child with slapped cheek at toddlers

[asdasmartprice]

At a toddler group I go to, a mum had brought her DD along, the DD had a bright red rash on her face and it looked like slapped cheek.

The woman who runs the group suggested that the mum take her DD home as slapped cheek can be dangerous to pregnant women, and there are a couple who go to that group.

The mum is apparently now very upset, she feels she was treated badly by being asked to take her DD home. The woman that runs the group has been collared by another woman who is taking the side of the mum of slapped cheek child and has said that group leader has no right to ask any parent/carer to leave but should leave it up to parent/carer. She said that plenty of people have infections that are invisible so therefore group leader should not deny entry to children who have visible illnesses.


I'm taking the side of the group leader but I thought I'd throw this open to the mn jury. So, who is BU, the group leader or the mum of the child with slapped cheek (and her friend)

I've name changed btw, as this could make me identifiable irl.

[AmyFarrahFowlerCooper]

The mum and her friend are being unreasonable. I think the rash shows when they are no longer contagious but better safe than sorry when around pregnant women with slapped cheek I think. Those women sound quite selfish. When dd had slapped cheek we stayed in for a week just in case.

[dancemom]

Once the rash is visible the person is no longer infectious, infectious period is 4 to 21 days before the rash appears.

[Icantstopeatinglol]

I agree with you 100%, I'm currently being referred to a rheumatologist as my episode of slapped cheek syndrome has triggered arthritis for me. Not nice at all and the rheumatologist does seem to think there could be a link. I know it could happen anytime but the more people are a bit more careful with things like this the less people like myself will end up in and out of hospital.
....although more serious is the effect it can have on unborn children!

[HepsibarCrinkletoes]

Slapped cheek has just done the rounds at my daughter's pre school. They are definitely NOT contagious by the time the rash has appeared, so the leader (and you) ABU.

[asdasmartprice]

Ok, I didn't know that slapped cheek is no longer contagious when the rash is there. None of mine have had it you see.

[IfIonlyhadsomesleep]

No longer contagious when the rash is there. So it's pointless to take a child home if they've got the rash.

[IfIonlyhadsomesleep]

And I am super careful about contagious things. Drives me mad when people are so slap dash about d and v and the like.

[YoniRanger]

If you are going to be the infection police you probably should make sure you know about infections.

[Mycatistoosexy]

YANBU. I just think why would anyone take their kid to a baby group when they could potentially pass on an illness to another baby/child/pregnant lady?

Obviously catching stuff is part of life but to knowingly expose little ones etc, I couldn't do it.

My DS had D&V recently and I kept him off groups for that week

[IfYouLeaveMeNow]

Slapped cheek can cause serious and damaging issues to unborn children. The play leader was acting appropriately. I wonder how these women would feel if they had been exposed to slapped cheek when pregnant.

[dayshiftdoris]

Sigh! One quick google would have saved all the embarrassment and worry - I am pretty sure someone could have done it on their phone...

Slapped cheek is only contagious before the rash so that child was contagious at last weeks toddler group.

Therefore you need to apologise to mum - I am assuming OP that you are going to let the leader know and anyone else you might have scared half to death with predictions of doom over slapped cheek infection.

(For what it's worth it's close contact that passes as well which might be worth considering if child was at toddler group last week & gave kisses / hugs to anyone who is particularly susceptible)

[HairyLittleCarrot]

yabu.

I think my dd may have had slapped cheek recently (although I am no doctor), but my research made it clear that by the time red cheeks became apparent she would not have been contagious.

the only symptoms prior to that were headache, slight temperature and a body rash. I took her to the GPs and he dismissed it as inconsequential.

I didn't bother informing him that she went on to develop red cheeks acouple of days later.

no parent can possibly know when their child is contagious with slapped cheek in order to keep them away from others.

[Mycatistoosexy]

Well I read the NHS website and it said that when the rash spreads then by that time your child should not be contagious anymore. That's the third stage apparently. The second stage is just the slapped cheek rash and I thought it was unclear whether it was still contagious or not then?

[HairyLittleCarrot]

in fact, the OPs child is probably a higher contagion risk to others, since the slapped cheek child is demonstrably not a risk now.

Perhaps all children should be excluded until you know them to be safe and unable to infect others?

[MustafaCake]

Group leader needs to get her facts right.

DS had slapped cheek recently, GP and NHS direct said that they are NOT contagious once the rash appears so to just carry on with normal activities if child feels well enough.

I told the GP about the info on the NHS website mycat refers to and he said this info is incorrect.

So the Group leader is BU. If she really wants to police her playgroup for ill children, she needs to get her facts right.

She could start by getting a copy of the HPA's guidance on infection control which is used by schools and nurseries
www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1194947358374

[1Veryhungrycaterpillar]

A woman brought her older son with her to our toddler group because he was off school due to having scarlet fever!

[hazeyjane]

children are still contagious at the red cheek stage, and they stop being contagous when the rash has spread arms etc, (according to nhs, my gp and ds's paed) however the rash would still be on the face, so the child in op could have been at that stage.

I had it a couple of months ago and am still getting flare ups of joint pain, it is horrible to get as an adult.

[HepsibarCrinkletoes]

My DD's GP and hospital consultant told me that she was not contagious by the time the rash appeared. She has a weak immunity and is on steroids, so any illness with her is taken very seriously as she can deteriorate suddenly and rapidly with acute lung infections requiring admission and iv antibs. She also only had the rash on her cheeks and nowhere else. Obviously, I go by what her consultant says, as I expect he is spot on.