In this article, we’ll reveal the top ten most common illnesses in childcare that impact families and prevent their children from attending care.
In addition, we’re going to discuss why it’s important to identify in advance which illnesses have the potential to impact your family.
We’ll also share how we can assist you in helping your childcare service minimise the risk of spreading infectious illnesses and prevent an outbreak.
The top ten illnesses preventing children from attending care
We’ve reached winter which is typically a time when infections, viruses and bugs become most prominent, especially in a childcare environment. During last year’s winter (2019) at KindyNow, we tracked and recorded over 11,000 childcare bookings that were marked as absent by families due to their child being unwell, as well as the illnesses their child had contracted.
We’ve since reviewed our data to identify the top 10 most common illnesses that kept children at home and prevented them from attending care.
From common viruses to irritating symptoms, there were over 70 different illnesses and symptoms of illness recorded for absent bookings.
The top 10 most common illnesses recorded were:
1. Common Cold
2. Fever
3. Cough
4. Conjunctivitis
5. Influenza (Flu)
6. Viral Infection (Other)
7. Hand, Foot and Mouth
8. Ear Infection
9. Gastroenteritis (Gastro)
10. Vomiting
Why it’s important to identify infectious illnesses early
It’s incredibly important to identify in advance which infections, viruses, or bugs are likely to creep into your childcare service because it’s likely these illnesses will impact your family. It can be easy for a child to unwillingly bring home an uninvited bug from childcare.
Identifying these common illnesses early allows you to be on the front foot when it comes to nurturing your child’s health. Knowing which illnesses you might have to come up against in advance will also help you understand how you can best assist your service in their efforts to minimise health risks and prevent an outbreak.
How you can help your childcare service
As a parent or guardian, one thing is most important and that’s the health and safety of your child. As difficult as it may be to eliminate infectious illnesses entirely, we still play an essential role in harnessing infectious illnesses and minimising the impact they may cause to protect our children and keep childcare services safe.
Here are three ways you can work towards minimising the impact of infectious illnesses at your childcare:
1. Familiarise yourself with your service’s ‘Illness Policy’
It’s important you are familiar with the health and safety policies and practices your service has in place, especially coming into winter. You should understand what you should do when your child falls ill and when it’s best to exclude your child from care and keep them home to rest and recover.
2. Notify absences in advance and provide detail of the illness
When your child becomes unwell and needs to stay home to recover, you should notify your service as soon as possible so they can put the correct measures in place to ensure the illness is not spread, this may mean extra cleaning at your service or perhaps even notifying other families depending on which illness has been contracted.
To best help your service, be sure to include details about what illness your child has and what symptoms they’re experiencing when you notify absent.
Did you know? With KindyNow, you can instantly notify absent and provide a detailed description of your child’s illness up to 4 weeks in advance.
3. Inform your service if your family is ‘self-isolating’
With the recent coronavirus outbreak, many families are in lockdown and self-isolating. It’s important that your service is informed so they know exactly who is impacted by the virus and how they can support your family while in isolation.
Did you know? With KindyNow, you can tell your service when your family is self-isolating without having to email or call.
Use KindyNow to manage absences and help your childcare this winter!
Do you work in childcare? If you want to learn more about how KindyNow could help your service, click below and our friendly team will be in touch to chat.
