Are you 100 per cent happy with your child’s nursery?

[Doonut84]

DC aged 9 months has just started nursery 2 mornings per week with a view to going 3 or 4 days when I’m back at work.

So far I’ve got a few reservations about the nursery, nothing major but a few things I don’t love about it. Eg they have a garden but don’t appear to take the babies outside much and also some of the food doesn’t seem that healthy and I would expect a nursery to be more focussed on healthy food.

It’s outstanding rated if that means anything.

Are you 100 % happy with your child’s nursery? Or is it something you have to accept compromise with?

I have no experience of children or childcare.

There are no other convenient nurseries and a different nursery would make my commute insane (it’s already 1.5 hours each way) .

Would love to know what’s normal. Thanks.

Perhaps they’ll start going outside more when the weather picks up a bit. I think it’s reasonable to ask about the menu. Then if they have a not so healthy meal you can make sure any food you give is.

I’d expect them to go outside most days unless weather conditions are extreme - is that not normal?

Also I wouldn’t expect to see unhealthy foods on the menu full stop - again what’s normal?

What do you mean about unhealthy food - give specifics. I do think it’s odd not to take them out except when the weather is really awful. How recent was the rating and has the management changed since then?

But no, I’ve never had a nursery I’ve been 100 percent happy with - it’s necessary and convenience matters.

Unhealthy food like a sugary biscuit

Nope, small niggles definitley present. Location and safety are great. Activities on offer are fine but not great. Preparing for school readiness is non existent imo. Food wouldn't bother me so much but dd is older.

Sugary biscuit to a 9 month old - like a custard cream or something else? Did it happen once or it is regular?

I think it was a home made biscuit with icing on - is that normal for a 9 month old?!

Yes I am, but we changed to this one as we weren't happy with the previous. Previous got steadily worse over time so we moved.

I'd expect outside time most days (unless extreme weather)
Food would really bother me as long as it was reasonably balanced.

Outside time is required it's part of early years Foundation stage.

I work in a baby room.

We spend time outside daily unless it's really awful weather.

On paper some of our meals might look 'unhealthy' but they're balanced carefully across the week. Cakes and biscuits are all low sugar or sugar free, some have hidden vegetables. The chef doesn't use salt, and it's all prepared fresh so minimal processed foods. We also use locally sourced produce. So it could be similar at your nursery perhaps?

When DD started nursery at a year they asked if she was allowed puddings etc, so I'm sure you can say if you don't want her to have the puddings etc. At that time I was very strict with DD and sugar at home but I said she could have puddings at nursery as I knew she would kick off if she was having different to the other children!! 😂

What's their menu like in general? I think treats are fine as part of a balanced diet and at 9 months, whatever they are happy to try is great. Most of their nutrients will still come from milk at that age.
No, I've never been 100% happy with any nursery or child minder. I have moved for things I can't live with, like a shouty child minder or lack of interaction in the baby room.. but lots of other things I have accepted.

There have often been smaller things. We moved DD in the summer because all those small things were adding up and so was the price of it! Currently I have nothing in particular I don’t like. Any issues I have had have been quickly resolved.

I would expect them to go outside daily but a sugary biscuit (especially home made, so probably healthier than it sounds) wouldn’t bother me.

All children should have outside time every day but in my experience lots of nurseries aren't brilliant at taking babies out because it's logistically difficult, especially in poor weather.

Some nurseries have amazing, organic food on their menu and that's their selling point, but remember nurseries are businesses and need to make a profit. So often ingredients will be on the cheaper side, cakes and biscuits are cheap and filling. Value bread and spread, cheap meat, beans and mash often feature (though might not be phrased that way on the menu ).

No nursery is going to be perfect though, you just have to decide if it's good enough/better than the alternative!

Yes I'm 100% happy, it's a fantastic small nursery, 1:4 ratio, amazing staff, children happy and fully prepared for school when they leave.

They spend time outside in most weather unless it's pouring down, the snacks are all healthy, fruit, breadsticks, milk and water, they don't provide lunches as children take a packed lunch.
They do occasionally get the children to make things such as little cakes and decorated biscuits but I'm fine with that.

I’m a chIldminder and it is pretty rare for us not to go out each day, but I have worked in nurseries in the past. In one, the babies wouldn’t go out from one week to the next. It was difficult to get non mobile babies out so the baby room staff just didn’t bother. In other nurseries they tried to get the babies outside, but it wasn’t an every day thing generally.

The food thing, I think it is a bit weird to give a baby a home made biscuit with icing on it. They wouldn’t know if it had icing on or not- it’s not like they would know they were missing out if you gave them a bit of banana or baby snack instead so I’d prefer snacks to be organised better.
I’m sure there are aspects of my care that my families don’t like or would prefer me to do another way, but I think overall they are happy with what I offer. I think it would be petty near impossible for me to get it right all the time tbh, even me and dh sometimes differ on how we think we should deal with the dc sometimes and we are both their parents.

I love my nursery. Ds (3) goes out every day, they have water proofs and wellies and one of the things that drew me to that one is that when we went to look round (unannounced) it was raining and they were all playing out.

They do have a sweet pudding after their lunch (biscuit, muffin, cake, rice pudding etc.) But the lunch is healthy and I'm happy with that. If you don't want your child having sweet puddings just tell them I'm sure they'll happily give them some fruit or something.

I'm very happy with dds nursery. She's 16 months & she goes out almost every day. Wellies/hats/big jackets allows them to be out unless it's extreme weather. They take her out to local classes and the library too. She does have the occasional biscuit but I did say she could. I had to go through a list of foods with the nursery before she started and say what I was happy for her to have. The menu is a balanced diet, so the occasional treat doesn't worry me too much. If I wasn't totally happy then I would speak to them first and give them the chance to resolve, if not find another arrangement. I couldn't go to work each day and worry about what she was/wasn't doing.

I like my DD's nursery but I moved my DS out of there to a pre school at 3 because the 2+ room was, erm, feral!
They go outside every day rain or shine - they have baby puddle suits so the little ones can crawl. The food - some of it would seem unhealthy but it was all homemade and portion sizes of the treat type stuff is so small that it didn't bother me.

The first one we sent DD wasn't good. It was a workplace one and was therefore subsidised, hence why I tried it - I was willing it to work. I mostly disliked: the staff ratio at drop off/breakfast - it wasn't enough to cope with lots of unsettled, crying kids (made leaving her doubly upsetting); the fact that shoes were worn in the room by all including on soft floor furnishings when DD was still crawling; the turnover of staff; their heavy reliance on bank staff (linked to the permanent staff turnover) which meant that there was little continuity and I felt like I was handing her over to strangers on too many occasions; staff seemed a bit inexperienced and not very professional. The new one (a Montessori costing £70 a day in the SE) is very good although we had an awful case of nappy rash a few weeks in - sore broken skin and burn marks. I complained to the manager as it had never happened before in DD lifetime. It hasn't happened since. What I like about the new one: good menu with a bias for healthy but with some treats built in; clean, engaging and warm environment with lots of variety in terms of toys and activities; professional, experienced staff; very little staff turnover; very experienced manager; happy kids

It is a balance - my dd once nearly choked on a piece of bagel - nursery mentioned this to me as if it was somehow my fault when she was eight months. She’s had a bead stuck up her nose, duplo stuck in her mouth, several head bangs and falls. Not all the same nursery.

Even my favourite nursery for the elder dd she had an accident when she jumped off a climbing frame.

Speak to them - the alternative is hard to find, I wouldn’t be moving her on this evidence immediately. Seems like you’d have to find a CM you liked better instead.

Forgot to mention outdoor space: the kids can apparently ask to go into the large outdoor yard whenever they want but they go out as a group for 2 full hours a day as a minimum

She is 9 months so I assume not walking. It's quite hard to take them outside really in winter? In our nursery they go out more once in toddler room

I'm 150% happy with my DS nursery!