conjunctivitus and going to nursery WWYD?

R has had conjunctivitus since Friday. I took her into see a pharmacist on Friday afternoon to see if I should just treat with cooled boiled water etc. He said it needed antiobiotics drops, which could be bought over the counter but not for the under 2s so I needed to get a prescription. Surprisingly doctors saw her later that afternoon and nurse said it was a mild case and it didn't need drops and would be best just to bath with cooled boiled water rather than drops. I asked if I needed to keep her away from other kids etc, she said no I didn't (I had it a few months ago and remembered the website, poss NHS, I was reading said although it is contagious there was no need to stay away from people). Nurse did give me a precription in case it got worse over the weekend.

So. R has nursery on Tuesday and she still has it (although to be fair far less worse than I had, they just get a little gunky in the tear ducts a few times day). I expect all nurseries are different but do nurseries take babies with conjunctivitus? Shall I phone them tomorrow and explain nurse has seen her, its very mild and doesn't warrant drops and I don't need to keep her away from others to probably be told I can't bring her in and have to take a day off work until it has cleared up (how long will that be?!). Obviously I wouldn't want anyone else to catch it but medical advice is there is no need to keep her away from others. Other option is to send her to nursery and if/when her eyes get gunky I get a phone to, I assume, collect her.

Arrgh not sure what to do for the best!? TIA

this is a bugbear of mine. Owen has had it so many times. Nursery policy is they are only allowed back one they have had antibiotic drops for 24 hours, whether gp thinks they are necessary are not. So myt answer woudl be you will have to check nursery policy.

IIRC our nursery's policy was child could attend once it was being treated. Since it's very contagious, consider getting the eye drops so that you can get on top of the infection asap, so that less children are likely to pick it up. 

yes it very infectious, but antibiotic eye drops only treat bacterial conjunctivitis. If the gp has said most likely viral conjunctivitis & does not require antibiotics, why should nursery force parents to give the drops? Its most likely necessary medication which wont make it go away any quicker.

Our nursery does accept babies/kids with conjuntivitus, as long as it is being treated.  Good job really as Archie almost permanently had gammy eyes as a baby.

I remember speaking to a GP about he eyes and she was really pleased to hear that nursery didn't exclude them as it was as common as catching a cold.

exactly I wantone, its as common as a cold and most often is viral like a cold, thats why antibiotics wont work for most conjunctivitis! Recent research shows little or no benefits of antibotic drops over cleaning with cooled boiled water, and given how difficult drops are to give I know which i prefer!

If you read the guidelines on the NHS website, it says not to keep them home from school/childcare, however, in practise, most nurseries won't accept them without treatment so it all contadictes each other.

GP told me ok to attend pre school, they told me not ok!

Thanks for all your replies. Its been a hectic morning so haven't been able to get on earlier.

I decided to go and get the drops this morning and spoke to nursery earlier and they said they can take her as long as she has been prescribed drops. I'm going to continue with lots of cool boiled water mainly and attempt the drops (first attempt wasn't successful) and send them in with her (perhaps they'll get on better).

ColetteG - that's a bit off for them to say you have to give drops even if doctor says no need!! I decided to get the drops as doctors did prescribe them if we needed them and although it hasn't got worse it hasn't improved.