AIBU for being mad at nursery re. Carseat storage?

[Claudine4]

Hi all.
LG #2 (10 months) has just started nursery today! My husband and I are both shift workers and apart from rare days whoever drops off doesn't pick up due to the shifts.
My husband dropped her off this morning and left the carseat there. No biggie right?
I picked her up and they told me that we couldn't leave the carseat there because they didn't have a dedicated storage room.
Now, I didn't ask when registering her if we could leave the carseat, but I've never known a nursery to not allow you to leave a pram/carseat! I toured a lot and all the other nurseries in the area have storage for prams/carseats - I guess I just forgot to ask 🤦‍♀️ We can't afford to buy another seat and have one in each car. AIBU being mad at them?
I'll probably have a word tomorrow and say we'll have to move her somewhere else if we can't sort out something out until she grows out of the size 0 carseat (we have two of the size 1/2/3 seats already) so it won't be a problem in 3 months but I don't want to come across as a drama queen...
Thanks for any input/advice!

I don’t live in London, and all the nurseries here have storage. I find it bizarre some don’t!

Thank you, amazed at how many nasty comments have come up! Thought mumsnet would be a safe place for advice but clearly some keyboard warriors here 🙄

Do they have an under cover bike rack that it would fit in? Could you ask around friends and see if they have a one you could have? I used second hand car seats when they were in date and I knew the person (so believed them when they said it hadn’t been in a crash).

Thanks for your input on my finances after a year of maternity leave. I'm not driving a porche 🤣 I'm a nurse and I drive a car that's over 10 years old.

Every nursery I visited had a pram shed. How else do you commute? I am inner city though

Can you borrow one from a friend if it’s just for a few months?

I think you’re being slightly shortsighted with the plan to potentially go through all the hassle of finding another nursery with a space, unsettling your dc, messing about working out notice periods and paying deposits, then going through a new settling in period again for the sake of the cost of a infant carrier.

There’s plenty of cost-effective options that will save you a few headaches.

I had three (crappy) prams stolen from a nursery pram park, then I started riding my bike with child seat to nursery and chaining it up inside the shed, I used to get there early and was among the last to collect so didn’t get in the way of other users. I think you will have to borrow a first car seat from someone who is saving one for their next child. Even if they let you leave it it would walk.

Hi OP, I’m pretty sure at least some of the nurseries we used had pram storage (not London). I know the last one did. I wonder whether it’s a bit different with car seats. People were pretty rough when cramming their prams into the storage area. If a car seat was in there and got damaged it could affect how safe it would then be in a crash. I get that it’s frustrating when you’ve only got a few months, but probably worth just buying a cheap car seat to tide you over. If everything else is positive with the nursery, I wouldn’t change it for just the storage issue.

I did read the posts. Anyone saying they would move a child for this reason is being a drama queen!

We used a non city based nursery, most parents shared drop offs - one dropped, one collected. I saw a car seat left very rarely over 5 years of use. Buggy room was only big enough for the nursery owned buggies for walks.

2 car seats are the way forward, or find a next size one that suits a 10 month old.

I would not expect to be able to. Probably easiest to buy another car seat.

I don't think nurseries are obliged to store car seats. You will need to buy another car seat.

Don’t be angry at the nursery because you didn’t bother to check if they could store your crap for you when it’s so important to you. And no it isn’t a usual request.

Just buy another car seat its easier than changing nurseries.

Imagine if everyone did that OP. They'd need a whole extra room just for that. I understand the issue as I've been in a similar situation myself before but this isn't their fault. You'll have to buy another one.

As it happens if it's an infant car seat I have a barely used one that I was going to list for free for collection as I'm doing a clearout so if you PM and say what area you are in, if you happen to be local to me you can have it.

@NocturnalClocks genuinely demonstrating why Mumsnet is wonderful by actively trying to help solve the problem.

Thank you! 😊

I’ve literally never heard of a nursery ever storing car seats. Can you imagine if all the parents did that, no one would have space!

Am trying not to imagine the stress of nursery dealing with the fallout when someone accidently takes a £350 egg car seat and leaves behind a£50 asda one.....

Op Dh and I coped with one stage 0 for our eldest but we ended up with a Stage 0-1 in the second car for our youngest. It just made life so much easier. And it spun round no more killing your back with a toddler.

Although I'd be so tempted to ask around, even ask in nursery if they know someone who might be ready to sell a Stage 0. I do get they are expensive bits of kit, but far far more will be outgrown than will have been worn out.

Good god almighty, call a waaaaaah-mbulance.

Just be a parent and ensure both of you have what you need to transport your child. Grow up, the world doesn't cater to your every need.

This is one of those times where you are so used to how things work where you are that it doesn't occur to you it's different elsewhere.
Our nursery is out in the middle of nowhere really. I don't think anybody walks to do drop off - would have to walk through lots of fields! Even the nurseries I looked at that were more residential didn't offer pram storage. Mainly parents drove and if not they seemed to just walk home again with the pram (either to wfh or perhaps to then travel to the station). I hadn't thought how it would work in a city where logistics around drop offs would be different.

You shouldn’t be using a second hand car seat whether you know the owner or not.

It’s not just about whether it’s been in a crash but also how it’s been stored, looked after, expiration dates, integrity of the seat etc.

I would also brush up on your knowledge of car seats in general as 1/2/3 stage seats are not great. No car seat can safely and/or accurately cover every stage and ERF is the safest for your children.

YABU - if it was a deal breaker then you should have explicitly asked about it before signing your DD up, and now you're going to uproot her to another nursery with all the associated hassle (and cost!) for the sake of a £50 car seat.

I live in a small town in the NW and it's not standard practice to have a dedicated storage area for prams/car seats at any of the nurseries I've had experience with. The nursery my niece goes to will allow parents to leave a car seat as a one off (where it will just be left in the corner of the entrance hall) but not on a daily basis.

I will very occasionally pick up my 2yo niece for my DB and SiL; as my DD is in her teens and I don't pick DN up frequently I don't have a car seat suitable (I have a couple of booster seats stashed in the boot for my older nieces and nephews) so on those occasions the nursery lets my DB/SiL leave the car seat in the hall, but they wouldn't let them do it regularly when they are alternating drop off/pick up.