To think that a nursery shouldn't smell of poo?

[gail734]

I'm on mat leave til June. I have to find a nursery for PFB, so I'm currently visiting and viewing loads - I've been in five and have another four to go. I've only seen one awful one - it was like the orphanage in "Annie". I was expecting the little waifs to break into a rendition of "Hard Knock Life" at any minute. Thankfully, I've now seen two that I like, but they both smelled of poo. It was quite noticeable. There were dozens and dozens of nappy-wearing kids in each one, so is this to be expected? Or is it a bad sign? It's very cold here just now so the heating was probably turned up, which possibly accentuated the aroma.

I suppose with that many nappy wearing children it may be expected that there will be a whiff of shit in the air.

As long as the staff are changing the children in a timely manner and disposing of the nappys promptly I wouldn't take it as a bad sign. When DS went onto solids I swear the smell of shit followed me for a week.

Did the place seem clean otherwise?

DD only went to one nursery. It didn't smell of poo AFAIR. OTOH, the helpers changed all the children at the same time like a conveyer belt.

To be fair, if you are looking at a baby room, it's quite likely (statistically) that one or another of them has recently filled their nappy, which will then leave a smell for a bit in the room. It's what's always going to happen if you get a lot of nappy wearing people together in a room

Quite common. Lots of old people's homes to have a faint wee odour, they aren't all sitting in piss or dirty but you know smells tend to hang.

In a way I'd prefer it to them pumping it full of some naff air freshner jaded up of goodness knows what chemicals.

It looked perfectly clean, but the familiar fragrance hit me the minute I went in the front door. It was a big, converted Victorian townhouse, but all very nicely modernised inside. I was in the place for 45 minutes and got used to the smell very quickly. It wasn't like a lavatory, it was a whiff. But would it put you off?

It wouldn't put me off as it's one of those things that happen with kids in nappies, particularly after they are weaned - then their baby poo starts smelling like grown up shit boak.

I only have DD in nappies and when she has done a particularly spectacular performance the smell can linger in the house after she is changed and the offending nappy is bagged and in the wheelie bin outside.

Multiply the lingering niff my one DD can make in the house by the number of children in nappies in a nursery and you are bound to get the odd whiff lingering about the place as they all fill their nappies at different times.

Having the heating on to combat this cold weather won't be helping either. I would think it will be better once the cold snap is over, the heating is turned down and they have more air circulating.

YABU, a room of dozens of babies and small toddlers is bound to smell like poo.

No. Exactly what Coola said.
I go into lots of Nurseries on a regular basis, and if I'm shown into the baby room (and, to be fair, often the thoddler room), there is often a whiff as you go in. The person showing me round is often really concious of it, but the staff will be able to say, yes, they are trying to detect which child it is, or, more normally, 'Yes, we've just changed x/y/z' etc. It's very normal.

The nursery my DTs attend smells of sudocrem, it's a lovely smell

But no, it wouldn't put me off. Babies poo and poo smells. If that was the only thing that you felt wasn't 'right' about the place then I wouldn't be too worried.1

Don't people flush the poo and then put the nappy in a nappy sack into the bin, after squeezing all the air? My house or outside bins never smelt of poo.

It's normal especially in the winter when windows are probably closed. They were probably sniffing all their bums to see who'd made the smell as you looked around.

Crazythings, my dd is 6mo. I whip off a nappy the second I catch a whiff, throw it into a nappy bag, expel the air (breath held) and tie a tight knot, before putting the glowing package in the bin (just the bin in the kitchen). I don't flush the poo - am I bogging? I'm not really worried about the poo smell in my favourite nursery. As Coola said, the heating was turned up - it was nice and cosy on a snowy day. The kids all looked happy, which I think is really the proof of the pudding, if you don't mind me mentioning shit and pudding in the same post!

Course you're not bogging (not sure what that really means but I've had a good guess?) personally poo flushing is the way to go I think for me anyway- just think of it all sitting in landfill stuck in a bag and nappy that takes forever to breakdown (well I do but maybe I just think too much).

It's at least a good sign that they aren't blasting the place with air freshener.

The nursery my ds is in is immaculate, as any can be with lots of kids of nappy age. It smells cross between disinfectant and poo whiff and from ds's report on how often he gets nappy changes and pukes he contributes quite a bit!

At home he often is a bit whiffy too when it's nappy time. I don't really smell it now but prior to having ds I was very sensitive to these smells.

Primary schools do too - it's always school dinners and poo smell. It's amazing and always EXACTLY the same. I'd almost think they buy the fragrance in.

DD's nursery doesn't smell of poo, unless I am immune to the smell. I would expect a smell for max 10min after changing a nappy, but not a lingering smell.

We require to put pooey bags straight outside or you can smell them throughout the kitchen, even if they are in the bin.

If I change ds in the living room, go and wash my hands and pop the bag into the garden, I can still smell poo when I come back.

In anything other than a very small nursery some child will just have been changed or another will require to be changed at pretty much all times.

i thought this was standard

obviously my child has attended several shit nurseries!

thing is though breathes slowly (quite appropriate names as it happens on this thread ), if there are 8 toddlers with nappies on in one room, who haven't yet managed to co-ordinate their poos to any sort of a timetable, then those 10 mins x 8 children x more than one a daY, can start to add up.
Of course, it might not smell of poo normally, but if a child has just filled nappy 2mins before you walk in, and staff are still trying to trace who has done it, then it would still smell at that moment wouldn't it ?

dd2's nursery room very occasionally smells of poo
just as my sitting room did tonight, when I was still 10 minutes away from finishing watching Pointless

shit happens....

I agree that each child will make the room smell for 10-15 min per day. I am quite surprised that DD's nursery doesn't smell as their are up to 24 children in her room, so that could be 6 hours of smell. But it doesn't smell. The room is quite big, so maybe the smell disperses quickly. And the used nappies are tied up and put in a well sealed bin.

Thinking about this, I've never noticed a poo smell at DS's nursery. I guess they must have well sealed bins or remove the pooey nappy from the room immediately? Unless I've got great timing and never turn up when a baby or toddler's just had a poo

I agree that poo smells can linger though. Sometimes our living room can smell of poo for 5 - 10 mins after I've changed a dirty nappy and thrown it away. And DS can occasionally produce farts stinky enough to be mistaken for poos too.