No, your child is still contagious and because it’s mild for you doesn’t mean it won’t be for others. I work at a daycare and a couple of years ago we had someone like you bring in their contagious child (unbeknownst to us at the time), it sent one child to the hospital for a week and nearly lost her. A couple of other kids were severely sick, but did not require hospitalization. Since then, our policy is for all symptoms to be resolved. |
| There is no such thing as "mild" RSV. Do not send. |
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I agree 8 days from symptom onset.
-My 2.5yo was rushed via ambulance from immediate care to the hospital last week |
| Personally I would be ok with it given that it’s been 6 days and because every kid gets RSV at some point and it is inevitable. Most kids in a toddler room have had it. I understand how scary RSV is but I also know it is in the center constantly whether my kid specifically has it or not. A mask is a great idea. |
| Op I agree with others, since your child just tested positive today I would give it at least a couple more days. I totally realize that is difficult and it is hard when it feels mild on your end. But if they still have active runny nose, personally if I knew it was RSV I would wait until that symptom gets better. Cough is likely to stay for awhile so ok to not wait until that is completely gone. But as others said, we had just the most terrifying experience with RSV with our four month old, it is worth waiting a couple more days til hopefully that runny nose gets better. |
+1 half the kids at the center probably have it too and haven't been tested To the PP that says "it can't be mild" that's just not true. Why would you say that? |
Guys. These are not COVID tests. People don't have RSV tests lying around to do every day. You find out when you take your kid to the doctor which is going to be several days after symptom onset. Most kids that have RSV are never identified, because their symptoms are mild. OP should really just listen to the doctor and ignore people on DCUM who don't know what they are talking about. |
| It's crazy that the doctor was so noncommital. Sounds like the doc thinks baby is not contagious? |
It means the doctor doesn't know how long the child will be contagious for (if they are still contagious) and recognizes that RSV is probably rampant in the child's daycare so the family should base whether they send the child back on whether the child feels well enough to participate. |
Probably, or they realize there is nothing to gain from keeping home a relatively healthy child who is on day 6+ of their symptoms with a very mild case of an endemic disease. Most viruses do their heavy shedding in the early days or before the child is even symptomatic. Covid has really whacked out people’s expectations about the effectiveness of isolation periods for endemic diseases. The guidance wasn’t even effective for COVID once it had the chance to spread. There’s just a certain amount of risk you have to be comfortable with if you are going to use communal care settings and the risk of RSV has long been one of them. That being said, I feel for people with babies this year. RSV is terrifying, it always has been. Every kid gets it and while the chance of severe illness is low, the absolute numbers are going to be high because it gets everyone at some time or another. It’s seems worse now though because we have tools available that can prevent the deaths and the disabilities but there has been zero urgency to get them deployed. |
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Our pediatrician doesn’t even test for rsv (which I find annoying.) my kids were quite sick with it last year, at ages 1 and 4, for over a week. It started out as a mild cough and runny nose but then turned into low fevers and lethargy that went on for days.
My now 2yo now has it again, obviously because other people are sending their kids to school with coughs and runny noses. She was very mildly sick for the first three days and now on day 4, again with the low fever and low energy. I will send her back to school when she’s back to herself. Her preschool is a chorus of coughing and snotty noses and everything under the sun is incubating there. There are no specific guidelines for rsv at the my kids school. Just fever free for 24 hours and not feeling sick. |
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My now 3yo had RSV when she was 18mo and we ended up at urgent care, then the ER. She deteriorated veey rapidly (overnight) from what were mild symptoms for 3 or 4 days to a pulse ox of 88 and dehydration requiring IV fluids. We were told by our pediatrician to keep her home for a week, even though she only had a mild fever that first day.
When my older DD had it as a toddler, it was very mild, so I was shocked that younger DD's experience at roughly the same age was so different. I see posts on here frequently where people claim that it isn't a big deal once children are part the infant stage, and that wasn't our experience at all. |
PP here. Because it's RSV. Some viruses we know can be very dangerous to others and RSV is one of them. What is mild in one child could kill another. I cannot fathom sending my child to school who was positive for something like RSV. |
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NO, OP. You could kill a chid. My 6 week old was hospitalized for more than a week and nearly died.
I hope if the daycare found out they would boot you. That is incredibly dangerous. |
But when would you send them back? (Assuming no fever, acting like themselves, mild runny nose, etc as is the case with OP?) |