Hi All,
Will try and keep details short. DS is 11 months had his first settling in session at nursery yesterday I stayed with him. Alarm bells were ringing but I told myself to see how his second session went today as I was probably going to try to find issues as I'd rather be looking after DS myself and not going back to work.
Worries were:
-13 week old baby sleeping in a room next door with door propped open. Checked on only once after half hour of me being there as I asked them how often he should be checked on... to which they replied oh every 10 minutes and shot up to check on him.
-a baby whose mum I met said she was clingy and this was her first session alone. She burst in to tears twice. Both occasions workers were doing something else and took a few minutes to go to her. I felt she should be prioritised especially on her first session alone. I ended up picking her up the second time i couldn't bare it.
- generally had their backs to the babies playing. One little boy was playing for a good 15 minutes and neither of the workers looked at him once or went over to him. So it was unsupervised play.
So today I leave DS for his first alone session. The Keyworker assigned to him is in another room doing paperwork find this v odd she isn't there to build a bond with DS. After 45 mins someone gets me and says he's crying and a bit uncontrollable. He was crying so much he was struggling to catch his breath and I noticed he had a huge hard bump on his eye which was already purple they hadn't seen this. I was furious mainly that they hadn't even known he hurt himself or how. They 'think' he hit his head on a large wooden cube/ play station. They wrote on the accident report 'carer thinks...' action taken to prevent future incidents 'continue to supervise play' clearly that's exactly what they don't do.
Now bumps happen they'll happen even if supervised but many will be prevented if supervised. What upset me the most is that They have a lack of care and competence to supervise their play properly. I could never trust this nursery now. I complained there and then to the manager who pretty much said sorry and these things happen. I made it v clear how angry I was etc.
As soon as I got home I saw another red mark on the centre of his head had come up and two separate grazes on his nose where the top layer of skin has come off. I think he fell off something to have 4 separate marks. I've been so upset all day I've felt so guilty and sick.
I paid them upfront £100 for sessions he hasn't had via debit card. I need advice on what you would do to get a refund. I.e email the nursery direct? Or the head office as they are part of a large group and also would you complain to ofstead. I feel like something good should come of this and want to make sure I try to prevent this from happening to any other poor babies.
Thanks for reading such a long post. I feel so upset and fragile about this I'd really appreciate it if anyone thinking I am the worst mum not trusting my instincts and not giving up after those alarm bells would please refrain from making me feel any worse... I already feel the world of guilt on my shoulders.
Lesson learnt- trust your instincts.
X
