Is this neglect?

[Thanksforreading]

So DD has been attending this nursery for well over a year and we have never had a problem till last night. She is 2 years old.

I picked her up from nursery as usual (Thursday 5.45pm), and run her bath, take off her clothes and get her to sit on her potty. Before she sits on her potty she touches her thigh and says “ouchie” and “help me” so I have a look and I notice a red mark on her inner thigh! (Photo one) I was a bit shocked, but told her it was okay, and decided not to give her a bath but just a quick shower down instead. She then tells me “itchy” she’s got very limited words, so when she tells me itchy I was a bit confused as well, still not too sure what to make of it but I dress her and email nursery about my concerns. (6.30pm)
Husband gets back, and he looks, sends over a very strong email to nursery. By 7.30pm her mark is looking 100% like a burn mark from friction and it’s weeping hard, we just clean it a bit and pop aloe Vera on it, DD is super upset with lots tears and telling us “pain”
We have woken up to (photo 2) this morning to darken area of the weeping area. Nursery has replied this morning with an email saying they will investigate and give them day to get back to us.
No courtesy call nothing not even an apology or sorry to hear that this has happened, just they will investigate. Nursery closes at 6 pm.
I’ve managed to book our DD in with the doctors and they have confirmed with a written document, confirming it is a friction burn. I’ve given them till 530Pm and have tried calling them three times and no one has picked up and the voice message box is also full. I feel like my daughter has been at the hands of neglect now, and it is now a Friday evening, so this will be left till Monday morning at least. Am I being unreasonable or am I just asking for too much? This is a private nursery and we pay £94 a day for childcare.

That's been caused by a hanging nappy, it's disgusting, absolutely no way would my child be going back.

There was literally a post a week or two ago from a mum who’s daughter had a very similar wound on her leg also thought to be from a wet nappy being left for way too long at nursery!
This looks very similar.

It’s seems likely.
However, I would wait to see how the nursery responds and any action they take afterwards- for example disciplining her key worker, acknowledging their mistake, or providing you with reassurances.

Its all very well people saying “Pull her out!” but nurseries (particularly in London) are full to capacity with long waiting lists, and op has a job she presumably can’t afford to walk out of.

It’s very difficult to sort childcare at short notice and might not be the best outcome if dd is happy, settled there and has bonded with the staff and iother children- and has shown no signs of being left in soiled nappies before? (nappy rash or sore skin)

My advice- think calmly and rationally, consider if you have any other causes for concern - before taking any further action.

Its also best to consider other possibilities before making allegations x

@TheLightProgramme The first photo was taken at night time with bedroom lighting. It was also oozing and weeping, so the light reds in colour.
The second photo was taken 13 hours later in the morning in natural lighting, and also where that using a weeping was, it’s starting to scab hence the darker red in colours. Hope that explains it.

it’s completely red with scabbing now before she went to bed at 7pm so it’s healing.

It looks like a mark from a very hard pinch or nip to me

I personally think there is no excuse for it. A nursery should have a procedure in place that every nappy is changed at a certain time, unless a poo in which case it's changed immediately.
So not only would they have missed the time for the nappy change, but it's just bloody obvious when a nappy is hanging like that and they've just left it. What else are they ignoring or turning a blind eye to? Changing nappies is the very minimum you expect from a childcare provider, the absolute minimum.
I'd have some serious questions and I wouldn't go back.

That wound isn’t consistent with being pinched.

The skin looks to have been rubbed - removing some layers- urine is an irritant which would cause the sore to “burn” and later scab over.

Its an abrasion (or possibly a sore caused by bacterial infection- I linked to impetigo up thread which can present as a burn like sore).

@SmileyClare thanks for that! I’m pretty calm, was completely flustered and panic mode yesterday. Yes, we are based in London and most nurseries have a six months to a year waiting time.

I pray they call for Monday, it’s very frustrating when there is a lack of communication, if they even just called today before the weekend and just explained they are still speaking to all the staff I would of been happy that they are trying to deal with the situation.
Shes just moved rooms and keyworker, she still runs to her old keyworker, we have requested if her keyworker can move rooms instead of moving all the toddlers up to a new keyworker.

@Ghostytoasty yes you are correct, hence the first photo is lighter (night time bedroom lighting, weeping and oozing mark) second photo 13 hours later, morning natural light and scabbing has starter forming

The GP would have picked that up if it was.

I agree- it’s giving you no confidence if the nursery are a) not expressing concern /showing care after your report

and b) have not responded within the 24 hour window as they said they would. (Regardless of what stage their investigation is at).

I would pull them up on their handling of this. You want any queries or concerns taken seriously by the nursery.

Doctors aren’t always on the ball. I expect a friction burn was diagnosed as ‘most likely “ with a caveat to come back if it worsens or doesn’t clear within a few days.

Impetigo is confirmed by testing a sample of pus under lab conditions or by noting that a sore isn’t healing as expected.(a wait and see approach)

Granted, a bacterial infection such as impetigo isn’t the most obvious cause.

Its highly contagious so there would likely be more than one child (or staff) with a case…. And the nursery would inform all parents.

It looks like impetigo to me! Its in an unusual place for impetigo though!

That's horrible. I hope she and youtwo feel better soon.
Completely agree, they should have noticed. Could it have been from a full unchanged nappy? Either kids are very good at let you know how they feel, I can't believe she wouldn't have been in discomfort before getting home

Could it be a bite from an insect or spider - just with the redness the day before then it going into a sore? Or even a wasp sting? Have you been to GP or out of hours as I think I would have it logged.

I would be livid and extremely concerned, any mark on the inner thigh is a big red flag. Any body map of abuse will tell you this.

The fact they are not taking this seriously is also a huge red flag. Aswell as ignoring phone calls. I wouldn't be sending her back until they can explain what happened. For me as a parent them avoiding my calls after rasing a concern would break my trust.

Any mark near or around the genital area would have me seething.

My advice to you is to take it further.

Looks very sore.
My guess from your OP (haven’t read whole thread) would be that if they went for a walk the nappy was either full or her clothing got wet and allowed the nappy to rub. One of my children got a similar mark when wellies rubbed her leg once - obviously not as high up but was also quite sore for a few days.

I hope the nursery are able to clarify soon for you.

£94 a day? Bloody hell

The photos or the cause don’t matter. What matters is your tiny child has an injury that you have noticed that is bad enough to warrant a GP appointment. Raise it with the nursery manager asap on Monday face to face if you can and go from there. If I’d taken my children to nursery with that mark and not mentioned it I would have got a call from nursery.

Hi my son had this exact burn once and it was because he'd rated mango at nursery then pood. The nappy was new but the poo was fairly runny and where it had leaked and ran n a bit the nappy had rubbed his leg whisky I was getting him home.
He'd had an allergic reaction and the poo had basically burnt his thing whilst sat in the pram. Sounds far fetched but it looked iidentical.

@Thanksforreading
That’s 100% a rub mark from the walk they did, probably because of a full nappy as others have mentioned. As a child I used to get the exact same rub marks on my inner thighs whenever I went up to the next size in wetsuits. The new ones would be slightly big and would rub raw wounds into my legs. Just to warn you, it will scab more and look even worse than it does now and then the scabs will peel in a week or two. Try to keep her from picking them if you can, they tend to bleed. Other than that use some antibiotic cream while they’re raw like that.

Really sorry that she’s had to experience that so young, the rubs are really painful when they’re fresh. I can’t understand why nurseries think they need to take two year olds out on big walks, it just causes problems at that age. I hope they get back to you with a satisfactory answer.

Of course the cause and the timeframe the injury developed is relevant.

The nursery are not accountable if the sore was caused by an allergic reaction to a chemical or a bacterial infection, or if a friction burn occurred at home.

Its overdramatic to insinuate abuse.

It seems likely the nursery are at fault- likely that they failed to change a wet or loose nappy or failed to notice wet clothing that could rub. Babies/ toddlers have sensitive skin that’s easily damaged.

it does appear that prior to this, there were no issues with dd’s care or well being despite attending since a baby.

It’s worth keeping some perspective.

The nursery absolutely need to address your report. Op should be able to get answers with angry accusations or allegations at this point.

I was thinking the same, it's a red flag area. I'd never send her back.

Sorry, “withOUT” angry accusations “ that’s supposed to say!