How to handle nursery accident

[NappyValley]

When Dh picked up son from nursery last night they said he had had a bad fall that they did not see and then was very upset and the could not calm him. DH was very cross that thye had not given him a dummy or a drink which calmed him istantly. at home we could see a bump on his head and then noticed he seemed to cry more if we moved his left arm. it was so near bedtime we gave him a dose of medised and he wnet to sleep.

After a restless night, we looked again in the morning and he was still not using his arm and could not bear weight on it and was obviously in pain although not crying all the time.

We decided to take him to casualty (on advice from doc over the phone) to get ti x-rayed. DH took him as I am at work today(but geting little done as thinking about DS).

Just had call and DS has broken his arm!!!!!

Not sure how to handle things with nursery. And would appreciate advice. I really like his nursery but since moving up to toddlers (ds is 17 months) I do not feel he is getting treated too old for his age, as giving an extra drink to 1 can cause a riot with others (as oldest in group is 2.9)

I would like to discuss what happened but not sure how to approach it without pissing nursery off but also he is my baby and I feel terrible for him and want to rant at them. he is a monkey of a climber and ending up in A&E was fairly inevitable at some point I suppose but still.

HELP advice needed.

[ELF1981]

do they have first aiders at the nursery? I would have expected the nursery to at least suspect a broken arm.

[thedogsbollox]

I think complete riot act is in order actually.

Even if they weren't negligent in not supervising him closely enough to allow him to fall and break his arm, their after care left a lot to be desired.

The poor child was in agony - that is why it took them a long time to settle him. Hardly rocket science is it!

You should have been called to nursery when they couldn;t calm him and would have then had the option to take him to A&E at that point.

I'd be furious, absolutely livid!

[WanderingTrolley]

I don't have much experience of nurseries but just wanted to post some sympathy for your poor ds.

Don't worry about pissing off nursery, they are entirely in the wrong on this one, and are possibly worried you might sue.

I would write them a short, to-the-point letter, requesting a full report of the unseen incident, why it was unseen and what is the usual protocol.

I'm drawn to and worried by the 'extra drink=riot' remark you made. Doesn't sound like they're in control at all.

Hope ds and his parents feeling better soon!

[DrDaddy]

Why didn't they call you the minute it happened / when they realised they couldn't calm him?

When DS1 (2.11) tripped and smacked his head on the wall extremely hard, our nursery phoned both of us immediately and warned us. They told us he was being monitored and would inform us of any change. Any sign of concussion and they'd whisk him off to A&E. Fortunately, he was absolutely fine, but I was very glad that they let us know.

Perhaps you should make an appointment with the nursery head and ask exactly what their policies and procedures are for this kind of incident and then inquire whether you think they were adequately followed. They should have all of this written down, by the way.
Don't worry about pissing them off! They should be falling over themselves to prove that they weren't being negligent.

[haggisaggis]

My ds broke his wrist on Monday. We did not notice as we thought he had just sprained it - took until the next day for it to be obvious (so would not blame the nursery for not spotting your ds's arm was broken)
However, I would have expected them to phone you if tehy could not calm ds down. I woudl also have expected them to do what teh could to help him - giving him a drink, cuddles, dummy etc.

[ELF1981]

I hope your ds feels better quickly by the way.

If it had just been that he'd fallen and hurt himself slightly then not too bad but he's broken his arm while in their care which you pay good money for.

Yes, accidents happen, but I would expect first aid care in nurseries to be of a very high standard & somebody should have picked up on the fact that his arm was very hurt.

If you do go mental at the nursery head, what would be the worst that could happen? If you dont go mental then you're not letting them know your true feelings & it will fester. Get it off your chest.

[WanderingTrolley]

On the point of broken bones: I had a toddler dropped with me (childminder) with a hand she wouldn't use. It wasn't swollen, bruised or red. Parents hadn't noticed - I say that not to apportion blame but, like haggis, to let you know just how unnoticeable it was. Didn't seem right to me.

Took her (without parents' permission, admittedly, which was wrong of me) to see a pal who was a gp. Pal said, you're being over cautious, but take her to A&E to put your mind at rest. I went thinking, if we're not seen before the school run I'll just leave, and tbh feeling like a bit of a lemon and expecting her to start doing cat's cradle the moment a medical professional approached. We were seen just before I had to leave.

Broken.

[LIZS]

They should have called if he would not calm down with the usuals props and routines or if they thought the fall had upset him. Is it recorded in the accident book etc ? However it is very common to miss a fracture in a young child (2 friends have done that with under2's and they saw the fall !).

[NappyValley]

haggis - glad we are not the only ones. We did notice that his arm or ribs might be hurt, as he cried when picked up yesterday, but like you say we thought it more likely to be bruising, as he could be calmed with a packet of raisins and some quality Thomas the Tank Engine or Shaun the Sheep TV time.

It was more pronounced in the morning. I think the nursery were cuddling and bouncing DS to try and calm him, but that would have probably made it worse.

I think I will call and let them know what has happened "so they can update the incident book" and arrange to come in to discuss the whole thing next week. The ting I don't get is why they did not call us and why did they not give him a dummy. The drink thing is really a seperate issue that I have noticed how thirsty DS is everytime I pick him up.

[Mumpbump]

I agree that fractures can be difficult to detect. But I do think you should be complain. Whilst I don't think you can expect them to watch every child all the time, they should be in sight so that if they are doing something particularly risky, they can step in. These things do happen, but you are well within your rights to want to know why it happened and why you weren't at least called when they couldn't settle him so YOU could decide whether to pick him up early. Don't worry about upsetting them. They are being paid good money to look after your ds...

[NappyValley]

Have called nursery to let them know and actually got to speak to the nursery owner who is a fantastic lady and a mother herself. She was very concerned and would look into it and when I said I would like to come in and discuss it next week she was totally understanding and said of course you want to know what happened. I did also say that I specifically wanted to know why we were not called.
She was great and I managed not to burst into tears, as am feeling v emotional about it. totally not like me honest.

Will have to wait and see next week. Havent' heard form DH again, so suspect they are still at hospital.

[NappyValley]

Thanks all for support and advice and confidence that I am not being unreasonable.

[duchesse]

Nappyvalley- I have posted an answer to you on the temp thread, but I would not jump too hard onto the nursery. Just a quiet word with the manager, explaining that he broke his arm, should be enough to have them revising their policies. Do you really want his enjoyment of climbing curtailed because they are scared witless that you sue or get nasty, when if he is a climber, it could have happened anywhere. As I said on temp thread, fractures of the forearm are extremely common. Obviously none of us wants our children to get hurt, but sometimes accidents happen, wherever the child is. I imagine and hope that he will recover extremely quickly from this accident...

[NappyValley]

UPDATE - DH back from hospital. DS has a CLEAN break in his forearm. The peadiatric obstrician (or however that is spelt) was very surprised adn says he does not see that v often in toddlers. Can't believe how brave my little man has been. Tough nut.

Nursery called me back this afternoon and sadi that injury occured at 5.15 and DH pciked him up at 5.40ish so it was not as long as they made out. They also said he was more grumpy than teary. They had found him face down in the wood chips with dirt up his nose.

I am still going to go and talk to them on tues as I want to see where he fell as to get that kind of break the doc thinks he fell quite a height. I also want ot know how many were playing with how many watching. I do not really hold them responsible, but I think they should have been more watchful, especially as Callum can climb very quickly.

He is in a temp cast as arm is now swollen and will have a proper one in about 10 days.

To add to it, DH reports bought of the runs as well.

Anyone else had clean breaks on a toddler?

[Nickynappy]

Hi,

Would be happy to offer any advice I could.

New to this site. My email is [email protected] - lets talk more by email.

Nicky

[Whizzz]

Surely an incident like a broken bone also needs to be reported ??
From my H&S days if an adult broke a bone at work, it had to be reported to the HSE - surely nurserys would also have to report such incidents to the authorities??
I would ask for a report of what happened + ask to see their written procedures for dealing with incidents, as clearly someone had not checked him for injuries properly after finding him in a distressed state

[Whizzz]

Surely an incident like a broken bone also needs to be reported ??
From my H&S days if an adult broke a bone at work, it had to be reported to the HSE - surely nurserys would also have to report such incidents to the authorities??
I would ask for a report of what happened + ask to see their written procedures for dealing with incidents, as clearly someone had not checked him for injuries properly after finding him in a distressed state

[Whizzz]

oops !

[hairymclary]

Just wanted to add that the drink thing is totally out of order.

extra drinks? that means they only get a certain amount a day? I think that's very out of order. at the nursery we looked at for ds the children had cups that were available all day so that they could have a drink if necessary. I'd be furious if a nursery was witholding drinks from my child

[alibubbles]

It is in the National Daycare standards that fresh drinking water MUST be available freely at ALL times, for all ages. Contravening that is lack of basic care.

[NappyValley]

FURTHER UPDATE:
I have now seen where DS fell at nursery and it is totally reasonable for him to have been playing there and the person watching clearly knew exactly were he was before he fell, even though they did not see him fall. He fell onto rubber tarmac. It looks like it was just one of those things.

I guess the moral of the story is if you want to know something go to the horses mouth. A lot of the story had come to me 4th hand in the end.

As for the water I asked them about this, and they have agreed without any fuss and I don't think they realised how thirsty he was getting. my fault for not sorting sooner.