As a parent, you don’t want your child to miss more days of school than necessary. This makes it difficult to decide whether you should send your sick children to school, especially if they have a fever. The common advice supports keeping your child home from school if they are suffering from a fever, nausea, or diarrhea.
Sending Your Sick Child to School
You should always use your best judgement when deciding if you should keep your child home from school. If you think your child is too sick to handle daily activities, your best bet is to make arrangements for him to stay home.
If you’re having a hard time deciding whether or not your little one is well enough to go to school, consider these guidelines:
Fever
- You should never send your child to school with a fever above 100.4°F. However, if your child has a slight fever (below 100.4°F) and is not acting sick, they should be fine to attend school. If your child is under four months of age and has a fever above 98.6°F, you should keep them home from daycare and consult your healthcare provider.
Sore throat
- If your child has a sore throat and runny nose but isn’t running a fever, they are most likely safe to go to school as long as they are acting okay. If your child has a sore throat along with a fever, swollen glands, headache, or stomach ache, it is best to keep them home from school and take them to a medical professional to determine the cause.
Stomach ache
- If your child has a stomach ache but doesn’t seem sick beyond this symptom, you can send them to school. But if the stomach ache is accompanied by other symptoms, such as diarrhea, vomiting, or fever, you should keep them home and take them to see a medical professional.
Cold
- Colds are extremely common among children of all ages and usually aren’t severe enough to warrant keeping kids home from school. However, if your child’s symptoms include a fever, wheezing, fatigue, or excess of mucus in coughs, you should keep him or her at home.
Diarrhea
- If your child has only had a few bouts of diarrhea without any other symptoms, sending them to school is fine. If your child has diarrhea more than three times a day and/or is experiencing other symptoms such as vomiting, keep them home and make sure they stay hydrated.
Vomiting
- If your kid has only thrown up once and isn’t feeling sick, it is okay to send them to school. If your kid has thrown up more than twice in 24 hours and is exhibiting other symptoms, keep them home and make sure they drink plenty of fluids.
See a Healthcare Professional Before the School Day Starts
If your child is sick, and their symptoms haven’t gotten better with a few days of rest, it is best to keep them home from school and take them to a medical professional for evaluation.
FastMed Urgent Care is open seven days a week with extended hours, making it easy for you to bring your child in before school to see if they are ready to tolerate a full school day.
We offer a self-pay Discount Program to make healthcare more affordable, and we accept most major insurance plans, including Medicare and Medicaid. Stop in today and let the compassionate healthcare professionals at FastMed Urgent Care help your child get back to feeling better and back to school!
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Sources:
Kids Health: https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/too-sick.html
Parenting.com: http://www.parenting.com/article/is-my-child-too-sick-for-school