Do I Send Him to School or Keep Him Home Today?

Updated on January 21, 2014
P.G. asks from San Antonio, TX
16 answers

DS (1st grade) threw up around 5:30 this morning (central time). I'm almost positive it's food-related. He had Sonic chicken for dinner. No fever, no other signs of illness. Was fine all night and playing/being goofy before bed time. Woke up, and since he hasn't been sick really very often walked down the hall to get Mom (oh, that was fun to clean up). One big throw up, with the little ones after. Once he was done, he felt fine, stomach felt fine.

Lunch isn't till about 11. But that's where I worry, since he's really not supposed eat for 6-8 hours.

As I'm typing this, I'm thinking keep him home (or take him to work with me) for the day.

What do you think?

Thanks!

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So What Happened?

No school for sweetie today. He's watching videos. Not hungry yet. Fluids at the ready. I don't think I was all the way awake when I asked this (LOL). In the light of day I'm like "DUH". :)

Featured Answers

V.S.

answers from Reading on

Vomited? Keep him home. Doesn't matter fever or not. Let's say it IS food - how do you know he's going keep his food down and have energy to focus today. Even if it IS food, I'd still keep him home.

3 moms found this helpful

J.S.

answers from Richland on

Home! Come on, chicken last night? Grasping a bit there?

Noro is highly contagious and gets each person differently. I wouldn't even take him to work unless there is a coworker you really don't like...or in the case of some of my coworkers think it is a fine way to lose weight.

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J.T.

answers from Dallas on

How is this even a question? Home! And that means HOME, not work with you or running errands, home. You don't know if he's contagious, so respect your fellow man, not to mention your child, and keep him home to recover and not infect others.

6 moms found this helpful
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E.T.

answers from Rochester on

Most schools require that students stay home for 24 hours after vomiting no matter what the suspected cause. It is very possible that he has a 24 hour bug. My daughter's best friend was fine one night, goofing around after Girl Scouts, ate a good dinner, no signs of not feeling well all night. Woke up vomiting at 12:30 and was miserable sick for about six hours and then fine. There were several other kids in her class that had the same thing. Don't send him. Some schools will even send a kid home if they heard he threw up at home even if there are no symptoms at school. I bet that if you called the school nurse or your doctor's office and asked for advice they would both say to keep him home!

3 moms found this helpful
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A.M.

answers from Washington DC on

If it's food poisoning, he's not contagious, but should be hydrating as much as possible. Plus, with bad chicken, symptoms may hit his lower GI tract later on.
I say home and not school or to your job.

2 moms found this helpful

V.B.

answers from Jacksonville on

If it was my son, I'd keep him home. Even if he is absolutely fine from here on out, who wants to go to school after a morning like that, that started at 5:30. His body may not feel sick, but he is going to be a little more tired than normal at some point today.
Unless it is a hardship, I'd keep him home and baby him a little bit today. He's in first grade. It will be fine.

--
I think of it this way... if it were me who'd woken up like him this morning, I would want the ability to nibble whatever food sounded good, as I felt the need. That will not happen for him at school. It just won't. There is no way for it to work that way...
Let him watch TV and nibble as his tummy desires. :)

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G.♣.

answers from Springfield on

I've never heard of this 6-8 hour rule. If he's hungry, feed him. I know that wasn't really your question, but I've just never heard that before. My approach to sick kids is push the fluids and let them eat whatever they say sounds good (I mean, unless it's all junk). If he doesn't want to eat, fine, but I wouldn't say no to him for 6 hours.

1 mom found this helpful
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M.B.

answers from Austin on

Keep him home!

I was sick a month ago with some stomach thing..... only vomited once, on a Sunday evening...

I called in sick the next day......

If it is food related, you are still contagious for at least a day...

btw..... Monday, I was still not feeling quite "right"..... even Tuesday, I was still a bit off, but I went to work anyway.

1 mom found this helpful

D.B.

answers from Boston on

I'm glad you made the choice you did. When I was teaching, you wouldn't believe how many kids came in under those circumstances (or who hadn't been sick but were about to be), and we teachers were cleaning up vomit by 8:30 a.m.! Yes, a 24 hour rule is a good one.

Even if it was due to bad fast food vs. a virus, he's still dehydrated and more tired than usual. So he wouldn't have the energy for school and it's a waste of his time, on top of the risk that you'll just be going in there by 10 a.m. to pick up a kid who wasn't done throwing up!

You're right to start with fluids (no milk, no orange juice), then go to bland foods in small amounts - some of that bad food may be in his digestive tract already, which means you may be dealing with diarrhea a little later in the day. Another reason to be home!! For any of the "going and throwing" problems, usually they say "BRAT" - bananas, rice, applesauce, toast - and just give small amounts more often.

I also think, when we fail to take care of ourselves, we teach our kids a bad lesson - too many people go to work sick and just aren't productive, and then the whole office gets sick. Meantime we start to resent our employers for running an operation that's so stressful we don't feel we are entitled to stay home when ill.

1 mom found this helpful
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M.S.

answers from Washington DC on

Glad you kept him home! Maybe even tomorrow, for a build-his-strength-back day. A stomach bug is going around.

My 11 yr old is on his second day home after throwing up Sunday night. He slept for over 13 hours last night!

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L.*.

answers from Chicago on

Please do not send your sick child to school . He needs to be home in bed with some gatorade . He should not be around others for 24 hours free of throwing up . Please keep him home for his sake and the other children at school .

1 mom found this helpful
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D..

answers from Miami on

Hope your sweetie is feeling better now. My high schooler is out for the 2nd day with a stomach bug - high fever, vomiting and diarrhea. I had to take him to the hospital yesterday because dehydration hit him so fast and hard - an IV with anti-nausea meds really helped.

His fever is FINALLY under 100. He's feeling better, but still has no appetite. I hope it's not going around the school. His teachers are really glad he's at home!

Hope no one else in the family gets it! (In case it's not from Sonic...)

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J.C.

answers from Anchorage on

Most school require that a child be vomit free for 24 hours before returning to school.

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M.C.

answers from Washington DC on

Our school has a 24 hour rule.

They have to be vomit free, fever free for 24 hours before they should be sent to school.

So being sick at 5:30a or even bed time would have meant an automatic staying home.

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A.S.

answers from Boca Raton on

Good call keeping him home.

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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

I have one with a geographic tongue that can touch food to the tip of her tongue and start puking because the food tastes so bad to her. So if she pukes and has no fever or other symptoms I might go ahead and send her. She's even puked at school and they kept her because it was a lunch room food incident.

Most any other child would have stayed in bed and had a lazy day.

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