Keep Her Home from School?

HFM is highly, highly contagious. I have heard many different things from different docs on when it is no longer contagious. Some say:
1. When the fever goes away
2. One week after the first sores appear
3. When all of the sores are completely dried up
4. When all signs/symptoms are completely gone

If you only just got a diagnosis, I would probably keep her out of school on Monday, even though she just started. The last thing you want is to be known as the mom who brought her daughter to school when she was contagious with HFM!

As for the little one, she's almost definitely going to get it, so I'd keep her away from kids now too. It can be contagious BEFORE any spots/symptoms/rash/fever appear.

They do not need to put things in their mouths to pass the disease along. Any contact - including playing with the same toys - can spread the disease.

As long as there has been no fever for 24 hours she should go to school.

As a public health employee... and a mom... I'd say that if your kid has had this rash (on and off) for a few weeks, the other kids have already been exposed! Some of them probably had a rash, too (maybe less obvious), and maybe their parents had the same debate. Talk to your childcare provider and ask their preference. If you can afford to stay home, your child might be more comfortable there than at school. The virus is also spread through casual contact and air droplets (sneezing, coughing). Kids will get sick. Again, as a public health (microbiologist) AND a mom, I'd take precautions, but with something like HFMD viruses, like the common cold, there isn't really anything you CAN do.
Our daycare policy is a fever over 99.1, vomiting, or diarrhea the kid stays (or goes) home. Other than that, it's at the parent's discretion. In the 3 years that my daughter's been at this daycare, I've seen signs posted for pink eye, strep throat, RSV, croup (that one was us), HFMD, and flu. I've never felt any ill-regard for the other parents. Like me, they're all doing the best they can with what they have (I get peanuts for sick leave, but at least I do have some).

You should call the school on Monday and ask what the policy is. Your dr. basically gave the approval for her to go on Monday if there are no new spots. Mark or count the spots so that you will know if there are new spots.

Either way, call the school and let them know the diagnosis.

Try to keep your 14m old apart, but she has already been exposed to it, so just keep an eye on her.

My son came down with the chicken pox on the eve of his birthday. Called the school, kept him out a week. When we went back to school, it turned out that there had been 10 kids that all got the chicken pox on the same morning, which means that they all had been exposed at the same time. Since these kids were only around each other at school, it means that a child (don't know who) had it or had been exposed and had come to school to share...

Keep her home. A sick child is a sick child. You don't want other moms to blame you when theirs get the rash.

they are actually contagious before the breakouts happen. So the kids in her preschool class have already been exposed. I would have her go back on monday. inform the school that she was diagnosed with it today. Unless of course she runs a fever.

My son who just turn 2 had something similar called coxsackie ... It was all over his body. The doctor told me to keep him away from my other children and to not share any objects with each other. So, if he was in school and had this virus I would keep him at home so no one else would catch it. It's not fair to the other students or parents.

Call the school and ask. You probably SHOULD have kept her home when the rash was new, but hindsight is always 20/20. When there was an HFM issue at my son's preschool a few years ago, he had to stay home until the fever was gone, and the rash was "old" for 24 hours. Seems like you're beyond that point.

Tell the school that you took her in for the rash, Doc says it WAS HFM, but she is no longer contagious and is cleared to return to school. The school needs to know, however, because they may be required to send/post a notice to alert other parents that their children were exposed to the virus so that they can watch for symptoms.

HTH
T.

If it was my child, I would only keep him home if he had a fever, or was contagious. If I was another parent, I would understand that kids get something like this. Hand Foot and Mouth is something that is VERY common and I think more of a nuisance than a huge problem (like pink eye). You can try to prevent it as much as you can, but kids are going to get it when they are around other kids.

From a day care perspective, often times if they have a confirmed case of something contagious - pink eye, hand foot mouth, etc. they will post it so parents can see. That way they can be aware that their child was exposed and to look out for symptoms. A lot of those things are viral, too, and just need to run their course - there is no treatment for hand, foot, and mouth, just something that needs to work itself out.

If the doctor thinks you are fine, you should be fine. You could see what the preschool says, too...but I think you are fine to send her.

This link may help. Hand foot and mouth disease is coxsackie.
http://children.webmd.com/hand-foot-and-mouth-disease-dir...

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/coxsackie-virus