AIBU to report a colleague after a child with allergies was given milk?

[Pinkpony123]

AIBU- So I work in a nursery and I had popped inside (all the children were outside eating snack) when I came back out something told me I needed to look in child X's cup to see what was in it. (Child X has a dairy allergy) I look into the cup to see milk, I take the cup away and ask "Why has X got milk, they have a dairy allergy?" When I said this I was unsure who had given it to them (This is relevant). Another staff member who has been in the class for months said she had forgotten X had a dairy allergy and thought it was just Y.I then go inside to double check the X's allergy action plan. When I come back out I just reiterate what is said on the plan and go sit by X to monitor them. A few minutes later go back in to fill a child's water bottle, and one of the managers pass so I let her know incase there is any backlash from the parent (rightly so). The member of staff who gave the milk is taking it super personally and won't talk to me and has also seemingly turned the other staff in my room on me who were previously friendly with me. This member of staff has also received no sanction, and other staff in the are saying because shes new its ok (baring in mind we have other children with anaphylaxis alergies in the class) So am I being unreasonable to think she is totally over reacting as she was the one at fault for giving X the milk in the first place.

Across the room recently I have had to take food off several children given by other members of staff because they have given a child a food they are allergic to or are not allowed.

You need to report this.

safety comes first and the procedures in place aren’t working and need to be revised.

colleague really should report herself

Fucking hell.

what a bunch of incompetent idiots you work with.

people bang on about using nurseries because it's 'safer' &'more reliable' than a childminder or nanny. Crap it is.

so many staff are just not up to it. They're not paid enough to get/retain good staff.

i think yoh should report it all to Ofsted & double down your effort to get out of there. Shame for the kids, but you need to look after yourself as well.

Well the colleague is not going to is she, she's just shrugging it off 'no big deal'

You need to understand that when the incompetent staff member gave the child the milk they didn't know the child could have a small amount.

they only had a small amount as the OP took it from them.

on top of the incompetent staff member who gave it to the child, another staff member knew the child shouldn't have it, but hadn't taken it off them, just mentioned it to the OP.

Neither staff member has been spoken to & instead of being thanked for being 'on top of it' the OP has in a pathetic way, been told to be kind to incompetent idiots looking after very small children. FFS.

Yeah this is literally what happened 🙈

There's just NO excuse is there. If a newish member of staff can't even manage that she should work somewhere she can cope with the job & NOT back in a restaurant!

Currently working on it!

I would say that is typical of a lot of care settings, they’re dealing with vulnerable people who don’t have a voice or the right words so as long as the person paying is satisfied, they plod along covering the cracks. The staffs attitude plays a detrimental role in the care workplace.

So Update

Been just over a week since the incident. A couple days ago got pulled into the managers office about it (been waiting all week for this). The person who gave the milk went to management saying I had said all this awful stuff to and about her (I never directly engaged with her about it or said anything about her) She wrote this full statement about what had supposedly happend (I didn't read it but my manager told me about the key things I had supposedly said). She claims the person has been dealt with separately for giving the child milk. I was told I was not in trouble (the way she was talking I defo am though) but I don't think she believes me for the fact that I didn't say any of this other stuff.

The member of staff who gave the milk has decided to leave and not come back don't know if it was related to this or if they decided it just wasn't for them.

Also the child who drank the milk seems to have been fine and had no ill effects luckily

Benedict Blythe died while at school from an anaphylactic reaction to cows milk. It was almost an identical scenario to what the OP has described. Benedict’s parents were not exaggerating anything.

At least educate yourself before you spout nonsense. It is absolutely possible to be allergic to cow’s milk.

Link

This is horrible, this is why I check what I am giving to the children multiple times. Literally checked the packaging on something we have all the time like 4 times before giving it to any of the children with allergies.

You also cannot predict when anaphylaxis may occur. A child who has previously tolerated small amounts of an allergen can develop anaphylaxis next time. If the child has an allergy action plan it needs to be followed to the letter. Otherwise you have another Benedict Blythe waiting to happen - OP’s nursery are simply lucky it didn’t happen this time.
Benedict’s Law comes in to effect in September for schools and state-maintained nurseries, IMO it needs to be extended to all nurseries and childcare providers.

OP you are right to take this extremely seriously and I would not stop banging the drum until the nursery tighten up their procedures and training.

FFS Benedict Blythe really passed them by, didn’t he!!

I despair.

You’re not wrong for what you did but workplaces like this are just like other highly monitored ones… they close ranks out of fear it could be them one day. Happens in the police too

The subject of THIS thread was on a milk ladder.

The subject of THIS thread had an allergy action plan which was not followed.
The information about the milk ladder was shared with nursery after the incident had occurred. The nursery are simply very lucky this turned out to be the case. This is what is classed as a near miss and should be recorded as such along with a debrief about procedures and further training delivered to prevent a next time.

Your comment “A proportion of all humans are intolerant of cows milk, it's not an allergy or an illness.” is what I am responding to
You are incorrect and frankly ignorant if you believe this to be the case

A report should be written up EVERY time this happens and a copy given to the parents!! Is this even being done?

Were the parents informed????

Yes they were at the time it happened

You had to go inside to check the allergies sheet? The snacks were outside. Surely, there should be a laminated sheet that goes outside with the snacks for double checking because when there are a dozen toddlers fussing you cannot always think so clearly. Also, it would have been nicer to mention to the member of staff involved that she should let the manager know. I think the fact that you 'whistleblew' without giving her a chance to self report is the main issue here.

I knew the child has allergies I think stuff like that is basic if you can't remember that then you shouldn't be allowed to serve food. This was to double check what action was required and their symptoms which i was pretty sure on but wanted to double check (the garden and the room are connected) As I've said to other people she just continued to serve snack seemingly without any care in the world.

OP hasn’t done anything wrong IMO. The management needed to be made aware ASAP. OP prioritised the child’s wellbeing and she should continue to do that.

As a mum of a child with a milk allergy I find the comment about exaggerating allergies really ignorant! My child would now display very minor rashes at the time (this would not have been the case as a baby) but the aftermath for us would have been horrendous and cause huge set backs in toilet training, possibly even doctors/hospital appointments if he drank enough to cause his digestive system to bleed.