Slapped cheek syndrome-does my child need to kept off school?

[blondebint 10]

Hi there i think my daughter has this. Today she has come up with a bright red rask on both cheeks. I mentioned it looked like that and when i said 'slapped cheek' she said 'oh my friend had that last week'! im annoyed we never go a letter but im also concerned with what i need to do-as in does she need to be off school. She is perfectly fine in herself just looks like she has been hit about 10 times!!

She is only 8 and i don't know what i need to do. I'm worried because i a work in a school myself and we have Ofsted in tomorrow so no way can i be off! Is it likely they would not let her stay do you think? We have not had a case that i am aware of at our school so its a new one to me.

Has anyone had experience of this and know the procedure? it might not even be that- it just seems the most likely diagnosis.

Thanks in advance.

[Zebra 10]

As far as I know there's no requirement to keep her off but some places insist on it as a matter of good practice.

It isn't a danger generally but it can be a concern to pregnant women. The best thing is probably to ring the school in the morning, I realise that's not going to help much now and it must be very frustrating. A nice clear cut 'it's fine' would be better.

But, this should give you time to make alternate plans for her care just in case.

[cosywolf 10]

Slapped cheek can cause spontaneous abortion of the fetus in early pregnancy. I personally think it's better not to risk spreading it...but that comes from a scare in my early pregnancy that I haven't quite managed to let go of yet.

[camum 10]

When I was expecting DD2, DD1's nursery had a child in who had had Slapped cheek. They rang me to warn me, as they knew I was under 20weeks. I had to ring my midwife for advice, who then had to take bllod tests to see if I was imune (which I was, thankfully) but I had to keep MY DD away from nursery, sinc ethey were not allowed to keep the child with slapped cheek away!

My advice would alsobe to ring the school before taking her in, but just my opinion

[teeny 10]

I work for doctors as a nanny and when they had this illness they kept them at home as it is contagous , can cause problems to pregnant women , etc

they kept the kids off for 3 days and after that they were fine.

[mbunting 10]

I thought this post was taking the piddle, and looking through the thread for the real name for slapped cheek - then I decided to google it, and found it !

 

Apologies for doubting you all ! Personally, I think Rachel's cheeks are red because she's teething :-)

[blondebint 10]

Thanks for your replies. I did keep her off school and will do for the 3 days. her school seemed really unsure and to be honest i dont think they knew the dangers to pregnant women. I had to request that they send a letter out. I think its also quite scary that this is not better known. Lots of pregnant women may well be putting themselves at risk. I must admit i never heard of it when i was pregnant. Hopefully parents at the school will now be more aware.

[jellybellybean 10]

in our school we ask parents to keep them off school until it is clear due to the risk to pregnant women, not just any staff who are pregant at the time but any mums or other professionals that may come into the school and be in contact with the infected child.

[cosywolf 10]

I think you did the right thing. Thank you. I tried to be calm and level-headed about it, hopefully succeeded.

 

Thing is, when I was 3 months preggers I caught Hand, Foot and Mouth from my son. He never had it, but it presumably came from his nursery and he was a carrier. I'd never heard of anything but Foot and Mouth, lol, and not being a cow (most of the time:P) I was uncertain how it could affect me. My doctor confused it with Slapped Cheek and told me I could lose the baby, sent me to hospital for blood tests and cued 4 days of terror and misery.

 

Then six more months of wondering what else he was going to bring home from nursery that would put my unborn child at risk. During that time i got quite sensitive about being informed of illnesses going around, and about people who don't immunise their children against other risky things like Measles.

 

PS. Hand, Foot and Mouth is not a problem in pregnancy. Just a bit bizarre, and when you tell people what you have you can see them thinking...'what? cows get that.' Lol.

[teeny 10]

I have hand, foot and mouth i wasn't well with it but the kids recovered quicker than me!

Now i am working with a younger one again I seem to have had alot of grotty illnesses again lol