About expectations of nursery for a baby

[Saladeeta]

DD has been at nursery for a month now.

Its a lovely charity run nursery.

My elder dd didn't go to nursery till 2.5 so maybe I'm just not used to it. We've moved areas so couldn't use the old nursery. I am hugely respectful of the wonderful job early years professionals do- I'm just not sure if my expectations are wrong for nursery for a baby this age (11 months).

I often got there and despite the weather she's been changed but not had a vest put on, despite spares.
She's come home with quite bad nappy rash, next day they tell me to bring more cream but it turns out they've misplaced it and then not using any despite the soreness.
Key worker often not in the room as covers other parts of the nursery, looks bewildered when I looked concerned.
Different staff members in the room most days, noone gets up to take my baby, even someone does come up,they don't introduce themselves.
I arrive to find her outside in the garden at half five with a streaming cold without her waterproof suit thingy she's got, bottom and legs wet.
Staff pranking each other, laughing about how toys were put in their cars with vodka bottles. This is on site, in front of parents during work hours.
They have put DD to sleep in the bouncer for naps despite me repeatedly asking them not to.
Dirty milk bottles left about over night.
Filthy and I mean filthy bumbo seats uncleaned.
They haven't listened to me about how she eats, IE picking up little bits off the tray at a time and keep telling me how she's a fussy eater and won't eat anything. She's not fussy at home remotely.

Do I need to get a grip?

And, as for calling the authorities, you would be doing that to protect the children who are way more important than the owners and staff, IMHO.

I arrive to find her outside in the garden at half five with a streaming cold without her waterproof suit thingy she's got, bottom and legs wet.

Staff pranking each other, laughing about how toys were put in their cars with vodka bottles. This is on site, in front of parents during work hours

Do I need to get a grip?

YES!!!

YOU need to get her out of there NOW and for the sake of the other poor babies in that shit hole, kick up a massive stink!

Good god!! Get a grip, you are a tiny babies advocate!

Do you know all the things that go on when parents are not there even in good nurseries! This lot are not even bothered to hide it from you, they cant even be arsed to put on a front, god knows what happens when your not there!!

GET HER OUT!

I'm not sure I feel comfortable calling ofstead though- I feel I should give them a chance to put things right

^ a nursery that has let standards fall this low does not deserve the chance, the CHILDREN need a chance this is the whole problem they are the SILENT voice here. they are VULNERABLE.

This gives me the RAGE.

SPEAK OUT FOR THEM for goodness sake!

I would find another nursery....and inform ofsted of your concerns! The nursery that my sisters son used to go to had ofsted turn up out of the blue one day because a member of the public had raised a concern with them with regards to the treatment of the older children.

If you have genuine health and safety concerns you should ALWAYS phone OFSTED.

There will be plenty of settings out there which are judged to require improvement and do a much better job of caring for the children than this one

I didn't read the ofsted when I put dd1 in nursery, went with gut instinct, it was amazing. It was the old 'satisfactory' I later found out. Fast forward a few years (dd2) it's now good + but y' know what I preferred it before....

FWIW I don't know about 'key workers' in general but I guess they are needed in big nurseries. I talk top anyone about dd and they all know, but it's small.

Personally rather than calling ofsted I would talk to the manager but I guess it depends if you trust them to listen and act.

She did that ....

Call Ofsted, the nursery need an almighty kick up the arse.

Very poor nursery. Leave.

Sod the ofsted report, that place sounds grim. I would be looks my for a new place asap.

The thing is, the staff (or at least the management) know exactly what they should be doing. They have done it all right and been judged to be doing an excellent job. This isn't incompetence. They are being lazy and uncaring.

If you give them a chance to improve, they will for a while and possibly for your particular child. However, it won't change the ethos of the setting or the fact that they are employing lazy staff who don't care about the children.

I'm an ex nursery nurse and worked in a private nursery for years. Not a chance in hell my child would be going over their door again. There is NOTHING about your post that is acceptable and I think you should remove your child immediately and contact Ofsted. No grip needed.

Update.... We have seen an improvement in her care in terms of the wipes, cream etc are where they should be and we have not picked her up to find her inappropriately dressed. Lots of good communication from lovely kw. Room leader has explained shift rota of room workers and we have agreed when key worker not there, there will be a dedicated person who hands over from me, and then to key worker when she comes in. We have been met with a bit of hostility by rl and some of the other room staff, but I am keeping positive and smiley and thanking them for the good job. She isn't sleeping very well there and apparently can't settle as the neighbouring room is noisy. She then doesn't eat much and is grumpy all day. Picked her up last night and she was clearly under the weather and exhausted, got home she went straight to sleep after eating a little, was very thirsty. Slept for a bit then up for more food and milk at 9. I don't know if I am being mad to still be sending her in, but have no alternative yet and need to work. Does this sound any better to people?

She's also had a continuous cold/ cough since starting over a month ago... I'm worried that's excessive due to poor hygiene! Or usual in people's experience? The rooms have seemed cleaner since I spoke to management, bumbo seats clean now etc.

No, it still sounds pretty crap.

To expand, the hostility and your child not sleeping or eating and being very thirsty. I think you are trying to convince yourself it's ok when it isn't

Saladeeta, not only does this not sound like a significant improvement in terms of your DD's experiences, it also sounds like they are taking a sticking plaster approach, addressing you concerns individually, rather than looking at the root causes for the problems you have identified.

Nothing has changed in terms of ethos and you are clearly still struggling to trust them.

You need to do the two things you have been advised to do throughout this thread; find a different setting for this child and report your concerns to Ofsted.

I have showed this thread to a couple of very highly qualified early years professionals and they were both shocked by what you describe has been happening in this setting.

Nothing you've said in your latest post would reassure me as a parent, particularly the fact that you are experiencing hostility from the people caring for your child. This is a very strong indicator that they feel their practice is perfectly appropriate and you are causing unnecessary trouble for them. If they were good, ethical, caring practitioners, they would be cross with themselves for the way you let your child down and keen to make improvements.

Please don't allow this to continue any longer. It's not just your DD I'm concerned about. All the children in this setting are getting a raw deal and deserve better.

Your child doesn't sound happy there

Move her still. I had a similar experience when my little one was 2. I kept on at them about things, just felt like I was telling them how to do their job whilst paying them half my wage for the pleasure. Final straw was picking her up on a hot day. She had been put in the so called garden with the older ones "because of numbers". She had a sunburnt face and was covered in dirt, it was in her mouth , inside her clothes. I picked her up and left. I then had a childcare crisis. I would add that she is 18 and has no memory of ant of it x

I get that you can't just decide not to take her in and not go into work, but what you've described is inadequate, even after the 'improvements'.

Look into alternative childcare and get the hell out as soon as you can.

Stop trying to convince yourself that it's not that bad or that your expectations are too high.

I do take all your points. Its as though they aren't following her cues, like the way she moves her little mouth indicating thirst, that a low moan after a few hours awake means a nap etc. That she needs her bunny for naps, it was in her bag yesterday and they hadn't got it out
I feel terrible that she is still there. Waiting for permission to change my working days., can't do anything till got that, live with no family support, few cms

It still doesn't sound great.

The hostility from the staff is very worrying as it suggests to me that they don't think they were doing anything wrong before. And if they don't think they were doing anything wrong, they're likely to slide back into the bad old habits sooner or later. Plus she's still not sleeping or eating and is coming home very thirsty.

Plenty of colds straight after starting nursery doesn't sound too unusual though, even if hygiene is great, colds are easy to spread, especially with small kids sneezing and coughing when playing in close proximity to each other. I'd be far more suspicious if a child was frequently coming home with gastrointestinal type bugs.

They don't seem to check her bag, which has all the things she needs in I just don't get why they wouldn't follow her cues or check her bag? Surely so basic I shouldn't need to check this?

They tell me she frequently has a major diarrhea poo in the afternoons- I never, ever see this at home. They say they think it's teething. Could it be hygiene?