What do I do??? (possible tmi)

Last week I picked up Aiden from daycare at 4.40pm. It was his second week of daycare and they have been really good about everything and very understanding that I have to have him in daycare, so I was reallly happy with them. When I got there last week though he was strapped in to a bouncer covered in his own vomit!! I'm talking covered, even all down his back and in his nappy!! :angry: The woman in the nursery (not the group leader) at this time never spoke a word to me even though it was only me there n 2 other kids. I asked where his dummy was and she walked away! :wall: I grabbed Aiden and hauled @$$ outta there in tears. When I got home I called the director and she said 'oh between 3.30pm and 5pm we are swamped so thats why Aiden has gone unnoticed' :wall: then I asked when he had his last bottle and nappy change and she said ' (group leader) changed him at 3pm and fed him at 3.30pm' when I mentioned the lady in the nursery ignoring me dhe just said none of the other parents have ever had an issue with her as she has been filling in at the nursery for over 12 months, maybe she just didnt hear me! I was 2 feet away from her and she clearly wasn't deaf!! :angry:

All I can gather as Aiden wasn't sick when he got home was that was reflux which he gets occasionally but come on an hour!!:doh: Most of it was dried (sorry tmi)

So now my questio is do I take him there today and just chalk it up to a bad day or do i look for another daycare?? I dunno if I'm over reacting or what :dunno:

Personally i would not be impressed. firstly o.k maybe she didnt hear you. But come one spew every where that's not on and if it was dried that's saying something. Not only that but the directer her self said maybe he had gone unnoticed. AHHHHH HELLOOO shouldn't someone one be watching him??????? I would be making complaints and wouldn't risk it if it was me. Follow your gut in stinks here! What are they saying????

I'd definitely be looking for a new childcare luv.

Too busy to lookout for him that is no excuse. How much do you pay them?? A lot, i bet.

Big hugs hun. I have had my boys in day care for quite a while now, and have used two centres in that time. NEVER has anything like that happened. It is true that the late afternoon is a busy time as parents turn up and want to talk etc, and mostly they are in mixed age group then as well, so the carers there might not be the ones from their room. I know this is the time that DS1 used to be most likely to have an accident (wet undies), as the carers might be busy when he needed to go to the toilet. But he was never left in wet undies - they noticed that it happened and fixed it. And a baby covered in vomit - come on. That would smell for one thing, how would they not notice. That doesn't seem right. Not at all.

I'm sorry hun, I know it's a huge PITA, but I would be looking for a different centre. You need to know your child is being well looked after and you have doubts you will just feel guilt. I hope you find somewhere fantastic. GL.

First of all, definitely put in a letter of complaint to the director. IMO, leaving a child sit in his own vomit is not acceptable. Neither is the excuse that they were too busy at that time of day to see to him. I have my DD in daycare part time, so I know that at that time of day, it is really busy, but that does not mean that they can not attend to him when he vomits, or at least check that he is ok.

I personally would find another childcare. I don't think you are over reacting. I think most parents would feel the same way you do if it happened to them. If they didn't notice him covered in vomit then they can't be watching him very well. I know I would be mad.

regardless to it being a busy time all careers priority's are to the children first and if there needs cant be met they need to hire more staff in those times. This is a situation that shouldnt have happened! My husband works in daycare and he would be disgusted at this. What if your son had choked with out supervision GRRRR! We pay good money they should be being watched. some one must be in room always supervising kids.

OMG!! If this happened to C where she is now I would be putting in a complaint! I would talk to the group leader first and raise your concerns with her. If she is unable to assist, and more than likely she wont be able to, have another talk face to face with the director of the centre. If you are not happy with the response, and get the "too busy and went unnoticed" response again I would tell her that you are VERY unhappy with that answer and feel that you will have to take your complaint further.
I would then write a complaint letter, to the director with a CC to the head office of the centre (or vice versa). If it is a council run centre (mine is) make sure the executive officer at the council gets it as well.
Lastly...try to find another centre. The one thing that sold me on my centre (besides the fact that it is the only one out here) was that when I went to have a look at the centre before I enrolled her, the carers didnt even notice me...just wanted to talk to C and show her around and the director spoke to me. I went back later without C and spoke to the G/L then. Was nice that they were interested in the child.

I would DEFINATLY find another day care. Please follow you gut instinct!!.
I had somthing happen to my DS who was 3 ( so much older). I went to the day care ( where he had never had a problem before, he had been going for about 6 months) to pick him up one day and one of the girls told me he had been WINGING!! all day. I thought that was a strange thing to say but carried on, when i got to him he was sobbing and obviously verry upset. I had never seen him like that before at DC. The director then told me that he'd had and accident and wet his pants.( he was potty training). So in the car on the way home he was still crying and he told me that one of the teachers smacked him!! i was fuming. went back down there without the boys and talked to the girls. no one owned up and I never have taken him back. To this day its been 6 months since he last went, you cannot talk to him about going to daycare or kindy or anything. he just breaks down and cries!. Its so sad.
Sorry for ranting, I just want you to know that its not acceptable and I am so glad that I followed my instinct and never took him back, somthing obviously happened to him there.

Hi
I own a child care centre and if one of my staff members left a baby in a bouncer in vomit they would not be working at my centre any more. Just letting you know it's not acceptable.

I too would be looking for other options.... certainly following up on your complaint to see that it is addressed.

No way. Totally unacceptable. Don't let them guilt you into feeling like you are being unreasonable because that is plain neglect. **** is all I can say. Put a complaint in writing and get him outta there.

**** is right... This is so not acceptable... Especially at that young age... My DS had reflux and almost chocked on his vomit several times... Being busy is like mentioned NOT acceptable.

My son's school had a girl walk out and when i picked my son up she had pooped his nappy and it was all dry (sorry TMI) as a result he had bad nappy rash... I went off at the director... OK the girl walked out and left them fort staff but so what... i pay good money for him to be looked after properly, you expect the same quality care you would give him at home... In my case i did give them another go... but in ur case there was no staff walking out...I'm sure there is someone you can complain to about there standards of care appart from the director (like an outside organisation)

If something were to have happened to him (heaven forbid) whos fault would it have been... Most schools claim no responsibility for accidents.. And i cant believe she said "oh between 3.30pm and 5pm we are swamped so thats why Aiden has gone unnoticed'...

UNNOTICED.... I'm in shock... Look in the thesaurus about the meaning of Unnoticed -abandoned, unobserved, overlooked, disregarded... This is definatly negligent The women who was supposedly careing for him wasnt doing her job

This is negligent on there behalf and if they cant manage they should hire more staff.... simple.. No excuse is good enough for putting a child in that situation... I'd get him out of there. If the spew was dried it would have been there a while...

Not sure where you live but in case you live Northside of Brisbane I can recommend an awesome centre that you could try. Otherwise try posting on BB for some recommendations near you. :)

I'd definitely be doing two things. Looking for a new place and writing a letter of complaint to the director.
There is no way that I would keep going to a place that would let me walk out in tears and maintain that they are in the right about it all because, oh, poor them, they got busy (this is a foreseeable situation, if they can't handle doing their job during a daily occurrence of busy periods they are not cut out for it).
You're paying them money to keep their business going - that means, maintaining appropriate staffing levels during quiet AND busy times. Busy times are pretty predictable, and if they are busy then they should be short and sweet with collecting parents and reverting straight back to the children still in their care. Collecting parents should understand that they can't chat for too long because staff need to direct attention elsewhere. They can save their questions for later, surely.
My lasting impression from your post is you leaving in a highly agitated state with your child and them justifying themselves and invalidating your experience. It's despicable and absolutely sub-standard.
There ARE centres out there that make you feel GOOD about leaving your child there - harder to find and probably have long waiting lists, but hold out till you feel comfy leaving your baby there :)

hun I would never step foot back in that place again, that is totally unacceptable, if they are swamped between those hours they should have more staff on, the children should not suffer and being that covered in his vomit is just not on. I would be putting a complaint in to who ever it is that looks out for dodgy day care centres, it really does not sound right to me at all.

good luck finding something else for him

Come on are these people for real - you're paying them to look after your BABY - leaving a baby STRAPPED into anything let alone unsupervised and covered in vomit is not my idea of good care - get him out and complain - but by the sounds of it your complaints will fall on deaf ears given the directors original response - I'd be sure to let others in my community know how poorly this place really is - Time to move on IMO - I'd be so MAD if this happened to me and rest assure they'd know it!!!

Aside from writing a letter to the director you should also call the local counsil and ask to speak to whoever deals with the centres or complaints about centres in your area, or even the health department could help

Hey,
You can make a complaint to the Department of community services ( DOCS )
It depends on what state you live in in what they are called NSW is DOCS
Cathie

Wow I really hope you didnt take him back, I cant believe that the director made excuses for the staffs incompetence. I work in a BUSY 74 place centre and I know how hard and crazy it can get but that is totally wrong. If I was in your situation I would pull him out, make a complaint to the centre and also to the NCAC or department of communities who give centres their license to operate when you complain they have to investigate and do random spot checks to ensure this doesnt happen to another child.

Hi,
I am new to this thread. I wanted to get some advice and I guess support on what to do here. In short this is my story -
Last month I was called my my DD daycare stating that she had bumped her nose and that she was fine but not to be concerned at all about it being a bit red. I was not upset or concerned at all as they told me that she was off and playing. I went back to my work. About 30 min after the first phone call the director rang and said that DD nose was now bleeding and she was crying. I told her that it didnt make sense as she was off playing after the first phone call. The director told me that she was worse and that I needed to come and take her to the doctor to make sure her nose was not broken. I stated that I was not told that in the first phone call just that DD had bumped her nose. The director told me that she was o.k and still wanted to play outside. At this point I told them that I would come and get her. This was 40 min after the accident and two phone calls to me later. I arrived to find DD face was beyond swollen and that she couldnt see out of both eyes and her nose was quite bad. I started yelling at the carer that this was not a bump on the nose. I am not a doctor but what I was presented with when I arrived was shocking. I grapped her and ran out the door to the hosptial. She was admitted into ICU for fractures to her cheeks, eyes and nose as well as a fracture to her head. She was in hosptial for 10 days. I guess I am mad at the fact that the carers could not see what I saw when I picked her up. I thought that the carers are meant to have first aid certs and are meant to call a ambulance for this kind of injury. DOCs is now involved and its going to be a long process. Due to the daycares lack of assistance my DD is now having all sorts of medical problems as a direct result of this injury. Can any tell me their story or how they got through it? is there a on line help or support group that anyone can mention so I can see how I can get her through this. Any advice would be great - feeling quite alone in this. K

I worked in a childcare for a while and I can tell you right now that is not right. I've seen so many horrible things happen at childcare centres. I'm worried about putting ds in there. I'm not against them, I just dont trust them to be as careful with my baby as I am. Leaving vomit on a baby is not on. Even if she had 5 babies she still could have managed to clean him up. I'd throw a fit and take him out of there asap.

krissy2: That happened to one of the children at the childcare before I started. The director didnt do anything about it. Now the little boy is scared of the bathroom, even at home. And when he's at the centre he wont let go of his teddy or talk to the other kids. The woman who obviously acted inappropriatly is still working there. The authorities have been told but nothing has happened.

Kartier: Not all carers have first aid certs. They are meant to but some dont if they on the books as casual staff. What happened to your little girl is just incredible. How could they not have seen how bad it was?! I think you have grounds to sue on the basis of neglect. There was a little girl at a center I worked at who climbed onto the jungle gym and jumped off and broke her arm. We could tell staright away that it wasnt good, even though all we could see was a bruise. She wasnt crying (she was in shock) but that still doesnt mean we were going to let her go back and play. ANY CARER WHO SEES AN INJURY THAT IS OBVIOUSLY BRUISING OF ANY KIND IS NOT ALLOWED TO LET THEM BACK IN THE PLAY AREA. THEY ARE TO TAKE THE CHILD INSIDE AND APPLY A COLD COMPRESS. Even if it's just a little bruise we still had to call the parents to let them know. Most of the time its nothing serious but your better being safe than sorry.

The treatment of your daughter was unprofessional. They were completely in the wrong and shouldnt be able to keep their liscence. Believe me, your not alone. If you ever do let her go to a daycare again, make sure you stay all day with her for about a week just to help her feel safe. Some centers let parents cook or supervise outside or help paint. Just to keep them involved. Good luck :)

oh my goodness i am in tears and absolute shock my gosh i would sue them thats very irresponsible and so not on MY GOODNESS!!!!!!! name and shame i recon thats horrible... i do hope your daughter is o.k now thats just so darn wrong!!!!

hubbie is astounded and very disgusted at this he works in daycare and cant stop saying absolutely disgusting. "they need to be shut down" he is shocked that they didnt monitor her!!!!

:hug: how traumatic this must have been for you your dd and family!!

i would take legal action out against the centre.

i really really hope your little girl is ok, this must of been so very scary for all of you.

xx

Hi, Thanks to all that just replyed to me.
I would have thought that all daycare workers need a first aid cert, dealing with babies. My DD was 23 months old when this happened, just shy of her 2nd bday which was spent in hosptial. The neurologisy and doctors were shocked when I brought her in in her condition. They asked me to call the daycare so they could find out what happened to be able to treat her as I couldnt tell them if she fell or was hit. I asked them how it happened they didnt know and couldnt tell me. The ER doctors said that it was obvious that she had fractured her face, whole face but it was later shown that it was not just that but behind her right ear. The doctors also rang the daycare and could get a straight answer out of them.
squidipa - Thanks, she is doing well now, now around 7 weeks since the accident and she is back to her normal self but is still attending the neurologst and ENT specialists. Not sure when it will stop as she has on going issues as a result. My anger is that they didnt call the ambulance at all and that I arrived after 40 min to something that I was not really aware of. I wonder if she was taken to ER earlier would she have been much better off?
The DOCs is actually taken over the case so we are just waiting to hear what to do. But it has been so hard watching her go through this as she was woken up every hour on the hour whist in hosptial to make sure she was not going to slip into a coma. I dont think I slept at all. I am not sure if anyone else has been through this with their daycare but I just needed to see what to do and how to handle it I guess. We have been through it for 7 weeks and come out the other side with a smile, but we are both trying to understand what to do now and I guess talk about it to get some advice on moving forward.
Thanks again

hi Kartier,

i have tears reading your post just then. your poor little girl, and the horror and fear that you must have felt when you saw her and took her to the hospital. I can't imagine. :hug:

It's a good thing that DOCs are getting involved, however, you may feel that enough is not being done for your own particular case. have you considered getting legal advice? even to maybe seek damages for the ongoing costs of medical care and trauma, not to mention the no doubt hefty fees that the centre has been charging you...

I CANNOT believe that they didnt call an ambulance, and i CANNOT believe that they let her play after what MUST have been a very big fall/push. It is so negligent. I am so so sorry that your little girl was so badly injured. what a good little trooper though for getting through all the treatment. omg, i can't imagine what it must have been like for you to sit there knowing they had to keep waking her...

sending many many hugs from one mumma to another...:hug:

I can not believe this happened to your baby girl, that is disgusting and the centre need to be held accountable for their actions.
I do hope your little girl is ok now, push all the way to get to the bottom of this, it's just awful!!

Hi,
It was horrid to watch her go though that but I am more mad that we have not had any contact with the center since this accident, no sorry, no how is she - no contact at all. I am guessing they know they are in big trouble. But honestly DD is back to herself but it was Docs that asked us to take photos of her during her recovery and we did and we cannot look at them again as it makes us cry. She is 7 weeks recovered and just the most beautiful girl to us. She has been through so much and still makes us smile. We are looking at our options as well as Docs are doing their own investigations and legal submissions so I am not sure where we stand with what they are doing vs what we will be doing. I guess its hard for us as we dont like to tell many people about what happened to her as they all have kids in daycare and we dont wish to upset them but those that are close to us know. Hense we feel quite alone as we cannot talk to anyone that has been through this and know how we can come out stronger in the end. DH and myself are strong but not sure where to go next with DD.
K

Kartier - I am having trouble finding words to express my horror and sorrow that your poor DD was treated like this - not only that she sustained such a terrible injury but that they didn't treat it immediately as the serious situation that it was. It sounds like you really need to talk to someone yourself - just to help you process your feelings about everything that has happened. I'm not sure where abouts you live but it might be worth asking about a counsellor (the hospital social worker might be a good person to talk to as a starting point) - not only to help you process your feelings but also to help you with making decisions about what to do next. xxx

Kartier - :hug: to you and to your DD. What a horrible experience. I really hope your DD continues to recover and doesn't remember any of it by the time she is a little bit older. :hug:

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Hi
I own a child care centre and if one of my staff members left a baby in a bouncer in vomit they would not be working at my centre any more. Just letting you know it's not acceptable.

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I direct a centre and totally agree with the above. The too busy doesn't cut it if there was one person with 3 children, why was she too busy to clean him up? Clearly they need to do something about their staffing if they are too busy to attend to basic needs. I admit, you may occasionally miss the sudden 'little vomit', you know , a bit of a perk, but dried and all over him - that's just wrong!

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Hi, Thanks to all that just replyed to me.
I would have thought that all daycare workers need a first aid cert, dealing with babies. My DD was 23 months old when this happened, just shy of her 2nd bday which was spent in hosptial. The neurologisy and doctors were shocked when I brought her in in her condition. They asked me to call the daycare so they could find out what happened to be able to treat her as I couldnt tell them if she fell or was hit. I asked them how it happened they didnt know and couldnt tell me. The ER doctors said that it was obvious that she had fractured her face, whole face but it was later shown that it was not just that but behind her right ear. The doctors also rang the daycare and could get a straight answer out of them.
squidipa - Thanks, she is doing well now, now around 7 weeks since the accident and she is back to her normal self but is still attending the neurologst and ENT specialists. Not sure when it will stop as she has on going issues as a result. My anger is that they didnt call the ambulance at all and that I arrived after 40 min to something that I was not really aware of. I wonder if she was taken to ER earlier would she have been much better off?
The DOCs is actually taken over the case so we are just waiting to hear what to do. But it has been so hard watching her go through this as she was woken up every hour on the hour whist in hosptial to make sure she was not going to slip into a coma. I dont think I slept at all. I am not sure if anyone else has been through this with their daycare but I just needed to see what to do and how to handle it I guess. We have been through it for 7 weeks and come out the other side with a smile, but we are both trying to understand what to do now and I guess talk about it to get some advice on moving forward.
Thanks again

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The regulations in Qld say that at all times of the day there must be at least one staff member with full first aid - that means out of a staff of 10, you may only need half to have their quals. Most top quality centres insist that all staff are fully qualified (as mine does). It makes me cringe when I hear these horror stories and also embarrassed to be part of the same industry as these bad centres! Oh and I wanted to add, any person with half a brain would be able to tell the type of impact it would take to break a nose or fracture the face would be serious enough to call an ambulance. My guess is their supervison was poor and no one actually saw what happened and made it up as they went along.

Hi,
Thanks to all for your wishes and thoughts. DH and myself are going to talk to a counsellor next week together to process this accident. DD is not out of the woods yet and will be monitored for a while due to the accident being a head injury. She is still unbalanced on her feet and has problems sleeping due to her nose. She misses her friends at the daycare but its strange that not one of her friends parents have bothered to call. We think they have been told not to call by the center, which bothers me alot. Mind you if this happend to one of DD friends I would be calling and supporting that parent through it. We have been left out in the cold by these parents whom I feel are afraid to be those friends/parents in fear that they will lose their place in the daycare. DH is more upset about the lack of support and friendship from those parents and friends of DD daycare mates than I am but its sad as we all went to the parks, bbqs and birthday parties together then nothing.

ausgirl - Thanks for your reply - you are so correct the issue that we have managed to find out is that no one saw the accident and due to that they didnt think anything was wrong with her. Supervision was minimal and therefore she either fell or hit with a force. But my DH and myself just cant understand how such a injury could happen in a daycare? We have looked at photos of her injuries and photos of the playground that she was playing in at the time and it dosnt add up at all. I cant express to you what I was presented with, I was so upset and mad that I took photos of her on my phone before placing her in the car to rush to the hosptial. From there we were asked and told by the hostpial and Docs to continue to take photos of her which we did.
I know this sounds silly but DH and myself were just talking about how lonely this whole experience has been for us.
Can anyone point me in the right direction for a support group or something simular in Sydney that DH and I may attend or talk to about head injuries in babies.
Thanks again this has been the most support we have had in 7 weeks, what a great group of ladies, mums you are :)

I'm sure there is a group that supports people with aquired brain injury - I'm not sure if that's exactly what you need, but maybe google it - they may be able to refer you elsewhere if not.

I would be calling the other parents to let them know what has happened. Maybe they don't know? If they do know, I'd still call them anyway.

I am just totally astounded by your posts and what happened to your beautiful daughter.

I am a qualified childcare worker and worked in the industry for a number of years and i just can not comprehand what your poor DD and family has been subjected to. Someone has had to have seen what happened to your daughter. Even if it was another child.

Very Very rarely accidents happen where a child is hurt and a worker doesnt see what happened, but it generally doesnt take very long to work out what HAS happened. You look, where is the child when first started crying? what is nearby that could have potentially been involved in the accident? And then ask the other children. In all my experience I have never ever had an accident where i wasnt able to work out what had actually happened.

I would definantly be calling up the other parents. Firstly - their children may be able to give some insight into how the accident happened. Secondly - yourself and DOC's need to know if in fact the Child Care Centre HAS said something to them / threatened them, about not speaking to you.

As the others have said - def be contacting a solicitor & naming and shameing the centre. I would even go as far as to contact the media. Parents at the centre need to be awear of what has gone on, so they can make the choice of whether their children continue care there. If i had a child at the centre - i would want to know.

I hope that you find the support that you need. And that your DD makes a full recovery. XXXX

Elyse84

Hi, Thanks Elyse84 for your thoughts. We did ring and asked the daycare several times to find out what happend to her on that day/night . We even called from the hosptial as they needed to treat DD for her injuries. They kept asking me if she passed out ect in the end I rang the daycare center and relayed questions. I didnt stay when I collected her to ask questions as I saw her injuries and rushed her to the ER. The specalists that were treating her called the centre twice, once was the head ER Doctor asking specific questions, he came back into the room and said he got no answer. The second doctor took my phone and rang again this time she got another carer that said a differnt story. The doctors were so angry as they said the injuries were equalivant of a car accident and didnt understand how no one saw or could tell them what happened to her. After a few weeks I did talk to the director about it and said that to her that no one can tell me what happened to DD and how she sustained her injuries. She then emailed me and told me possible causes of her injuries, ie she fell off the fort, someone pushed her. This made me mad as again it was "we didnt see it". She did admit that no one saw it just noticed DD heading towards them acting funny. I aslo asked her why an ambulance was not called at all she told me that they all misjudged her injury.
In the end I know that they have changed their policy on head injuries and what to do. But in the end it was DH and myself having to deal with their mistake with DD being in hosptial and constant care and the after math of it all.
DD is great now but still not out of the woods yet
K

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She misses her friends at the daycare but its strange that not one of her friends parents have bothered to call. We think they have been told not to call by the center, which bothers me alot. Mind you if this happend to one of DD friends I would be calling and supporting that parent through it. We have been left out in the cold by these parents whom I feel are afraid to be those friends/parents in fear that they will lose their place in the daycare. DH is more upset about the lack of support and friendship from those parents and friends of DD daycare mates than I am but its sad as we all went to the parks, bbqs and birthday parties together then nothing.

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Do you think the other parents even have any idea as to what happened? I would think the daycare centre probably hasn't said anything to any of them (it's not the sort of thing that would be good for business) . . . they probably all think that you took your DD out of the centre. I think Elyse's idea of calling some of the other parents might not be a bad one.

There should have been an incident report or accident report written up about it by the child care centre. I am not too sure that this would have any more info in it than what they have told you but it might be good to try and get your hands on a written copy of the incident from their perspective. If DOCS is investigating, they have probably already requested this though.

Hi Kartier,

I was thinking about your question about finding support groups for parents with kids that have gone through big medical stuff, and i reckon on way to find more info would be to do a quick post in the baby and toddler section entitled 'children's medical conditions and special needs' (or something similar). I am sure that there are some knowlegeable people that know how to find a good support group.

maybe even ask the counsellor when you see them. no doubt they have ways of hunting down things like this...