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Nurseries

Find nursery advice from other Mumsnetters on our Nursery forum. For more guidance on early years development, sign up for Mumsnet Ages & Stages emails.

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Original poster

Nursery nappy changing issues

26 replies

NomNomNom · 22/02/2011 15:38

Hi,

I need some opinions in order to decide if I'm worrying too much.

DD (nearly 2) goes to a nursery which has a great reputation, it is generally brilliant, the staff are on the whole friendly, lovely to DD, seem to cuddle her quite a bit, great activities, ok food, she loves it and gets excited when I mention going to nursery in the morning.

She recently changed groups to be with older children, and since then about once a week on average I realise when we get home that she has a pooey nappy. (I can tell when she has a poo, so it doesn't happen on the way home.)

Since the weekend she's had the worst nappyrash she's ever had. I mentioned it at nursery yesterday when dropping her off so they could perhaps change her nappy an extra time or something. When I picked her up after lunch, she had had a poo (only saw at home). Same today. So of course her rash isn't getting better despite the effort I put in when we're at home.

Does this kind of thing just happen in nurseries? Should I check her nappy when I pick her up and change it myself there and then if she's had a poo and they haven't changed her, or is that passive aggressive? Should I say something or give them a few weeks and see what happens?

(She's my pfb, so I'm never quite sure what I can reasonably expect.)

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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ThierryHenryismyBoyfriend · 22/02/2011 15:45

I wouldn't expect them to leave her in a dirty nappy. I would check the nappy when you arrive and check if it is clean or not. if it's not I would mention it to them.

purepurple · 22/02/2011 18:03

No, this is not normal and is not acceptable.
I work in a nursery and would be horrified if I thought that any of the children had nappy rash because they hadn't been changed.
Please speak to the nursery about this. Ask if they will check your DD 10 minutes before pick up. At pick up time you can always check her again. If she needs changing then plaease don't feel that you shouldn't ask them to change her. It's not being passive aggressive at all. You should also ask again for her to have extra changes because of her nappy rash.
Good luck

Original poster

NomNomNom · 22/02/2011 21:59

Thank you. I'll check her nappy from now on when I pick her up, and if the rash continues, I'll ask them to change her more often. Glad to know I'm not being too unreasonable!

OP posts:

BooyFuckingHoo · 22/02/2011 22:02

check it when you get there and ask one of the staff to change her if she is dirty.

i took my son out of his nursery after collecting him one day, getting home and discovering is nappy hadn't been changed AT ALL that day. i knew because i used a different brand of nappy from the nursery.

Meglet · 22/02/2011 22:04

No it's not normal. Sometimes mine have poo-ed while I'm chatting to the staff at the end of the day and they always insist on changing them there and then (I don't even have to do it ). I get the impression they don't leave them for a moment once they're poo-ed.

Scarfmaker · 22/02/2011 23:14

I regularly used to pick up a 2 year old from nursery just before 3pm and I could tell just by looking at her as I walked in that she had done a poo. It was just that look!

Whether she had just had a poo, was doing it there or then or that she had done it 10 minutes before, I just had to get on with changing her before I went on to my daughter's school for 3.25. I felt I couldn't ask the nursery staff as they were always busy chatting away to the parents (I was the only childminder collecting from that nursery).

This was all with another baby and toddler in tow and it used to make me late for the school run. But I knew I couldn't leave her in nappy as just sitting in the pushchair for half hour would have led to nappy rash.

I mentioned it to mum a few times but this was one of the reasons I had to give up looking after child.

purplefeet · 23/02/2011 09:58

You are not being unreasonable at all. I put a thread on here recently as ds had moved to the pre school rooms aged 3, though the majority of the other children were toilet trained he wasn't and there was one day they left him in the same nappy from drop off at 7:30am until dh picked him up at 4.

We were furious and complained to the manager - who was furious too. The lady in charge of the room was given a verbal and written warning. They changed their policy and now have clipboards with all the information about nappies etc on. Every person who works in the nursery was given a written memo about what happened.

I'm confident it won't happen again. We're now potty training and they're being really helpful.

I think you should arrange a face to face meeting with the manager about this. You're paying for your child to be cared for properly.

purepurple · 23/02/2011 10:47

Nomnomnom, in most nurseries if you sent your child in with a soiled nappy regularly it would be recorded in the safeguarding file. It is a common sign of neglect. The nursery is neglecting your child and causing your DD physical pain and possibly complications requiring medical intervention.
Please ask them to make sure she has not soiled when you collect her.
If it continues to happen, write a letter to the nursery so that they have a record of your complaints (they are required to keep written complaints)
If it still happens, then you can complain to Ofsted, who will inspect the setting to ensure they are complying with the legal requirements of the EYFS

Original poster

NomNomNom · 23/02/2011 16:47

Wow, lots of replies! Thank you! It's really helpful to hear everyone's views and experiences. I didn't know nurseries keep a file on the parents. But I suppose that's what the incident forms are for.

I'm not sure about writing a letter, complaining etc. as it's a really friendly nursery. It's all very nice generally, the staff (even admin people) know everyone's names, even though it's quite a big nursery. So I want to be quite gentle about it.

I'll keep checking her nappy at pick up time and if it happens again I will say something.

Thanks again.

OP posts:

pozzled · 23/02/2011 16:58

Definitely say something if it has happened a few times.

We had exactly the same issue- lovely nursery, DD very happy but starting to get nappy rash as they weren't always noticing when she did a poo. We spoke to them about it a few times and they were very apologetic- a good nursery knows full well it's not acceptable. If I noticed that she had a dirty nappy when I picked her up, I would mention it and they would always change her straight away- they never expected me to do it. It did take a little while to get it fully sorted, but we don't have any more problems.

The other thing that we did is to encourage DD to tell someone when she did a poo, we worked on it a lot at home so she started doing it at nursery as well. She was a few months older than your DD, though- so it depends how she is with her language and confidence to let someone know.

jaabaar · 25/02/2011 14:35

I was just going to write the exact same post here! My DD is 13 months, never had a rash. She started nursery 4 weeks ago and has a nappy rash with bleeding and skin peeling off! Many days I pick her up and she is full of poo, it takes me 40 minutes to walk home.

When she had rash I told nursery staff to please change her nappy more often (e.g. every 2 hours or whenever she made a poo).

Still I get her reports back with only 2 to 3 changes from 8 till 6.

Also my nursery is very nice and people friendly etc.
However I do not want my DD to suffer so much again! Very painfull!

How can i NICELY put it to them that I want nappy changed every 2 hours from now on. And is every 2 hours over the top???

THank you.....

Original poster

NomNomNom · 25/02/2011 22:28

Hi,

It's understandable that you're worried about your DD, and I don't think it's good for her to be left in a dirty nappy. But to be fair, I think changing her every 2 hours might be just a little bit excessive in a nursery setting. Perhaps every 3? I don't know.

Have you recently changed what brand nappies you use or does nursery use a different brand? I found that some brands give my DD nappy rash. Or is she teething? That can cause a rash too.

Perhaps talk to them again, or keep a diary for a while and then speak to the management? Have you given them cream to apply? Perhaps you could ask if they still have enough cream as a way to start the discussion, so you make clear that you're willing to do your part IYSWIM.

It's awful when you're not quite sure if your DD is being looked after how you'd like.

OP posts:

nurseryvoice · 26/02/2011 11:21

How about
"my baby has bad nappy rash, so please change nappy every 2 hours,thank you"

and this has never happened in my nursery!

Speak to the room leader.

mousymouse · 28/02/2011 13:15

jaabaar if my dc have something that needs extra attention, I print in large letters a note. something like:

"beatrice (invented name) has very bad nappy rash. please change her nappy every 2 hours or soiled nappies immediately. please do not use wet wipes, use cotton wool (provided) and water instead and use the nappy change cream provided every time."

I print this twice, one I hand directly to the key worker (or whoever is there at drop off), the other note I put on the notice board next to the nappy change area.

my nursery is generally very good with these things but my dd gets nappy rash easily...

mousymouse · 28/02/2011 13:16

jaabaar if my dc have something that needs extra attention, I print in large letters a note. something like:

I print this twice, one I hand directly to the key worker (or whoever is there at drop off), the other note I put on the notice board next to the nappy change area.

my nursery is generally very good with these things but my dd gets nappy rash easily...

sparkleshine · 01/03/2011 21:22

Just seen this post? Have you spoken to the nursery staff again or the manager? Has anything improved?

Was just wondering if the nursery has any documentation to say what your DD did/had done that day?

Seems to be some communication issues with this and not knowing when she was last changed. I would expect my DS nursery to change his nappy if he was dirty when I arrived or was chatting to them, though this has happened only once.
Though if your DD was running around or playing, then maybe they didn't notice she had pooed or noticed the smell.

At DS nursery, a notebook diary is kept in his cubby-hole which states how many nappy changes he's had and at what time, e.g. 10.30 (W) for wet or (D) for dirty.
Usually he is checked at least every 3 hours and changed when he has a poo inbetween, that I've noticed.

griphook · 01/03/2011 22:14

The nursery in some why should record when they change a nappy so please ask to see this to see how often they are changing nappies

dribbleface · 02/03/2011 10:21

Agree with nursery voice (fellow nursery manager). You should just ask and they should do it, regardless whether they think it is ott (and to be fair i think every 2 hours if they suffer from bad nappy rash is fine and of course when soiled). My DS suffered from terrible nappy rash when he started at my nursery (but i could hear him having his nappy changed so knew it was frequent), turns out that the wipes/nappy combination they use disagreed with him, both ok on their own but together he would rash. Very odd!

IAPJJLPJ · 14/03/2011 21:04

dribbleface - i had exactly the same problem!!! They supplied all the nappys etc and so brought their own supply of the brand i used at home.

MummyNic · 17/03/2011 13:42

Hi all. my DS has mild eczema and suffers from nappy rash at the slightest chance (they are often linked).
The best nappy rash cream (recommended by GP after I tried every one I could find) is Metanium, put it on thinly when they are sore, do it every nappy change until clear.
ALos, I tried almost every nappy on the market. The only ones that help are the night time ones as they keep the children 'extra dry' - I use the papmpers ones. I have laso found that the only wipes that don't irritate are Huugies Pure ones.

Advice on nappy rash over... Onto nursery.
With all the above in mind, you can imagine the nursery have had to be involved. They were always 100% helpful in tackling my DS's rashes. But... I do know they were generally the cause: not changing frequently enough and not detecting poo quickly enough. So I have asked they change him every 3 hours when he has a rash, keep an eye out for poos. They do this without hesitation. Never be shy to ask for extra care.

Good luck and happy bot-bot thoughts to you.

numpf · 16/05/2011 01:26

My daughter (21 months) has very sensitive skin and I often can only use cotton wool and water to wipe her to avoid slight rash around her bum. She tells me when it is sore as I go to wipe her she says it "hurts". I told nursery that I was worried and the person I spoke to said not to worry they will make sure everyone is using cotton wool.

For the last few months she has done a big poo before nursery which has really helped me as I feel confident she is cleaned well, I worry that staff use more wipes then cotton wool as on a few occasions she has come home with a sore bum.

She also suffers from occasional severe constipation. On friday she came home with a very sore bum and over the weekend she hasn't let me wipe her at all I am not strong enough to hold her two feet to wipe her when she won't let me. The struggle is so bad I had to give up. I wiped her with my bare hand by the bathroom sink. Nursery said they thought she had symptoms of constipation but that wouldn't explain the sore bum to my mind?

Tonight I have left her nappy off and applied Timodene to help the skin heal and it is looking better. This is the first time I have had a close look at her bum because she is asleep and to my shock there is a scab around her bum hole blood drying in the actual hole. Now wonder she won't let me wipe her!

Seeing this has really worried me, is this normal from the nappy rash or constipation? Do I go to the doctor? Not sure what to do or what to say to nursery.

Thank you for any thoughts,
Carla

TiggyD · 16/05/2011 08:59

Go to the doctor.

Original poster

NomNomNom · 22/05/2011 22:06

Hi, OP here. Sorry to hear about other people's issues as well. It's strange how much nursery care can vary.

Just to update on the nappy situation: I spoke to one of the ladies in DD's room, and since then they have been making a point of checking her nappy when I pick her up. Last week she had had a poo, so they changed her while I waited, and it was obvious it had been there a while. Another day they proudly told me she had had a poo at 12.15 (picked her up at 1), and when we got home there was a clearly quite old and stuck on poo in her nappy.

Sooooo. I'm still not happy and I don't feel the situation has improved, it's just with added snarkiness now.

It's nice that they check her nappy just before/when I get there, but that doesn't really help her if they don't check her nappy in the 4 hours before then iyswim.

So what do I do? Another nursery is not really an option.

OP posts:

princesbold · 23/05/2011 11:57

A good nursery would be just as keen to clear up the rash as you are. Nurseries are more often than not complaining to parents about the rash a child comes into nursery with that was not present the day before.
Speak to the nursery manager and arrange a plan to clear up the rash, if this means checking every 15 minutes then so be it ( Give them a timer ), I would not suggest they change the nappy every 15 minutes but just check and change the nappy when required.

Zak490 · 11/07/2018 00:56

Hi my child goes to nursery. He has a pooey bum when I pick him up is this Normal or should the nursery of changed him

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