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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

nursery sending back clothes like this?

185 replies

MrsMotherHen · 12/06/2018 18:50

My daughter goes to nursery shes just turned one so needs feeding still unless it's finger food.

She always comes back with her clothes in a bag absolutely rotten now am all for kids getting messy and having fun. Although this is food mess were she should have had a bib on, its always the same and always something near impossible to get out! Thank god for vanish gold!

Now at almost £40 a day I shouldn't have to provide a bib surely they have never mentioned bringing one?

I have been sending her in in and 2nd hand stuff but even after one wear most of the time its wrecked its just so wasteful to bin clothes shes not had much wear out off.

This was todays clothes....how an earth has she got orange food stains on her knees! The paint I don't mind that's normal nursery mess but the food stains are starting to annoy me?

Should I bring it up next session? Is this normal? My son came home immaculate at this age but it was a different nursery.
AIBU??

OP posts:
WanderingTrolley1 · 12/06/2018 21:09

Normal.

Buy cheap clothes you don’t mind getting trashed.

Allthecake · 12/06/2018 21:37

Why don't you just send her in with some bibs? If it's due to them letting her learn to self feed she'll get better soon, especially if you work on it at home with her too.

Labmum · 12/06/2018 21:59

That's completely normal. Our nursery uses a tommee tippee pelican style bib but my little boy would regularly come home with food/paint/mud on his clothes sometimes having used 3 sets of spares over the day. It doesn't bother me, I'm just glad he's happy and getting stuck in!

madmomma · 12/06/2018 22:01

The absolute best way to get most stains out is running warm water, blob of fairy liquid, then rub it out under the tap. Wash as normal. Kids need to be able to get messy at nursery. Her development is their priority, not her clothes.

Sashkin · 12/06/2018 22:50

Ha, we made the fatal error of sending DS in pale blue shorts. They came back looking like he’d sat in a bowl of tomato sauce, with orange stains all over the legs. Navy or dark grey from now on.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 12/06/2018 23:06

The thing is though a bib doesn't cover a whole dress or outfit, does it. Food drops especially when theyre little and learning to feed themselves. Its unavoidable really.
She's not going to have Royal table manners at one, is she

Thehop · 12/06/2018 23:10

I work in a nursery. We do put babies in rubber bibs at mealtimes though we do ask parents to buy a few cheap outfits purely as nursery clothes so that they can be used and enjoyed without worry.

scrivette · 13/06/2018 09:55

You need to invest in a few navy blue leggings and teashirt outfits, you can't see the stains then.

I would be annoyed if my children were coming home pristine, I want them to do messy craft etc there as I don't do it at home.

I wish I was only playing that much for nursery, £74 here!)

hibbledibble · 13/06/2018 10:45

It's completely normal! At under £40 a day your nursery is very cheap as well!

Just be glad your dd is having a good time, and wash the clothes and send her back in with them, even if there are stains. She won't care...

pottilypottery · 13/06/2018 10:53

i disagree - i've used several nurseries and there is a bit of food grime, and then there is not enforcing any standards. It's a bit early to say, but check for 2 and up whether they have a good dinner routine where they are sitting and using cutlery, washing their hands before and after lunch etc.

playing in a mud kitchen is one thing, getting messy from deliberately messy play, but if it's a general lack of bothering to enforce any good behaviours or nice eating, I'd be concerned. Not so much at 1 year old though, you can't expect a one year old to eat well, but at 2, 3, 4, absolutely they should be learning table manners.

Iseveryusernametaken · 13/06/2018 11:43

I'd send a bib. Not really unreasonable to ask them to use it.

Polo shirts are easy. Hairspray removes most pen and some paint. Other stains generally come out with sterilising fluid.

Another good stain remover is bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar. This even removes blood stains and Bolognese sauce! I bulk buy from Amazon.

crunchymint · 13/06/2018 11:48

Yes 1 year olds do not do nice eating Grin. And this 1 year old does not feed themselves at home so will be at the beginning journey of how to use cutlery. I suspect because OP still feeds her DC she has no understanding of just how much mess a 1 year old makes when feeding themselves. Seriously the only way to avoid any mess on clothes is to have the baby just in a nappy.

Although when I started working with kids we used to use men's old shirts as aprons. They really did completely cover kids up. But once nurseries started being inspected, we were no longer allowed to use them and had to but aprons and bibs.

Pollaidh · 13/06/2018 12:05

Buy cheap second hand clothes by age, by the bag. Gumtree, eBay, handmedowns. These are what most people call 'nursery clothes'.

DS came home covered in mud.
DD came home covered in paint.
Paint was harder to get out.

And nursery is £57 here.

NameChanger22 · 13/06/2018 12:07

Dark clothes for nursery, light clothes for weekends. That was my system.

Freezingheart · 13/06/2018 12:12

IMe some kids just seem to attract a lot of mess and muck while others don’t. Just keep the stained clothes for nursery. Certainly wouldn’t throw them out. Ours were very much like this at your dd’s Age. It was the reason I would only buy cheap clothes at that age. Actually even now (at the end of primary school) my DC1 has a remarkable ability to attract unremovable stains onto her new clothing every bloody time. Really winds me up but it is what it is.

Emmasmum2013 · 13/06/2018 12:34

It is normal but its also annoying. Its good that your DD is learning how to feed herself while there. It'll get better as she gets the hang of it.

Sometimes though I do think that my DD's nursery would be calling SS if I dropped her off in the state she's in when I pick her up. But she's well looked after when she's there and always happy so I'm not bothered. Just make sure she's in cheap clothes that I don't mind binning if they're beyond salvage.

CheesyWeez · 13/06/2018 12:36

Sunshine is good at getting rid of stains as PP have said.
I live in a flat and use my UV lamp (for gel / shellac nails) on stains. Works brilliantly

But as a former childminder I would never have fed the children without good bibs on! Do they put them down for their naps while covered in food?

PotOfMemories · 13/06/2018 12:40

Normal. YABU. I have got DS loads of tatty second hand clothes from charity shops specifically for nursery, I would never send him in anything particularly nice.

thegreylady · 13/06/2018 12:42

I wouldn’t have been keen on sharing bibs really. Just send one in with her.

MrsSnootyPants2018 · 13/06/2018 12:42

They're at nursery what do you expect!

This is why we buy cheap primark stuff for nursery so it doesn't matter. Move on and find a relay issue.

DontMakeMeShushYou · 13/06/2018 12:47

@MrsMotherHen
The stains wernt coming out very well before the vanish with biological powder on a hot wash.

No, they won't! Anything with tomato-based stains (and indeed, most stains e.g. carrot, mud, blood) needs to be washed on a cold wash. The stains aren't coming out because you are setting them in with heat. Washing up liquid, cold/tepid water, and perhaps a bit of vanish if they're really stubborn should be all you need.Then wash as usual and dry in the sun.

Cutesbabasmummy · 13/06/2018 13:06

When my son was that age they put coveralls on for them when they ate. Now he's three they don't. He does come home with food/mud/sand/paint/pen on him. I mostly send him in Sainsbury's clothes that don't matter too much, At home he wear's Boden etc!

Wellthisunexpected · 13/06/2018 13:08

We but clothes specifically for nursery. I love him getting really messy, whether is be mud, food or paint. All his nursery clothes are worn, stained and generally a bit grubby - you'd think I didn't care, but I'm not ruining perfectly nice clothes! Big bags of 'playwear' second had stuff for £10, 2 bags a year usually does us.

GrumpyMummy123 · 13/06/2018 13:09

My DS doesn't like getting dirty, but usually come back much worse than that at that age! It's hardly anything! Head to toe in bolognese and paint some days

Like other people say get a nursery wardrobe of clothes specifically for nursery, second hand stuff that just stays stained and it doesn't matter. Dark colours that don't show so much are good. He didn't look smart going in, but he sure as hell looked a mess coming out at the end of the day... As did they all, its to be expected.

When he started preschool and started wearing a logo tshirt it was so much easier. He's been wearing same 2 tshirts alternative days for about 2 years now. They are faded, stained and even got a couple of little holes, but there's no way I'm paying out for new tshirts now as he leaves in a about a month!

Looneytune253 · 13/06/2018 13:27

Wow I wouldn’t have said that’s a lot of mess tbh. Also I think it’s quite unique they actually change her out of those clothes which (IMO) are only slightly dirty. It won’t harm to ask them to use a bib though. That was pretty standard in the nurseries I’ve worked in.

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