to nursery.

• Bear in mind that if a child’s condition deteriorates we would need to contact a parent and ask them to take them home.* It might be easier to stay at home from the start and give your child the attention they need, allowing them to make a quick recovery and return to nursery soon.

When Can Your Child Return To Nursery?

Generally babies and children bounce back from minor illnesses and low-grade viruses very quickly. Whereas an adult might need to take the rest of the week off work to recover, your child could spend one day feeling miserable and be climbing the walls the next! Most bugs are at their most infectious before you’ve even realised that you’re ill; that irritating sneeze before you came down with a virus was what was spreading it to everyone else. So we won’t be surprised to see your baby or child back at nursery very soon, provided you are confident that they are 100 percent.

There are exceptions though…

Vomiting And Diarrhoea

Tummy bugs are not pleasant for anyone and highly contagious. We encourage good hygiene practice in our nurseries but even so vomiting and diarrhoea can quickly take hold in a nursery setting. The norovirus (winter vomiting bug) can become airborne so even with regular hand washing it can be transmitted to other children and staff. Because of the nature of tummy upsets, minor and more severe, we ask that babies and children do not return to nursery until 48 hours has passed from their last vomiting or diarrhoea episode.

Childhood Diseases

With the introduction of the MMR vaccine we are fortunate that there are fewer cases of what used to be common childhood diseases: measles, mumps and rubella (German measles). However there are still other childhood diseases your baby or child is likely to be exposed to. Here are some guidelines on when they can return to nursery after these:

• Chicken Pox: children can return seven days after onset when the spots are scabbed over and child is well in themselves.
• Fifth Disease (or Slapped Check Disease): usually children can go back to nursery two to three days after the fever has subsided and they are feeling well.
• Whooping Cough: should stay at home for five days from the start of a course of antibiotics.
• Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease: they should stay at home until they are feeling well again.
• Scarlett Fever: should stay at home for five days from the start of a course of antibiotics.
• Skin Diseases such as Impetigo: can return to nursery after 48 hours of antibiotics or when the sores have crusted over.
• Conjunctivitis: please take your child to your GP who should prescribe a treatment. They can then return to nursery 48 hours after this treatment has started.
• Roseola: usually babies can go back to nursery as soon as they are feeling well enough.

*Please always ensure that there is someone available to collect your baby or child from nursery if they become ill. You may want to make special arrangements if your child has recently returned after illness, for example half days until they are completely fit again.

Let’s hope we get some dry and bright autumnal days to make the most of this season and keep those snuffles at bay for as long as possible!