If your child started barnehage this autumn, you have probably already had the phone call: come and collect, your child has a temperature. Then comes the harder question, especially if you did not grow up in Norway – when exactly are they allowed back? The rules here are less strict than many parents expect, and they are written down. This article explains what Norwegian health authorities actually recommend, and how to navigate the system from Drammen.
First, some reassurance about the numbers
A common cold is the most frequent infection in childhood. According to Helsenorge, the national health service portal, children average around five colds a year, while adults typically have two or three. That is not a weak immune system – it is exposure. Children meet many new viruses and have far more close contacts than adults do.
A child who has just started barnehage may sit at the top of that range for a while. The first eighteen months are usually the hardest, and it eases after that. A cold tends to peak around day three and resolve within seven to ten days, but the cough can linger for three weeks or more. That lingering cough is why so many parents feel their child is never quite well.
A run of separate mild infections is normal in the first barnehage years. What warrants a doctor's assessment is not the number of snotty weeks, but infections that are unusually severe, unusually long, or that affect your child's growth and wellbeing over time.
The main rule: general condition, not symptoms
This surprises many newcomers. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Folkehelseinstituttet, or FHI) states in its guidance on when a child should stay home from barnehage that the deciding factor is the child's general condition – "allmenntilstand" – not whether the nose is running. As a main rule the child should be free of fever and well enough to take part in normal barnehage activities.
FHI also says plainly that strict exclusion rules have limited effect on the spread of infection, because many illnesses are most contagious before symptoms appear. A child with leftover symptoms after a cold – a runny nose or a bit of a cough – can therefore return once they are otherwise back to their usual self.
That judgement is yours to make as a parent. You look at whether your child eats and drinks normally, has the energy to play, can be comforted, and whether there is a fever. A temperature above 38 °C measured rectally counts as fever, and a child with fever should be at home primarily for their own sake.
A practical note: barnehage staff in Norway may ask you to collect your child, but they generally cannot require a doctor's note or a medical examination before your child returns for ordinary illnesses. Norwegian workplaces expect parents to be away when a child is ill, and employees have a statutory entitlement to paid days off for a sick child – omsorgspenger, administered by NAV. You inform your employer; you do not need a doctor for the first days.
Where there are specific rules
For some conditions FHI gives precise advice. These are the ones parents ask about most:
- Diarrhoea, with or without vomiting: the child may return two days after becoming symptom-free. This applies to children in nappies too.
- Norovirus (winter vomiting bug): keep the child home while vomiting and diarrhoea last, then wait 48 hours after symptoms stop. No test is needed before returning.
- Chickenpox: the child may return when the rash has started to dry out and their general condition is good.
- Ear infection: the child may return when their general condition allows it.
- Conjunctivitis: mild to moderate cases are not a reason to stay home. Severe cases with heavy discharge should stay home until the discharge subsides.
- Head lice: the child does not need to be sent home, but treatment should ideally start the same evening. Tell the barnehage and close friends so your child is not reinfected.
- Hand, foot and mouth disease and slapped cheek syndrome: FHI does not recommend exclusion on infection-control grounds; general condition decides.
For a closer look at individual childhood illnesses, we have a separate guide: Chickenpox, RSV and scarlet fever – a parent's guide.
What actually reduces infection
FHI's hygiene advice for barnehager points to the dull and effective: handwashing routines. Liquid soap and running lukewarm water is the recommended method for children – not alcohol hand gel, which works poorly against norovirus and is generally not recommended in barnehager.
At home you can do the same small things: wash hands when you come in from outside, after blowing noses, and before meals. Careful nose care in the youngest children can also help prevent mouth-breathing and earache. You will not prevent every infection, and that is not the goal. The goal is to take the top off the season.
When to contact your GP – and who to call in Drammen
Most barnehage infections resolve on their own, and antibiotics do not work against viruses. Some situations do need assessment. Contact your fastlege (your assigned regular GP) if:
- your child is still ill after two weeks, or their general condition is clearly poor
- the cough is prolonged or severe – whooping cough should be ruled out
- your child has repeated ear infections, or hears less well in the weeks after one
- your child is under one year old and has earache with fever
- you are unsure, and this episode feels different from the previous ones
If your child is lethargic, hard to wake, breathing with difficulty, drinking very little, or has a rash that does not fade when pressed, do not wait for a routine appointment. Norway has three separate doors into urgent care: your fastlege during opening hours, legevakt on 116 117 for urgent problems outside those hours, and 113 for life-threatening emergencies. All three take calls in Norwegian and usually English. We explain that judgement in more detail here: A child with a fever at night – GP, legevakt, or wait?.
One more thing worth checking at this time of year: whether your child's vaccinations are up to date, particularly if you moved to Norway from a country with a different schedule. See our overview of the Norwegian childhood vaccination programme – the public health nurse at your local helsestasjon can also compare your child's record against the Norwegian one.
A little perspective
Autumn in Drammen is a busy infection season, and it is easy to believe your family is having a worse run than everyone else. That feeling is almost always wrong – the other parents are just standing at a different cloakroom. This is a phase, and it passes.
That said, you should not have to work it out alone, especially if the Norwegian system is new to you. A fastlege who follows your child over time sees the pattern differently from someone meeting you for the first time on a busy evening shift. That continuity is exactly what the fastlege scheme is designed to give families.
Looking for a GP in Drammen?
Hotvet legesenter is at Rosenkrantzgata 75 in central Drammen. Several of our doctors have places available, we take on whole families, and our team speaks English.
See available GP placesThis article is general information, not an assessment of your child. If you are in doubt, talk to your doctor.