Baby injured at childminders - advice needed please

'It suggests prolonged exposure or some other cause.'

That's pretty much what everyone is saying.

Why littlebit? That seems like a crazy policy!

also op - you say he returned home from the cm on tuesday evening - did she not call you to collect him when she noticed his weeping/blistering sunburn?? did you collect at normal time??

'but she's a childminder'

Her expertise in predicting the weather is no greater than anyone else. They don't teach that on a childminding course. So many people didn't realise how hot it was on Tuesday, at least half the kids at my DC's school were in winter uniform/coats etc.

I'm sure she is aware of the effects of sun on young children's skin, she may not have been aware of how warm/sunny it was.

If she was only out for half an hour, that could be; leave the house and walk to park (10 mins), play for a bit and then relaise it's actually much warmer than she thought, notice kids a bit pink and doesn't have suncream with her (10 mins), put back in the pram and walk home (10 mins).

Or she could have put suncream on him and it could be an allergic reaction.

I hope that he is better soon.

At the risk of being flamed you should put sun screen on him before you pass him over go the cm, if you want him to wear it. I am a childminder and I don't apply sunscreen. It's in my policies.

I try to make sure that the kids have limited exposure to the sun, I have a large shady garden. But I cannot guarantee that they won't get too much sun, because we will be outside much as possible.

If your child was playing with a water table he could have got deflected rays too.

I hope he is better soon, what a horrid thing for you both to have been through

Thinking on it, yes, people absolutely get caught out on mildly sunny days and get burnt, but she's a childminder, how was she not aware of the effects on sun on young children's skin?

Surely she's had experience in looking after mindees in warm, sunny weather? There's just no excuse

I am sorry for your son, that sounds absolutely awful.

I just wanted to say that our DD has quite sensitive skin, on Sunday we were out in the afternoon, it was warm, she had suncream on her face (borrowed from a friend) and a hat as well as long sleeves and jeans. The next day her entire chin was scaley and weeping, I can only conclude that it was the different brand of suncream.

On Wednesday when it was sunny but milder she was outdoors for five hours, again with her usual suncream and a hat. No burning, no issues.

sorry this has happened to your ds op it must be awful for you both. it does sound a very odd thing to happen though - could your ds have some sort of auto immune issue going on? or some other undiagnosed allergy?
had you given the cm suncream to put on him? did she say she had/hadn't put any on him? how long did she say she was outside with him?
sorry for all the questions but it does sound highly unusual to react in this way to sun. It was hot on tues but not scortching hot. If your cm had taken your ds on a day trip in the summer and not used sun cream i could kind of understand this but i'm assuming she wasn't out all day and it wasn't hot enough, imo to cause such severe sun burn unless she has been grossly negligent (sp?) and quite literally left him out in it.
also strange that her own dd was sun burnt. Where did she say she was with them?

If this happened to my ds and I was sure it was caused by the childminders lack of care (ie, not a reaction to cream/not another health issue) then i would terminate the contract as i would feel the trust had gone but i do think there may be another issue at play here. I would be pressing the doctors for more testing if this were my ds and if they are definately saying it;s sunburn i would want to know how many hours he would have to have been out in it to react so badly

My little sister got burnt when she was 6 months old. SS had her, and left her outside for 2 hours. It was may, I think, not too hot. Her face swelled up hugely, and then collapsed. It looked liked she'd been in a fire.

She went in an ambulance, and the doctors tried burn treatments and creams and she had an oxygen mask. They concluded that she'd had a horrific reaction to sunburn, and needed to avoid it at all costs. Babies and sunburn don't mix well.

She'd properly scream and sob when we had to cream her :( she is better now though, no scars, and she doesn't burn badly anymore.

I guess babies just aren't meant to get burnt.

Good grief that's awful! So glad you're going back to A+E with him, hope you get some definitive answers soon

If it is indeed sunburn, I absolutely would not be leaving my child in her care again, it's negligent and bloody dangerous! Friend or no, your DS's health comes before anything, and you'd be worrying endlessly whilst he was in her care.

Hope you and your little one are okay

A lot of people got caught out with the sun on Tuesday. There is another thread in chat about a toddler who got burnt at nursery. I got burnt that day as well. I think the weather changed suddenly and because it didn't feel that hot, people made the mistake of thinking sun cream wasn't needed. I think it's understandable that she spent 30 mins with them outside without putting suncream on. A mistake obviously, but an understandable one. If her DD is only slightly burnt, I think your DS must have had an unusually bad reaction for one reason or another. If this is the case you can't really blame the childminder.

Did you put suncream on him in the morning before you sent him OP? Or put suncream in his bag to be applied later?

It sounds like an allergy to me.

DS is allergic to many brands of suncream and produced almost exactly the same reaction to one brand: horrible blistering skin that looked in parts as though he'd been flayed :(

Why do you think the childminder is lying to you? More importantly, why are you telling your friends that the childminder is lying to you?
She might well be telling you the truth. Unless she has form for lying to you, I think you should believe her. Her own child having a touch of sunburn isn't really anything to go by, since she may well have stayed out longer than your DS.

Any news OP?

If her DD was sunburnt as well that doesn't sound good, though I stick with the first thought that this does sound like an extreme reaction. Perhaps because the CM's DD doesn't burn easily she didn't realise your DS would. Which is certainly something I'd be having extremely strong words about.

I think, if it was an hour in the sun without suncream because the CM thought he would react as her DD did, and perhaps because your DS has reacted very strongly to something, I wouldn't be ending her contract but I would be having a very serious discussion about it, making sure she knows you were very upset, that nothing like this can happen again, that anything else happening will mean you'll terminate your contract, and as long as she is upset and apologetic I would still use her. If it was 2 hours in the sun... nope, I'd stop using her.

I hope you get seen quickly at A&E and get some answers.

I have a friend who is allergic to the sun. It's pretty nasty.

And DS swells up like a balloon with certain suncreams.

It definitely sounds like this is more than just sunburn.

To all those saying sunburn can't be that bad over 30 minutes in April - well, I managed to burn my arms and chest lobster red during a 15 minute walk yesterday. It's possible.

Having said that, no degree of sunburn is acceptable and this sounds very severe indeed. The CM may not be lying about the length of time spent outside though.

Plenty fluids as well, heat, blisters etc can make him dehydrated.

There is a medical condition called XP where children are allergic to light. Has he ever screamed before in bright light?

Bloody hell, melted, this sounds really quite odd reaction to the sun.

Make sure you are giving him plenty pain relief as well. Good luck at hospital, they might admit him.

Poor wee thing.

Good luck at a and e, btw. Hope your DS is better very soon.