Before the start of every school year, we close for three days to prepare our classrooms for the upcoming year. During this time, we also have guest speakers. This year, we were honored to have one of our parents, who happens to be a pediatrician, speak to us about the most common childhood illnesses.
Here is what she had to say:
Colds/Coughs/Fevers/Runny Noses
- On average, children will have 8-12 colds per year.
- Coughs can take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to go away.
- A runny nose can take anywhere from 2-3 weeks to go away.
- Fevers typically begin around 100.4°F. When a child has a fever, they are at their most contagious. In order to come back to school, a child must be symptom-free for 24 hours without medicine.
- Whether your child has a wet or dry cough will not signal if it is a bad cough. If your child has a worsening cough or seems to be having a hard time breathing, go to the doctor.
- By the second week of a wet cough, your child should begin to stabilize, and by the third week, your child should be improving. If your child is not improving by the third week, it is suggested you go see their doctor.
Pink Eye (also called Conjunctivitis)
- Pink eye will present itself in the white part of the eye. If there is only redness around the eye, it is not pink eye.
- Pink eye will always look worse after sleeping with a lot of eye discharge or crusts on the eyelashes.
- Pink eye can be caused by viruses, bacteria, allergies, or chemical/contact irritation. Most commonly, pink eye is due to a virus, especially if it is in both eyes.
- It will typically be contagious for 5-7 days.
- It is not dangerous but self-resolve around 3-5 days without antibiotic eye drops, which are only used for bacterial pink eye..
Green Boogers
- Green boogers mean there is an abundance of white blood cells in the mucus. This is a sign of your immune system working to fight the infection, usually viral. It does not necessarily mean antibiotics are needed.
- Green boogers do not necessarily mean the child is contagious. If your child has green boogers in the morning but they turn clear throughout the day, that is a good sign.
- If your child has thick green boogers all day, and have been sick for more than two weeks, they should make an appointment with their pediatrician.
- If your child has been laying down without pink eyes, especially after a night’s sleep, and wakes up with green goop coming out of their eyes, it is most likely boogers caused by congestion to clear their boogers. When a child is congested during the day, they are able to blow their nose. When they are sleeping, they are not blowing their nose but boogers still need a place to go, so they go up and out of the eyes. It is not a sign of pink eye.
It is important to note that this is only a summary of what was discussed with our staff and should not be used as medical advice. As a child’s caregiver it is ultimately your decision when to seek medical attention for your child.
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