I am considering returning to work and dh and k went with ds aged 7 months to go and have a look at our local day nursery. Ds would be 11 months ish if I decided to return.
This is not a nursery bashing thread. My dd now aged 9 attended nursery for 3 days a week from about 9months and she absolutely thrived and settled in well, it was a purpose built nursery with separate rooms for babies and toddlers and a special sleeping room. She settled in quickly and stayed until she was 3. She still has fond memories.
The nursery we visited today was awful and I actually left and started crying! Ds certainly won't be going there!
It was one huge room with a tiny sectioned off bit for babies literally about 8ft by 12ft, basically fenced off by wooden fencing of no higher than a foot if that. The babies had no adult in with them, no visible toys to play with and one of them was trying to sleep on a mat on the floor (fair enough but ds won't sleep unless he has a dark room).
On the other side of the room were 17 toddlers. All not doing much of anything except wandering about. And 4 members of staff. One of who showed us about.
2 of the babies were clearly unsettled and one little boy just walking began crying and saying "mamma" and no one went over to him! The woman we talked to eventually said to him "not now. Later" and ignored him again! I would be horrified if that was my son. I would have expected her to at least pick him up while talking to us.
In the end I ended up stroking his head and telling him it would be ok - I couldn't help.myself.
I came.out feeling very sad. Surely this nursery should be doing a lot better?
I didn't feel any of them cared about the babies at all. I felt ds would just be ignored.
I want to complain and will do but I needed to vent. Surely it can't be right. Also the baby area had things all over the floor - even pieces of raw apple - major choking hazard and no one watching the babies rolling about.
I'm so upset and angry.
Again I know not all nurseries are like this but t I feel sad that the mums of those babies probably don't know how much they're being ignored.
We peeked in the window on our way back through the town and the little boy walking about was still crying and clutching his blanket :(
AIBU?
surely this can't be right? aibu to complain to head of nursery group ?
Fairylea · 14/01/2013 12:30
You know what to do with that nursery.
We've had a similar experience with a couple of nurseries; one of them a firend went with but pulled out at her DD's first settling in session when she witnessed a baby boy crying and being ignored. We knew we'd made the right decision.
I would contact OFSTED about the choke hazard thing but I'm not sure what else you can do about the rest, other than be thankful that your baby won't be going there. Sometimes parents have to make choices based on what they can afford, is near public transport etc and this may be the best they can afford. 
This has made me really sad poor babies. I would have to complain to ofsted or if it's a chain, head office.
that sounds horrible, i saw a nursery similar to that in that i accidently went to wrong door when i was coming to look round so was waiting for a few min b4 they knew i'd come - all i could hear from inside was crying, crying... when i went in they never really acknowledged my ds at all, and toddlers who were in the nursery came up and started talking to me, as if they were desperate for attention and never got that much interaction from the nursery workers!
yet i know of people saying this nursery is supposed to be good 
hope you find something much better, and good on you for sending them your thoughts hopefully they will improve
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I would report what you saw to Ofsted OP.
I would feel so sad to imagine one of my children in that sort of environment and it's quite possible that some of the parents don't really know what is going on.
However ime some parents seem more focused on whether their nursery provides organic food and teaches French rather than the vital stuff re caring warm staff providing a safe and happy environment for their child...
I remember when I went with a friend of mine to pick up her DS from a nursery in SE London. My friend was happy with her choice of nursery and admittedly the staff did seem very pleasant. But I was struck by the horrible little room for the babies which had fluorescent lighting and some of the children were penned up in this playpen and it just looked miserable.
And it only had a tiny little playground attached which was all concreted. The staff did take them to the local park for walks, I frequented that park and often saw them out. But the little ones were all hooked up to each other and a main carer [about 4 or 5 to each nursery worker] and the staff were all walking along at a fairly fast past discussing their weekend and not really interacting with their charges at all. And so there was no stopping to look at the ducks or just meander like little ones enjoy. I know it must be difficult with so many little ones to look after but still...
I am sure that some nurseries are very good and have much more interaction and thinking about what the children need emotionally as well as physically.
But I ended up choosing a CM for the more personalised and 'family' relationship they were able to provide.
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