All parents know that children are always sick or cold. But a little elevation doesn’t always mean they have to be in bed all day. According to general practitioner Bernard Leenstra, children benefit from taking a paracetamol earlier, so that they feel more comfortable again sooner.
“First let me say that children who are really sick should be at home. I’m all for it,” she tells Editie NL. “But often children only have a slight increase or, for example, an early ear infection. For those children, a paracetamol can be a panacea. They can then have no complaints for hours and can eat and drink normally again and can participate in the group.
Tales
She notes that daycare centers often won’t give paracetamol because they say it’s not allowed by the GGD, or that it could, for example, induce a febrile seizure. “But that’s not true. The GGD doesn’t say at all that it’s not allowed and there are all kinds of myths and fairy tales about paracetamol, but they’re not true. It’s a very safe drug that even we general practitioners quickly prescribe for sick children.”
However, according to him, this does not mean that paracetamol should be administered inappropriately. “The daycare has to call the parents, and the parents have to give written permission. And if the child hasn’t recovered after an hour, he still has to be picked up.”
Childcare workers understand all too well that it is very annoying for parents to have to pick up a child from the shelter. But they don’t usually give paracetamol to keep the kids going. Ilse Raasing, director of Waterland Childcare, explains why. “If a child is so sick and has a very high fever, for example, the parents would have to come and get him. We don’t have the manpower to take care of sick children,” she tells Editie NL.
Authorization
Yet they are not entirely against the administration of paracetamol. “In some cases it takes some time before the parents can pick up their child. In those cases we ask the parent if they want us to give them paracetamol in advance. If the parents wish, they give permission for this in our app. We serve the paracetamol then carry on while we wait for the parents”.
At Second Home Childcare in Almere they are a little more conservative. “We don’t give paracetamol, because we don’t know the child’s medical records. We can’t take the risk that something will go wrong. NL.
“If a parent really can’t pick up the child, we allow the parents or a loved one to come and give the pill. We don’t give the paracetamol ourselves unless prescribed by the family doctor. Parents understand our politics and we don’t discuss it”.
BOinK, the Association of Parents in Childcare, likes GP Leenstra’s idea. “We think it would be a good idea if – in good consultation with the parents – paracetamol is given in the daycare. Now it often happens that parents have to hurriedly pick up their child from the daycare. As soon as the children receive a paracetamol at home, they snap If the child feels better at the shelter after giving a paracetamol, then a parent doesn’t have to leave work in a hurry and the child can stay at the shelter,” chair Gjalt Jellesma tells Editie NL.
Decision tree
I agree with the GP that it should always be discussed with the parents. “Of course it’s complicated, because you don’t want to play with the children’s health. But I think the average daycare can correctly estimate whether the complaints subside after a paracetamol or if the child is so sick that he has to go home. Maybe we can draw up a decision tree, just like in the corona pandemic, to decide whether paracetamol can be administered or not.”
