While often an exciting time, sending a child to daycare can also cause parents and caregivers to worry. Sending a child with asthma to daycare may bring additional concerns. Fortunately, there are steps that both caregivers and daycare providers can take to ensure your child is safe.
Tips for Caregivers
Choosing a Daycare Provider20
Preparing for Day One
Once you have identified a daycare provider and before your child begins daycare, meet with their teacher and center/school nurse to:
Preparing for Day One
- Once you have identified a daycare provider and before your child begins daycare, meet with their teacher and center/school nurse to:
- Provide a copy of your child’s Asthma Action Plan, including as many details as possible.
- Provide extra (labeled) medication and sign consent forms allowing administration.
- Provide a demonstration of medication use and inform them of any patterns at home regarding the use of medication.
- Provide a list of your child’s asthma and allergy triggers.
When to Keep Your Child Home21
Your child can attend daycare if they:
- Have a stuffy nose.
- Have no wheezing, or if wheezing subsides after taking medication.
- Are able to perform usual activities (getting dressed, eating, etc.) without additional effort to breathe.
Your child should stay home if:
- Wheezing or coughing continues after treatment.
- They have trouble breathing or are breathing fast.
- They have a fever of more than 100.4oF.
- They are too weak or tired to participate in activities.
Tips for Your Child’s Daycare Provider
our child’s daycare providers should be prepared to watch for and recognize warning signs of an asthma flare-up as well as know how to recognize and respond to emergency situations. Staff should also know how to administer medication as well as how to use and care for nebulizers, inhalers, and spacers. A training developed for daycare providers in Illinois can be found on the Respiratory Health Association website at www.resphealth.org
Asthma Training for Providers
There are several practices and policies that daycare providers can put into place that will help reduce your child’s exposure to asthma triggers, including taking efforts to eliminate asthma triggers in the facility where your child receives their care.
Daycare Provider Checklist
A tailored checklist is included in the Appendices for how daycare providers can both reduce your child’s exposure to asthma triggers and the steps they can take to best support your child during an asthma episode. It includes both common triggers found in different settings and those more unique to the daycare setting.
The checklist also recommends a broad range of practices and policies that are part of best practices for supporting children with asthma in daycare and school settings including, but not limited to:
- Requiring and maintaining Asthma Action Plans for each child
- Conducting asthma training for daycare staff each year
- Ensuring no idling policies for vehicles coming to the daycare center
- Eliminating exposure to perfume or other scented personal products
- Keeping all children’s personal belongings separate from play areas to minimize exposure to pet dander and other allergens from their homes
- Adjusting outdoor time for temperature-sensitive children and offering alternate indoor activities.
The Daycare Provider checklist is included in the Appendices so that you can share it with your child’s daycare provider.