Day Care and Sick Children

The demand for high-quality day care is increasing, with more than 8 million mothers of children under age 6 in the work force. The issue of caring for sick children who attend day care presents problems for parents, day care facilities and communities.

Some programs allow children with mild illnesses to attend day care, but others do not--some because of lack of staff to give the sick child extra care, others because of concerns about infections.

Thus the dilemma: What should working parents do when their child becomes ill?

The American Academy of Pediatrics’ newly released manual on day care advises that all day care programs develop a written policy concerning the management of sick children, and I urge the day care programs in Orange County to do the same.

There are very few illnesses for which children need to be excluded from day care. Depending on a program’s facilities, illnesses such as diarrhea, vomiting, high fever and other highly contagious diseases may make keeping a child home advisable.

Since illness in day care is a common but unpredictable occurrence, it would seem appropriate that we work toward more reasonable infection policies in day care as well as more liberal parental leave policies in the workplace.

PAUL Y. QAGUNDAH, MD

Chapter Chairman,

California Chapter 4

American Academy of Pediatrics