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.

When my son fell as a baby he sustained a huge lump on his head so we took him to A&E. He was thoroughly examined and we were told it's the injuries that DON'T produce a lump which are almost always the worrying ones.

He was fine.

Medical negligence is really hard to prove

You have to prove that it was caused by the fall. Have life long injuries. Need constant monitoring.

Playing doctor today are we?

If so you should probably retrain

Speech and language delays are so common, there doesn't appear to be any evidence that this delay is due to a head injury.
Also how old is your child? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you will be looking at more than a 6 month wait to see SALT on the NHS, a lot of areas will no longer see children until they are over 3 years old which is partly due to the backlog due to Covid. I waited 6 months for a referral in 2019, after that first appointment everything was put on hold and we didn't speak to anyone from SALT again for another 10 months. It has been 2 years since that referral and in that time DD has been seen once in person, and had 5 appointments over teams.

Could your 12 month old actually properly communicate before this ‘incident.’ You probably just have a late talker on your hands. My child is almost turning 2 and is only really now showing signs of talking. I’ve previously had to take them to a&e due to a head injury sustained at nursery - maybe I should sue my nursery too 🙄

From your OP it sounds like he’s still one. One year old’s communication varies massively. Are you jumping the gun in assuming that the accidents at nursery has caused long-term brain damage?

However, this was a 1:1 care situation with a child at a height off the ground that is not normal. - Nope, that is absolutely normal. Changing mats are at a height so staff aren't left in agony at the end of the day.

Speech and language specialists at 12 months seems a little odd bearing in mind children only know 10-20ish words by 18 months.

Fell off the changing mat, presumably during the first change, suggests that your DC is a wriggler. I've looked after children that required 2 members of staff to change them in the past. What are they like at home?

There is always the chance the staff member left your DC on the mat to reach something they needed. It is an absolute no-no at any nursery so the staff member would have to be an idiot, of which there are certainly a few in childcare. I've found that nurseries are pretty wary of the first change in case they are a real eel on the mat, and more experienced staff members get to do it.

Contact ofsted. It's who you need to complain to, and I'm sure the nursery would prefer you to go through the proper channels that go by evidence and science rather than internet bad mouthing.

What did the drs say with regard to his head injury at the time and lasting damage?

Also just noticed the age

What speech problems are they having now?

Have you withdrawn him from the nursery?

@Nocutenamesleft

What did the drs say with regard to his head injury at the time and lasting damage?

According to THE OP there were no concerns

How old is he now OP?

Unless he has very good communication and speech before hand (which at 12 month I can’t imagine he did) and then had very little speech or affected communication after the accident, I don’t think there’s any way you can prove it is linked.

That coming from a mother who’s child has had a worse injury injury at nursery. I’ve moved on because nothing can change about it now.

Go privately for an MRI

@Thefaceofboe

For the PPs saying the child was left unattended - the OP doesn't say that. DCs can fall from changing tables when adults are beside them. Children wriggle

Honestly, it really isn’t hard to stop a child falling off. I’m very petite and have worked in an under 2 room for the past 8 years and never come came close to allowing a child to fall off, even the wrigglers or kickers! Proper units at a height should have a little barrier to stop children ‘rolling off’ and if they start to kick up a fuss, take them off or put the mat down on the floor. If you aren’t capable of keeping them safe on the unit, you shouldn’t be doing their nappy there.

Obviously the staff thought they could keep the child safe. MN is full of posts from parents whose DCs have fallen from beds, counters, etc. People don't deliberately put DCs at risk. That's the difference between an accident and negligence. No-one thinks they'll be unable to keep a DC safe and then does it anyway. I'm very impressed that in your 8 years of looking after under 2s no child has ever had an accident - a fall; a trip; a bump or bruise. Our nursery had the highest rating and there was still a parent signing the accident book every single week. The PPs who are pretending the nursery staff left the DC unattended are creating a layer of negligence that isn't in the OP.

@x2boys

I know. But I wanted to hear the exact words the dr used

Because that’s Pertinent to the supposed case.

@VaccineSticker

Go privately for an MRI

So give a child a general anaesthetic overrides this?

OP, I really feel for you here as its horrendous when something like this happens, especially when you have trusted someone else with the care of your child.

However, I do think you need to let this go now. It looks like you have been doing a lot of in depth research into head injuries in babies. There doesn't appear to be anything to link your child's injury with a need for SLT intervention and chances are it isn't linked at all

Did the child lose consciousness or vomit at all?

@dottiedodah

I think people saying that OP is just after money are being unfair .She is worried about her DC ,and concerned that a totally avoidable accident may have caused some sort of long term damage. Obviously needs some sort of specialist legal help.

If she is concerned that there is long term damage then surely what you mean to say is she needs specialist medical help not legal? I'm not sure how a lawyer can investigate/diagnose medical issues?

I understand you are upset. However, I'm afraid you aren't going to get anywhere with this. Unless you can find a medical expert who can establish a link between your child's injury and his communication difficulties, you don't have a case for anything from the nursery. I can understand why you think these things are linked but they may be completely unrelated.

To get anywhere with this you need to prove 3 things:

1. the nursery were negligent,

1. your son suffered a brain injury as a result,

1. your son's development delays are a result of that injury.

You can't prove any of those things so you're wasting your time and energy on it.

I'm very much an "accidents happen" mentality - but this wasn't an accident if someone made the decision not to have hold of this child after placing him on a table. It's basic safety. I too would be very upset. However, if medical staff say there is no link to current difficulties, it is time to move on and stop blaming nursery for his delayed communication skills. How old is he OP, and what difficulties are there? Would it help, personally, to have counselling regarding the trauma of the incident?

Wow.. I Cant believe he wasn't changed on the floor! A table which a baby can fall off!

That’s awful for him and you but accidents do happen. If medical professionals do not think there is any link between his communication difficulties and the head injury I don’t know what more can be done. I’m sure they will have had to fill in the relevant forms etc to comply with their accident policies.

@Autumngoldleaf
Changing babies and toddlers on a table is par for the course at nurseries
Otherwise the nursery will be sued by the staff for their bad backs
Changing babies on the floor is ok at home with one baby but not in a nursery with multiple changes per day for lots of children