Nursery dropped 12 month old baby off changing table - can any one help?

[Yokomoyr]

[Name redacted by MNHQ] nursery in Birmingham:

During the first 2 hours of the first day of my then 12 month old son being there - they dropped him off a changing table onto a hard floor.

He had a huge lump on his head and was quite drowsy for a week afterwards, but neither A+E nor GP seemed too concerned.

Now he is struggling with communication and when we tried to get a medical examiner and solicitor to help us get some money out of the nursery to pay for Speech and Language Therapy, we have pretty much been told it cannot be linked and nothing has been done.

I would like someone to at least tell me they will look into this nursery or provide some help in the private SLT (as NHS is taking >6 months to refer through) - is that unreasonable?

Put my most precious person in the care of someone else and in an inexcusable moment when full attention was meant to be on him, there was a serious error which lead to a severe head injury in a 1 year old child.

Must admit I feel quite let down.

They dropped him or he rolled? Accidents can and do happen. You can't link the fall and his now communication difficulties although you haven't said how old he is or what these difficulties are.

That must have been awful for you. Accidents are horrible anyway, but the combination of him being out of your care and it being the first day make it much harder.

I don't think that medically it would be seen as a severe injury. I can also see why they're saying that you can't prove a link. I think if your child had been older with established language and regressed as a result of the incident, you would have a better case. 6 months isn't a very long time to wait for SALT and at his age, most of it will be advice given to you about things you can do to help him develop his SAL skills.

Accidents happen. Given multiple medical professionals have said they aren’t concerned and they can’t link it to the fall I’m
Not sure what you expect from here?

I also don’t like the naming and shaming nature of the post. You could have asked the same without naming the nursery

How old is he now?

When did this happen?

How old is your child now?

I’m sorry he had a head injury whilst at nursery; it’s one of my biggest fears

You would first need to prove that he fell due to their negligence and that the fall caused him damage.

In what way is he having communication issues? How old is he?

My DD wasn't strapped into her car seat properly by DH, and came tumbling out onto a concrete drive.

She had a hairline skull fracture, but A & E weren't concerned remotely. She was a bit groggy that day, but no lasting effects.

I think you're clutching at straws, to be honest. Accidents happen. And it's not really fair to name the nursery here.

How did it happen? Not sure how you’re going to progress this if the medical experts don’t think that it’s linked

Hello @Yokomoyr we're sorry to hear this. We hope your DS is alright. We've redacted the name of the nursery for your privacy and as this matter is as yet unresolved. Best wishes.

The first, fairly easy.
The second, not so much.

have you pursued the negligence route yet?

I’d have this taken down tbh or the nursery could sue you for libel or something.

You’ve no proof that any SAL delays are related to his fall. If A&E checked him over and weren’t worried then I think the drowsiness could have been more to do with starting nursery for the first time, rather than the bang on his head. Kids are pretty tough and most of them will have fallen and banged their head at some point.

Yes it’s upsetting when something like that happens but nursery staff are human and accidents do happen. If every mum who’s DC had rolled off the bed/sofa/changing table was accuse of neglect there would need be a lot more social workers.

Do some SAL exercises yourself with him to give him a head start when your referral comes through. And please take the name of the nursery off this post. It’s unfair and unnecessary to name and shame them over this.

I think you're entitled to be annoyed at the nursery, but I think you're on a hiding to nowhere with the speech thing. Unless you get medical proof that the bump to his head caused some sort of brain damage, there's no way of saying they are linked. Most likely he is just speech delayed, like some children are.

There is no way you can prove the 2 are linked. Accidents happen. He had a minor head injury, no fractures or brain bleeds. They happen all the time.

Accidents happen. It's not great that it happened but they do happen. He's been checked over by medical professionals who say he's OK.
I really don't know what else you want? If you feel the nursery was negligent remove your child and report to ofsted but it does sound like an accident.

I think you'll struggle as you feel that this was a severe injury with lasting effects, but medical opinion is that it was neither severe nor likely to cause damage.

Have you since received a medical opinion that contradicts the GP and A&E?

Just because X happened it doesn't automatically follow that it was the cause of Y.

Did they inform you straight away? Was there an accident book? Did you sign it? Did you take child straight to a&e?

Oh sorry, I see you've already sought a medical and legal second opinion and been told there is no case.

Sorry I've never heard of such difficulties from a minor head bump before. I do think you'll struggle to prove any link. If your child displays age inappropriate communication he'll
get referred at the correct time to NHS SALT by either HV, nursery or school

you need to report the nursery

How old is he now? Most babies have similar incidents during the first couple of years of their life. How are you certain this bump have caused the communication difficulties?

I am not trying to be unkind, but what you describe as a severe head injury, OP, was not deemed to be so by medical professionals.
I am sorry that your child has struggles with communication, but you have been told that the incident and your child's communication issues cannot be linked.
You are not unreasonable to feel complex feelings around all this, but YABU to feel that liability still rests with the nursery.

I'm sorry but your child did not suffer a serious head injury. He suffered a minor bump on the head that more than one doctor didn't see worthy of any treatment. You can put a complaint in to the nursery but you won't get any money and you categorically cannot link his speech with this incident. Don't let it plague your life. My grandma did that when a nurse dropped my uncle out of a pram, like your D's my uncle had a bump on the head and for the next 65 years my gran has bleated about how this caused a stutter and depression in him. It definitely didn't.