My child had a fever and a stomach bug t

Short answer: two clocks, and both must be satisfied.

• Fever (high temperature): stay home until the temperature has gone — in practice, a full 24 hours with no fever and no fever-reducing medicine (confirm your school's written rule with the school nurse).
• Vomiting or diarrhoea: stay home until 48 hours (2 full days) after the last episode.
• On top of that, the child must be drinking, urinating normally and alert. Returning to class is a school rule, not a medical clearance — a clinician can still say "not yet".

📄 Printable one-pager: child-fever-stomach-school-return-2026-10-31-89c1ce12.pdf

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1｜The clock — screenshot this table

Two school habits that matter: phone the school on the first day and say the reason, and if the child is well enough to go but has something contagious (cold sore, head lice), tell the teacher.

Source of the table: NHS public guidance "Is my child too ill for school?" (page last reviewed 5 April 2024, checked today). That page points to the government health-protection guidelines for schools; your school nurse can give you your school's own written rule.

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2｜What you already tried → the better alternative

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3｜Tonight / today — 25 minutes, in 5-minute blocks

• [ ] 5 min — the clock sheet. On the fridge: *last fever-reducer dose*, *last vomit or diarrhoea*, and a row for each check: time / temperature / drinking / urine / how they look / what was given. Write the last-dose time first.
• [ ] 5 min — the kitchen. Put the ready-made oral rehydration solution on the counter, mixed exactly as the packet says, in a labelled cup per child, one spare sachet within reach. Sips, pause, sips. Keep it away from the elder's and the baby's drinks.
• [ ] 5 min — food. Small, boring meals from what you already have: plain rice, cooked potato, toast, banana, porridge, boiled egg, rice soup. Little and often. Keep breastfeeding or the usual milk as usual. Do not fast the child.
• [ ] 5 min — hygiene. Soap and water after every toilet or nappy trip, before food, after nappies. Own cup, own towel, own plate for the sick child; the sick child does not prepare food; dirty laundry in its own basket. If there is a baby at home who is under 3 months, do not let anyone with the bug handle the baby's feeding or nappies if that can be avoided.
• [ ] 5 min — school. Phone or message the school today (first day off): the illness and the expected return date. Ask the school nurse for the written exclusion rule. Write down who will do the school run or the messages tomorrow.
• [ ] 5 min — you. Set one alarm for the night check, put the thermometer and the sheet by the bed, and put your own water and something to eat by the bed too. Sleep in two blocks if you can — the caregiver needs rest more than perfect records.

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4｜Avoid (the do-not list)

• Do not give a fever-reducer "to get them through the school day", and do not change, double or alternate any dose — use only what the label or your doctor said.
• Do not use fruit juice, soft drinks, sports drinks or plain water as the fluid when a child is losing fluid — use the ready-made oral rehydration solution.
• Do not give anti-diarrhoeal medicines (loperamide and similar) to a child, and do not start leftover antibiotics.
• Do not use "natural" powders, herbal powders, essential oils, or anything bought online as a prescription — and no antibiotics from another person's supply.
• Do not fast the child, and do not force food or drink when they cannot keep it down.
• No alcohol rubs, no cold baths, no extra blankets and no sweating it out for a fever.
• Do not share cups, towels, plates or toothbrushes; do not let the child go to school if they still have vomiting or diarrhoea inside the 48-hour window.

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5｜Decision tree

A. Any red flag (section 6)? → emergency care now. Do not wait for morning, do not wait for the 24/48 hours.

B. No red flag.

1. Any vomit or diarrhoea in the last 48 hours? → stay home. Count from the *last* episode, not the first.
2. Any fever, or a fever-reducer given in the last 24 hours? → stay home. The clock restarts with every dose.
3. Not drinking, not urinating, unusually sleepy, or not themselves? → call the clinic today, even if the clock is fine.
4. All three clear — 48 h since the last episode, 24 h fever-free without medicine, drinking, urinating, alert and playing more than at the peak? → can go back to class. Send the school the message below; the day starts with the usual hygiene habits.

Note: this is home care and a school rule, not a diagnosis, and it does not replace a clinician's assessment.

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6｜Red flags

🔴 Emergency now — call your local emergency number now, or go straight to the nearest children's emergency department:

• Cannot drink at all, or keeps bringing everything back up
• Limp or floppy, hard to wake, not reacting, or having a fit
• Breathing fast or laboured, ribs sucking in, grunting, blue lips or nails
• A rash that does not fade when you press a clear glass against it, a stiff neck, a severe headache, or a child who is not themselves
• Dark green vomit, blood in the vomit or stool, a swollen hard belly, or waves of pain with pallor
• Almost no urine for hours, sunken eyes, cold hands and feet, pale or mottled skin
• A baby under 3 months in the house with a temperature of 38 °C or above, or who feels hot, cold or "not right" — do not wait for the fever to "declare itself"
• A new confusion or sudden drowsiness in the elder at home, even without fever
• A child who seems to get worse again after the fever came down

🟠 Call the clinic today (same-day review, home care is not enough):

• Vomiting or diarrhoea starting now, especially if they are drinking poorly
• Fever, or blood in the stool, or a belly that hurts when pressed
• Fever lasting more than 4 days, or fever that settles and comes back
• Clearly less urine, or weight loss
• Fever plus a rash, joint pain, refusing to walk, or always complaining of one place
• Not clearly better by tomorrow, or the illness keeps returning
• A child under 6 months with diarrhoea
• You cannot be at home to watch the child, and nobody else can

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7｜What "better" looks like in 24 hours

Success is steadying, not cured:

• 24 hours with no fever and no fever-reducer needed
• 48 hours since the last vomit or diarrhoea
• Drinking and urinating normally, and able to keep fluids down
• More alert and more playful than at the peak — back to roughly their own baseline, not 100%
• No new symptoms: no new vomiting, no change in breathing, no rash

If any of these go backwards, stay home and call the clinic. If they all hold, that is a real improvement, even if the cough or the tiredness takes another few days.

For you, tonight: you are running on very little, and a child with a stomach bug is a marathon, not a sprint. The decision for tonight is only "rest and fluids" — the school decision is tomorrow's, and tomorrow's decision can be made on tomorrow's information. One thing that would genuinely help: ask one person for one job — a cooked meal, a school message, or two hours of cover. That is allowed, and it is not a failure.

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8｜Copy-paste scripts

To the school / teacher (English)
> "Good morning. [Child's name] has been unwell since [day] with [fever / vomiting / diarrhoea]. Today they are staying home. I am following the rule of staying off school until [24 hours fever-free without medicine / 48 hours after the last episode], so I expect to be back on [day] if they are well. Please let me know if anything changes at home. They will not share cups, towels or food."

To the school / teacher (Español)
> "Buenos días. [Nombre] está enfermo desde el [día] con [fiebre / vómitos / diarrea]. Hoy se queda en casa. Sigo la norma de no ir al colegio hasta que pase [24 horas sin fiebre y sin medicación antipirética / 48 horas después del último episodio], así que espero volver el [día] si sigue bien. Si algo cambia, se lo aviso. No compartirá vasos, toallas ni comida."

To the clinic (English or Spanish)
> "My child is [age] and has had [fever since __ / vomiting and diarrhoea since __]. Since [time] they have had [no fever / no further vomiting]. They are drinking [well / only sips], urinating [normal / less], and are [alert / very sleepy]. The household also has [a baby under 3 months / an elder over 65]. I am asking: do they need to be seen today, and should the school be told anything specific?"

Source: rch-cpg https://www.rch.org.au/clinicalguide/guideline_index/Febrile_child/
Source: rch-cpg https://www.rch.org.au/clinicalguide/guideline_index/Gastroenteritis/
Source: merck-pro https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/pediatrics/symptoms-in-infants-and-children/fever-in-infants-and-children
Source: who-iris https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/81170