No Panadol for 24 hours before child care?

[AnyDream]

Hi, we're looking at a CCC in our area, they have a policy of exclusion if your child has been given panadol or nurofen (or any other analgesia) in the 24 hours prior to care.

Does anyone else have this policy at their CCC, and if so, how does that work??

[Doing my best]

how would they know?

Seems really bizarre to me..

[black_rose]

No, if you like the centre apart from that just don't tell them! My girls often need panadol for teething at night but they are fine during the day. I guess they are trying to keep sick kids at home but an overall ban is strange.

[Indadhanu]

Umm, to me thats a bit weird, as a parent and a child care worker.
I guess I can see some kind of logic, like it might mask possible symptoms or fevers... Or if they are a centre who administer panadol they don't want to overdose... something like that maybe? I still think it's weird to have an out exclusion...

[Floweryfields]

We will not administer panadol until a child has been at the centre for the minimum time between doses (I think it is 5 hours) because we don't know for sure whether they've had a dose just before they've arrived so that we don't risk overdose. But I can't see the reason for a 24 hour ban.

[mummy of 3 boys]

i've never heard of this & same as Leasha i have been a childcare worker

generally some centre's have a policy u have to sign if u agree to them giving ur sick child panadol & generally they would ring before this happened incase u wanted to pick them up instead of administering the panadol

Im also with the others there is no way they know if a child has had panadol in the last 24hrs, to me it seems abit bizarre cause some children do need it for teething :|

[Mak]

Interesting! Maybe they are just really cautious in regards to keeping bugs away?? TBH I would ask them why and see - could be better in the long run in terms of limiting the spread of illness..... I think I have easily seen 2 kids each week at our ccc who should have been home this winter.

[AnyDream]

I think the thinking is, don't send your child if they have a fever or are in pain...they're probably sick of parents sending kiddies who should stay at home along with a bottle of panadol like that's ok. But I just think - they can say it but they have no way of policing it? If anything it means that the group of parents who are sending their-not-really-well children will dose them up with longer-acting and stronger drugs/medications and not divulge.

Also, if you want them to use nappy cream they have to be prescribed by a doctor and sent along with a medication authority signed by a doctor?

Apparently this is best practice by the Dept of Edn and Children's Services in this state...seems kinda OTT to me?! I understand there could be instances where centres have encountered problems with parents medicating their kids instead of getting them seen by drs, but it still seems extreme.

ETA - this is just pressing my buttons because I'm pro-FDC, so already in the uncomfy zone with a CCC (even tho we used this same centre years ago occasionally with my eldest DD).

[MamaPan]

hmmm seems odd to me.
i reckon its to keep sick kids away... but cmon - many kids have some panadol bc they are teething or whatever and are totally fine...that said i can kinda understand the panadol rule bu tnopw you have said about the nappy cream i think that is CRAZY!

[black_rose]

We have to fill out a form for nappy creams to be used otherwise they will only use powder or nothing at all.

[AnyDream]

We have to fill out a form for nappy creams to be used otherwise they will only use powder or nothing at all.

See that's even weirder to me, I have *never* used powder because I understood there was a) a choking risk in very young babies and b) a carcinogenic risk if their powder contains talc. ( Please please tell me they use a cornstarch only product).

[black_rose]

yep only cornstarch.

[Kazbah]

*blinks*

We had to provide our own nappy cream if we didn't want bepanthan used ... and that was at a city council centre.

Panadol we could leave with them, but they would only give 1 dose / day. Sounds a bit weird to me....

[~Kaz~]

I have not heard of either the panadol thing or the nappy cream thing.

At my CCC, they will not give any medication to a child without a doctors presciption and a signed authorisation from the parent. This includes panadol. I am able to call into the centre to dose him though if I think he needs it (for teething I guess, rather than illness) and dose him myself.

DS is in cloth and rarely gets rash. When he does the workers know to switch him to disposables (I always pack a few jic) and use the nappy cream I have supplied in his bag. There hasn't been any issue with this.

With the panadol thing, I get them not wanting parents to send kids who are unwell but they are always able to call the parents and insist the child is picked up. I think if they were doing that and sending kids home, parents will get the message.

[*Beema*]

Wow ours insn't that strict

We can't give Panadol before attending for the day, nappy creams are all fine. Although if something is prescribed medically ie. thrush then it has to be written in a letter written by the Dr and they also need clearance from the Dr to come back to Daycare, or the original letter noting the exclusion period for the illness and they will be fit to return after x days (like a medical certificate).

For Asthma/Lung conditions, DD has an Asthma care plan - to make it easier for them, and then when I sign her in I prescribe how much and how often her pufferes have to be, but generally if she can't cope with 6 puffs (equ. of a Nebulizer) four hourly Ventolin she doesn't go to Daycare, because it is often something more sinister causing the issue.

I'll PM you as well

[luna moth]

Panadol: Yes, have heard of it, think it's stupid. The parents who are doing it for the wrong reasons (doping kid up so they can look well enough to pass muster at drop-off, despite being way too unwell to be more than a metre from their parents) are just going to lie anyway; they already do. The parents who use it within reason (teething at night) aren't the ones who send sick kids in anyway.

Nappy creams: Not a dr's script, but have worked places where they have to have a chemist label with child's name and instructions. I quite liekd this system; it costs you nothing more than the actual cream to get a label on the product. There can be no confusion or over dosage. It also stops you from getting little jars of homemade remedy or only labelled in other languages, which could be anything, potentially poisonous, or containing serious allergens.

I've worked in over 50 places over the years... everyone's got their own rules, and everyone thinks their own way is best. Except me I've seen so much now that I know there is no one "safe" or "best" set of rules. Things that the Queensland state regs claim to be major breaches don't even rate a mention in the Victorian regs, yet big things in Vic don't matter in NSW etc. Funnily enough, there's no significant difference in safety or rate of incidents between the states; so really, the minutiae don't matter.