My baby got a heat rash at nursery

[Galou]

My baby girl is almost 9 months and today was her first full day at nursery after a 2 weeks settling period.

When I went to pick her up she was red in the face, her hair was greasy with the moisturiser I'd ask the nursery staff to apply on her for her eczema, had dirt trapped between her fingers and in the creases of her neck and arms, food on her face and fingers.... but, most shocking of all, a heat rash at the back of her neck!

My husband says I worry too much and that it's normal that babies and kids get messy and it's part of life, I shouldn't make a fuzz about it.

I'm thinking, we are paying the equivalent of our mortgage for a reputable nursery, they should be able to keep my precious little girl clean and comfortable! Am I being unreasonable?

Also, I always make sure she has lots of different clothes in her bag in case it gets hot or cold or it rains... how come she got a heat rash??? Did they not check if she was hot?

My heart is breaking and I don't seem to be able to separate my anxious mummy feelings from my objective thoughts ... what has been your experience with nurseries? Shall I speak to them? Do I speak to the key person looking after my daughter or do I speak to the management team? I don't want to be that mum but I just can't except that this is how it's going to be....

Little ones get filthy at nursery. Don’t expect them not to spoil all their clothes. I’m amazed at the stuff that pops up in my toddler’s hair 😂.

Your post does sound very hyperbolic, controlling and precious tbh. Of course as mums we all have our anxieties and you can’t help how you feel, but you need to be self aware and do some work on this (managing your control issues/ anxiety), otherwise it’s going to be a long , hard road ahead.. (and not necessarily good for your DD either).

I would mention the heat rash though, and have more of a think about what clothes you send her in.

You do know they are caring for a load of kids and not just yours.

You are being so unreasonable. Maybe your child might be better at a one to one child minder to give you the peace of mind you want. Your expectations are unrealistic.

Any update today, OP?

I was looking after my son yesterday and he has heat rash. Yes I feel a bit crap that he did but its not neglect or anything. It's hot today and yesterday. These things happen.
Food on her face is bad but my son only comes home clean if he's been upset so not wanted to join in.
Staff do wipe noses but they run so much that unless you have just one member of staff for just wiping noses then some children will have runny noses at pick up time.
They applied cream as asked but apparently you don't like that.. Maybe don't ask them to do that tg8.
I get she is your precious baby but lots of other parents feel the same about their babies. Staff can't give 1:1.
If you want that much control over how your baby is cared for, could you afford a nanny?

@Galou
Food and dirt and heat rash are one thing but I really, really wouldn’t be happy about a sunburn. Especially not on a 9 month old. What did the nursery have to say about that? How did it happen? Our nursery asks parents to apply cream in the morning then tops them up throughout the day.

Don't worry about it. Mine came home with threadworms three times and they spread to all of us. Posh nursery it was as well.

This is not acceptable really annoys me that nursery workers can’t be bothered to wipe faces and snotty noses.

When I have picked up I always ask for a wipe to wipe their faceIn the hope that they get the message.

My boy gets filthy at nursery but they do change him if he's covered in mud. I'd say the eczema cream is the issue here. Perhaps apply it morning and evening unless the eczema is very bad (my Ds has bad eczema but we leave the treatments for home as it can be a bit much otherwise)

Given your last update I would have changed my vote. Heat rash is unavoidable in this weather but sun burn is not.

I get heat rash myself and there is absolutely not a thing I could do accept stay in air conditioned environment in order to avoid it.

But I am very concerned if any of my children get sun burn. It's avoidable, and it can be dangerous.

I would ensure that I include a hat that has the legionnaire flap at the back and long sleeved sun proof tops to prevent it in the future.

Ex nursery worker and mum.... So hope I have a balanced view.

Grubby....yes they can come.home grubby, were they playing outside when you collected her? If so they may not have had chance to clean her up. We'd always give them a quick wipe over upon coming inside, especially hands and faces if grubby. The cream may have added a.level of grubbiness. It's like a magnet to the slightest bit of dirt.

Food....should have been cleaned off before they left the high chair or table.

Heat rash.... It happens when they get hot.and sweaty, my son was the WORST for rashes. Slightly warm, he gets a rash, getting a virus, he gets a rash.

Sunburn.... I wouldn't be happy. But as a mum I can say I haven't put cream on as often and felt so guilty when DC got sunburn. Did you send cream? We weren't allowed to put cream on a child that wasn't provided by the parents.... especially if that child has eczema. But on the other hand they would have been kept inside or under shade....

Please don't go in there guns blazing....it won't help as much as if you go and have a "chat", mention you noticed she has sunburn/heat rash and ask if they can keep an eye on her if she's outside, and maybe say, "I noticed she had food on her face, I've put extra baby wipes in her bag to clean her face" they'll probably be mortified they left food on her face and it's a gentle nudge that they need to keep up standards.
Of things don't improve in a week or so then have a word with the manager.

Sunburn??

I'd be fucking pissed off with that.

Presumably you put SC on her in morning, provided hat etc ? Did they top up?

My DS comes home from nursery absolutely filthy most of the time with grass stains on his knees and shoes that need the washing machine! But he's happy and his hands are washed before eating, and they wipe his face as best they can. I wouldn't be happy about sunburn so hopefully that doesn't happen again now you've pointed it out!

Ah I feel really sad reading about people thinking nursery staff never wipe noses etc

At my nursery we pride ourselves with caring for the children as if they were our own. Would never dream of sending children home with food over themselves or snot on their faces . Signs of fun in the garden - Sandy toes, muddy knees - we don't always worry about (unless it's upsetting the little one) but the rest is pretty basic needs being met.

OP, we aren't all crappy nursery workers. If you aren't happy, find somewhere else

I had this shock too OP when my LG started nursery. She always comes home mucky, but she absolutely loves going. She puts her shoes on at 06:30 and stands at the door waiting to go.

I think you are being a little unreasonable, I often get heat rash in warmer weather, it's not unheard of and doesn't necessarily mean someone has done something wrong.

I know it's hard, as her mum you want everything to be absolutely perfect but the nursery have more than one child to care for. At the end of the day it's just a bit of muck, if she's had a great day its all insignificant

I don't think you are being precious at all. I'm not going to go on too much but during a year post-uni I worked in a few , all regarded as brilliant nurseries and I wouldn't dream of sending an under two year old/pre verbal child to one. I also don't agree that getting numerous viruses really helps your immune system , the odd cold maybe but not things like gastro bugs, bronchitis, ear infections, I've known children to be weakened by these illnesses.
I know ppl have to/want to use nursery so I don't want to be horrible but I saw things first hand numerous times that weren't good. I think it's horrible that kids have dirty noses and aren't clean especially with what parents are paying, not good and while those things are minor I would watch out for others op. Are the people working there young? What are their qualifications ? Look out for nappy rash and other things over the coming weeks and trust your institution.

That being said, I do think the food in creases etc is unreasonable, my little girl is always cleaned up after a meal at nursery. If that continues I would mention it

Yeah I wouldn’t have been massively bothered by the rest of it, but sunburn, if you’re sure that’s what it was, I would have been fuming…

I know ppl have to/want to use nursery so I don't want to be horrible but I saw things first hand numerous times that weren't good

Like what? 😕

You're being very overprotective. I

DD1 was a little older when she went to nursery but I wouldn't expect bit of food on the face and hands.... they need to wash them after eating

I wouldn't worry too much about the rest.

@Bizawit

I’m not the poster you quoted but honestly so much stuff I’ve seen would put me off putting my child in nursery full time as a toddler or baby - however I don’t judge because if I had to work full time I’d have no choice in the matter.

Things like very small portions of food. The parents will be told they had crackers and peanut butter and banana for snack! They think aww lovely little snack, pb & banana on crackers. In reality we’re given 2 bananas and a packet of crackers to go round 20 kids. Each one gets a single, thin slice or two of banana and two small crackers.

Quite frequently managers would ‘pull’ you for cuddling a child too much/coddling then, and then would run into the room at 4.30?with ‘quick quick, Bobby’s mum’s here! Is he crying, pick him up quick.’ And then Bobby’s mum would think we’d been cuddling/playing with him all day so he didn’t cry on his first week.

In big chain nurseries, staff being shipped in from other sister nurseries to help on ofsted inspection days to disguise the fact that often over lunches we were left badly stretched. Special new ‘ofsted resources’ that were brought out of the cupboards on only these days so the children appeared hugely interested and engaged as usually they didn’t have access to felt tips, chalk, new toys. If you complained about any of this (as I did) you were ostracised then carefully bullied/managed out.

I’m not saying situations like this happen in all nurseries - my last one was absolutely fantastic, the owner managed it and it was not a chain. She used to come out of the office in the mornings if there were lots of kids upset and just a few of us staff trying to sort it. I would often see her after staff meetings (7-8pm) going back into the office to tackle paperwork she hadn’t managed to do during the day as she’d come out to allow us to one-to-one with struggling kids or manage meals better.

sofakingcool

That's really reassuring to read. Thank you for posting that.

Good grief people...

It would seem the op is a first time mum..
give her a bit of slack..

In a year or so, it's possible that she'll be the one give a little advice, when she's more comfortable in her role as mum..

@PyjamaFan such a nasty unnecessary post