Health Checks at Daycare — How Educators Recognize Child Illness in Regina SK | Daisy Days

One of the most valuable — and often unrecognized — features of quality licensed daycare is educator health surveillance. ECE educators who spend 8-10 hours daily with your child develop a detailed knowledge of their baseline that catches health concerns before many parents do. At Daisy Days Daycare in Regina SK, daily health awareness is built into every educator-child interaction.

The Daily Wellness Check at Drop-Off

Every morning at Daisy Days Daycare, the receiving educator performs an informal wellness check as your child arrives:

• Temperature: If a child feels warm or appears flushed, temperature is taken
• Energy and behaviour: Is the child animated and engaged as usual, or lethargic and withdrawn?
• Appearance: Any visible rashes, skin changes, eye discharge (conjunctivitis), or nasal discharge beyond normal?
• Parent report: “How was their night?” — parental knowledge of overnight symptoms is critical context
• Known exposures: If parents mention a sick sibling, contact, or family illness at drop-off, we note this for monitoring

How Educators Recognize Illness During the Day

Licensed daycare educators know each enrolled child’s behavioural baseline — their normal energy, mood, activity preferences, and social engagement. Deviation from this baseline is the primary illness signal:

• Behavioural withdrawal: A typically engaged, playful child who sits quietly, refuses activities, or seeks constant physical comfort from educators
• Decreased appetite: Significantly less food intake than normal at snack or lunch
• Increased irritability: More crying, lower frustration tolerance than typical for that child
• Skin or eye changes: New rash appearing during the day, eye discharge or redness developing
• Vomiting or diarrhea: Single or multiple episodes requiring immediate parent contact and potential exclusion
• Elevated temperature: Temperature taken when behavioural or appearance cues suggest illness

Saskatchewan Licensed Daycare Illness Exclusion Criteria

Saskatchewan health guidelines for licensed daycares include exclusion for children who have:

• Fever above 38°C (100.4°F) axillary — child must be fever-free without medication for 24 hours before return
• Vomiting — 2+ episodes in a care day requires parent pickup; typically must be symptom-free 24 hours before return
• Diarrhea — frequent loose stools require parent pickup; must be symptom-free 24 hours before return
• Bacterial conjunctivitis (pink eye with discharge) — may not return until 24 hours after antibiotic treatment started
• Significant rash of unknown cause
• Any communicable illness during the contagious period (chickenpox, hand-foot-mouth, strep throat before 24 hours of antibiotic treatment)

Contact Daisy Days Daycare at 306-807-3233 for our specific 2026 illness exclusion policy.

Parent Notification When a Child Becomes Ill During the Day

When a child at Daisy Days Daycare in Regina SK shows exclusion-level illness symptoms during the day:

1. We take temperature and confirm symptoms
2. We call the primary parent/guardian immediately
3. If unreachable, we call the secondary contact
4. We make the child comfortable in a separate, supervised rest space while waiting for pickup
5. We document the symptoms, temperature, and time of parent notification in an incident record

Protecting the Rest of the Group

Illness exclusion policies exist to protect all enrolled children — especially infants and immunocompromised children who are most vulnerable to group-care illness transmission. When parents respect sick child policies by keeping ill children home, they protect the group as a whole. Licensed daycares that rigorously apply exclusion criteria have lower overall illness burden for enrolled families.

→ Full daycare sick child policy guide
→ Childcare backup plan for sick days

Contact Daisy Days Daycare for our full 2026 health and illness policy.
306-807-3233 | info@daisydaysdaycare.com | 2007 Potts Crescent East, Regina SK S4V 2E5