When to Keep Your Sick Child Home

My name is Dr. Lisa Light, and I am a pediatrician at Cleveland Clinic's new Twinsburg Family Health and Surgery Center. , and I'm looking forward to sharing health information and tips for parents and children. 

Parents of children who attend child care facilities and school always ask the questions: Are they contagious? When can they go back to school?

This time of year, we’re seeing a lot of kids with ear infections, colds, cough, strep throat, vomiting and diarrhea, and the list goes on.

Many but not all of these kids attend some child care facility and/or school. Children in these settings are likely to have more infectious diseases than those who remain at home. In fact, most children in child care and school settings have as many as eight to 12 colds a year. Diarrhea episodes occur once or twice a year in the typical child. These facts may scare parents and actually deter them from sending their children to a child care facility. The flip-side is that those children who attend a child care facility tend to miss less school when they attend school at an older age.

When I see children for an acute infection in the office, I use some basic rules to help instruct parents when it’s safe for their child to return to school or child care facility. Most colds or upper respiratory infections are caused by a virus, at least initially. Children get viruses all of the time. It’s hard for me to advise a parent to keep their child home every time he/she has a virus or cold.

My guideline is a child can return to school or day care when:

• There is no fever for 24 hours without any acetaminophen or ibuprofen
• The child can participate in most activities without being disruptive to themselves or others
• After 24 hours of being on an antibiotic, if prescribed

Sometimes the best education I can do is to talk about preventative steps including:

• Washing your hands often and frequently
• Covering the mouth when coughing
• Immunize your child for the recommended immunizations

It’s important to know the policies at your child’s facility or school concerning sick children. Every facility and school has their own policy. Some won’t allow children to attend if any signs of a cold, while others may have a “sick” area for a child to stay.