Conjunctivitis in the nursery plus niggles - WWYD?

[bigredtractor]

Hi,

I'd really appreciate some perspective as our PFB (just turned one) has been in nursery for 5 weeks - I have no other point of reference as to what is normal or what is a worry.

I have a few growing niggles about the nursery we have picked and so have covertly registered for a second one (brand new,doesn't open until the new year), but haven't given notice yet.

So far:

• DS has contracted two chest infections, once which caused him to be taken to A&E witha temperature of 38.8 (I know that babies spread germs, but twice in 5 weeks seemed unusual).
• DS has been found at pick-up time (by me) with a tiny piece of lego in his mouth - much smaller than I'd expect to see babies have, let alone 3+ year olds. It was dealt with by the management at the time, but worries me nevertheless.
• DS has been left in dirty clothes and with dinner stuck in his hair - and I mean stiff with caked-on food, despite us leaving him with plenty of spares each day.
• room ratios - the advertised maximum in the baby room was 12 - I regularly count 14 and quite often there aren't enough staff, according to the nursery's own ratio (1:3)
• fresh air - in the 5 weeks that he has been there, he has been outside 4 times (that I know of). My gut instinct says that isn't enough.

Now, I'm not neurotic - I embrace dirt and messy clothes, know that kids will pick up germs from eachother etc. which is fine, but there is one further thing that has bothered me from drop-off this morning.

DS had sticky eyes at the end of last week and over the weekend - we treated him at home with hot water & cotton woll, seems much better today. I mentioned it to the staff this morning and was told that several of the children in the room had caught conjunctivitis. Since C-itis is highly infectious, should we maybe have been warned? Is that kind of illness enough fior kids to be kept out of nursery at other places? Would I be OTT to ask whether they are going to wash all the bedding, cushions, soft mats etc that the kids share?

I'm just looking for some help really, since I don't know whether this is all par for the course when you choose a nursery, or whether any of this would concern you? It's the cleanliness & safety that is really bothering me - I know that DS is happy and settled there, as I've seen some lovely pics of what he gets up to in the day.

Would I be unreasonable to have a chat with the nursery manager, or would she think I was a fruit loop?!

The illness stuff is normal TBH, and it does get better once they've been there a while.

The messiness is normal too, but I would expect them to change very dirty clothes especially if they're damp - not good for children to be hanging around in wet clothes all day.

I wouldn't be happy about the amount of time spent outdoors either, especially as it's been so mild recently and there's no excuse. I would expect babies to spend at least some time outside in milder weather and once they're walking they should be outside every day rain or shine.

As Jujy said illness is normal, messiness is normal.

When I looked round nurseries I found there was a huge variation in how much time is spent out doors. I am at the far end of a the spectrum choosing a nursery where all babies slept in prams outside in a pram shelter, but other mums that I had chosen this.

All children get multiple illnesses in their first couple of months at nursery - you can count on them being off more than there!

Dirt wouldn't bother me to be honest - I'd only expect them to change him if he gets wet/uncomfortable.

For me, there is no way I'd have chosen a nursery with 12 under 2s in a group anyway - I think that is far too many for a baby room. Being outside their ratios is completely unforgivable too - 1:3 is the absolute legal minimum number of adults they should have.

They should also be outside every day unless it's raining in my opinion.

I would not be impressed with the lego either - they shouldn't have things like lego or marbles in rooms that under 3s use.

Conjunctivis that is being treated isn't a reason to exclude as far as I know, but all blankets and sheets should be washed between use and shouldn't be shared - children should have their own, clean bedding every day.