A plan for daycare sick days

Make a small backup plan

Before the first sick day, decide who can leave work, collect your child and stay with them. Ask the centre how it contacts families, which symptoms trigger a pickup and how it communicates outbreaks. Keep the centre’s phone number and your child’s health-care contact together.

When reporting an absence, describe the symptoms and when they started. This helps the centre recognize illness spreading through a room and apply the right precautions.

Sources: Policies & Procedures for Child Care Centres · Common infections and your child

Check the rule before returning

Toronto Public Health’s general respiratory guidance says to stay home while sick. For work or school, it says to return when well enough to participate without fever medicines. For daycare, confirm the centre’s own exclusion policy and any instructions for the particular illness before drop-off.

During a gastrointestinal outbreak at a child care centre, Toronto Public Health says affected children must be symptom-free for at least 48 hours before returning. Public health provides outbreak-specific directions to the centre, so check for current notices.

Sources: Reduce the Spread of Respiratory Viruses · Policies & Procedures for Child Care Centres · Gastrointestinal Outbreak Management in Child Care Centres

Focus on comfort and fluids

For a cold, encourage rest and offer fluids. With diarrhea, continue breastfeeding or usual-strength formula. An oral rehydration solution can help when your child is not taking other fluids well; a pharmacy carries ready-mixed options. Check the Canadian Paediatric Society’s linked guide for age-specific instructions.

Watch for less urine, a dry mouth or no tears. Contact a health-care provider if these signs appear, your child refuses to drink, or vomiting continues beyond four to six hours. Do not give over-the-counter cough or cold medicines to children under six without speaking to their doctor.

Sources: Common infections and your child · Dehydration and diarrhea in children: Prevention and treatment

Know when to get help

• Call 911 immediately If your child is unresponsive, has blue lips or tongue, or is struggling to breathe, get emergency help.
• Get urgent medical assessment A baby under three months with a fever needs urgent assessment. Green vomit requires an emergency department visit. Diarrhea and vomiting with no tears, a dry mouth or no urine also need immediate medical advice; if you cannot reach a provider, go to the nearest emergency department.
• Contact your child’s provider The Canadian Paediatric Society advises a doctor’s assessment for fever in babies under six months, or fever lasting more than 48–72 hours in older children. Seek advice sooner if your child’s condition worries you.

Sources: SIGNS: Spot severe illness in infants, children and adolescents (PDF) · Virtual Urgent Care: When should I get help right away? · Dehydration and diarrhea in children: Prevention and treatment · Fever and temperature taking

These are examples of warning signs, not a complete symptom checklist. Follow any individual care plan from your child’s health-care team.

Keep prevention manageable

Help your child wash their hands, practise coughing into an elbow and keep recommended vaccinations up to date. Young children encounter many new germs; having a backup plan remains useful even when everyone follows good prevention habits.

Sources: Common infections and your child