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When should children be kept home from kindergarten?
Kindergarten children are more exposed to illness than children who do not attend kindergarten, and nurseries are exposed to small outbreaks of, for example, lice, chicken pox or smallpox. For many illnesses, it is the general condition of the child that determines whether or not the child can go to kindergarten.
Parents, who know the children best, are the best at assessing whether their children can go to kindergarten or not. Keeping the children at home when necessary is important both to limit infection and of course for the children themselves.
Remember that good hygiene is important to limit infection!
With symptoms of a respiratory infection?
Children often have mild signs of respiratory infection, such as a runny nose and cough. In times of increased focus on respiratory symptoms and infection, such as with the corona virus, it is extra important that parents monitor their children and keep them home from daycare and school when they show signs of illness. There is a lower threshold for keeping children at home now, in these times, than it has been in the past.
In case of vomiting or diarrhoea?
After acute vomiting or diarrhoea, children must be kept at home from the nursery for a minimum of 48 hours after the last vomiting/diarrhoea. Many of the viruses, such as norovirus, that cause stomach and intestinal infections are easily contagious, and children can be contagious up to 48 hours after vomiting or diarrhoea. Here, parents have to be patient and keep their children at home, even if they are healthy the second day after vomiting or diarrhoea.
With a fever?
Children with a fever should be kept home from daycare. Fever is not a disease in itself, but a symptom that the body is working on something and the child should be allowed to stay at home.
For eye catarrh?
In the case of catarrh of the eye with a lot of pus, children can go to nursery school again the day after the start of treatment or when the pus has disappeared, provided that the general condition is good.
With a cold or flu?
In case of a cold, children can go to nursery school when the general condition dictates it.
Children with flu can follow the same advice as with a cold and go to nursery school when the general condition dictates it. In the event of a flu pandemic, it may make sense to keep the child at home longer.
With an ear infection?
In case of an ear infection, the child can go to nursery when the general condition dictates it.
By chicken pox?
Chickenpox is highly contagious. Children with chickenpox should be kept at home from kindergarten until the chickenpox is under control. The rash must either be completely covered with bandages or be sufficiently healed that there is no longer a risk of infection when touched.
For head lice?
Head lice are easily contagious, but it is not necessary to send children home from nursery if this is detected. You should start treatment against head lice the same evening that head lice are discovered. The child can continue to attend nursery school while the treatment is taking place. Remember to inform your circle of friends and nursery that lice have been found!
Whooping cough?
If you start the treatment against whooping cough early in the course of the disease, the child is usually infection-free five days after starting the treatment. The child should be home from kindergarten for these five days. If treatment is started later in the course of the disease, it is much less contagious, and children can go to nursery school the day after starting treatment.
In case of E-coli infection?
If E-coli has been detected, the child must stay home from the nursery until five negative control samples have been delivered. If someone in the child's family has been diagnosed with E-coli, the child must stay at home until there are three negative stool samples from the child.
By Kusma?
Mumps is part of the child vaccination programme, and is given when the child is 15 months old. If unvaccinated children get mumps, the child must be kept home from the nursery for 9 days after the swelling has subsided. If all other children in the nursery are vaccinated, it is the general condition of the child that determines when he/she can go to the nursery again.
In case of rubella?
Vaccine against rubella is included in the childhood vaccination programme, and for vaccinated children it is unlikely that a rash is caused by rubella. If a child gets rubella, the child must stay home from daycare for at least five days after the onset of the rash.
By chicken pox?
Chickenpox is the most contagious of all childhood diseases, and the course of the disease is milder for children (with normal immune systems) than for adults. If you get chickenpox as a child, you are immune to it for the rest of your life. Children can go to nursery when the rash has started to dry.
