My DD came back home today with bleach stains on her clothes.

[dns99]

Is that normal? I'm extremely upset. She's 8mo and I am getting crazy wondering how it did happen. What if the bleach have reached her eyes?

I only spotted the stains when I got back home and tomorrow I'll 'talk' to them (I've already left a message on their voicemail). I must admit I'm desperate because I don't have any other option till September and I can't stop to work. HELP.

I had this once before with my dd. I wasn't happy at the time but it turns out they wiped down the nappy mats with sterilsing tablets (diluted). Although not ideal and it never happened again I was reassured that they were being strict about h+s espcially at the rate bugs etc travel in nursery. Not sure if that helps it was just my experience.

Was going to say fresh Milton on a changemat?

If it's simply just the cleaning of the changing mat, I'd be concerned about it getting on my baby's skin My dd had terrible skin allergies at that age. If they need to use bleach to disinfect things, they should rinse it off afterwards.

Thank you for all your messages. As SofiaAmes stated, I don't think it's reasonable to have the sterilising material in contact with my baby's skin. Let's say what they say tomorrow.

I don't want to be boring but... what about the clothes? I know they were nursery clothes in the end, but they're ruined now. I've been stretching my budget to fund the nursery, she doesn't have many clothes, and I don't want my daughter wearing bleach-stained clothing. I understand I should take responsibility and deal with any 'healthy-normal-nursery-dirt, such as painting, food, etc. But bleach??? It seems so unfair to me.

*Let's see what they say tomorrow.

I understand your concerns about the bleach and possible contact with her skin, and agree that you should speak to the nursery as soon as possible.

However, I think you're being a bit precious about not wanting to send her in bleach-stained clothing. It really doesn't matter what she wears to nursery.

I don't think it's unreasonable for dns99 to care what her daughter is wearing. I'd be surprised if as an adult anyone was happy going out in bleach stained clothes. Why is wrong for her to have the same standards for her child. Even if the child isn't old enough to care, the parent can...that's our job. In any case, the places which are now spots of bleach, will become holes after a few washes, so it's not just an aesthetic issue, it is also a practical one.

If I was going somewhere to spend a day painting, digging, crawling on the floor, gluing, rolling etc. I would make sure that I was wearing my oldest, grungiest clothes. A nursery is not a place a for a fashion parade. It doesn't matter what children wear. It's our job as parents to ensure that our children are wearing appropriate clothes for each occasion. In this case, clothes with a few bleach spots on are not the end of the world.

What happens when the bleach spots turn into holes as they will shortly do? Do you consider that acceptable for a baby? What if OP doesn't actually have the money to have a "good" set and a "grungy" set of clothes? I certainly don't for my kids. I expect them to take care of their clothes and when they were in nursery I expected the nursery to take care of their clothes. That doesn't mean they can't roll in dirt. I buy washable clothes. That does mean that I expect them to not get bleach or unwashable paint on their clothes which will permanently ruin them.

Sofia, there is no such thing as unwashable paint, sadly.

Am jealous that you manage to wash everything well - our nursery pile gets bigger and bigger IMO it's worth having 'nursery' clothes and other clothes (maybe ask on freecycle/friends for stained clothes if you don't have any). If the nursery clothes end up fine, well great.

Having said that, I agree with you and think bleach is a bit - eek. As you said, can't be good on their skin.

I've not noticed that beach spots turn into holes personally (dh gets spots on his cleaning clothes as he loves to bleach the drains). I think this sort of thing is upsetting if you have other qualms about the nursery, but otherwise on it's own not a very big issue.

My children had plenty of clothes ruined both at nursery and at home because they were small children and small children get very messy. But they were toddlers and I guess I knew the sort of thing they got up to, whereas for a much smaller baby perhaps the concerns are different. I also had plenty of clothes given to me (although before the age of one they mostly lived in babygrows, some of which were fairly tatty as they'd been through several relatives before my two).

Paint stains, food stains... they're not bleach stains! It might only be me, but I don't like bleach stains, they just don't match with babies! Her purple leggings and t-shirt weren't special, but I just don't fancy the idea of having them permanently ruined. It's not about fashion.

SO, basically the nursery said that they had washed some soft toys with Milton tablets, and they were still wet when my baby decided to hold one of them. I was shocked. I would prefer 1000000000 times the changing table excuse. The only thing I could say was: well... she puts everything in her mouth! Then the nursery manager said that Milton tablets doesn't harm babies. I said: well, unless you swallow it.

I'm not good with discussions. English is not my first language. Ma English too bad. Can't wait until she starts on a different nursery in September... (although I realize it might be the same thing...)

You might want to have a look at this site about swallowing Milton

Meant to add - 3 year old disturbing my MN, the cheek! - that I wouldn't be at all happy about bleach stains on any clothes, nursery or otherwise (and I speak as a weary, slatternly 42 year old mother of 3 who have been through/are going through the nursery system)

Hang on, though - so if the Milton is harmless, how does it make bleach stains on clothes?

Is Milton strong enough to stain clothes? I'm a bit surprised by that!

It's pretty safe stuff though - you can take bottles/teats/spoons straight out of Milton solution and give them to the baby so licking a soft toy shouldn't be harmful.

Milton can stain clothes as I know from (bitter) experience - but as I am also clueless about chemicals I'm not quite sure why it's safe to swallow in solution form in small quantities

milton - diluted will not harm a baby. Thats why you do not need to rinse it off sterlised bottles etc.

Wow!!! I would be furious. The milton link that Maisie posted only states that Milton becomes harmless when put in contact with "protein." I believe there is protein in saliva, but not on skin. So does that mean that if your baby puts it in their mouth, it's ok, but if they hold it to put in their mouth it's not. And the idea that the nursery is implying that your baby decided on her own to hold one of the wet toys is really pretty bad....

Sofia - the site I quoted does state that " it can be applied directly to the skin".

Sofia - every cell in the body has millions of protein molecules, so no need to worry about any harmful effects on the skin. Just bleach stains on clothes - which is annoying I agree but not a safety issue.

if you wash clothes with blue paint stains, it sometimes appears bleachy after a wash.