Sunburn at Nursery.. What do I do??

[MardyBab]

As I collected DD from daycare yesterday (she's nearly 4), her keyworker mentioned that they'd been in the garden a lot and as it was hot they had taken the decision to put sun cream on the children. I signed to say this was fine and came home. I noticed later that she had a bit of a t-shirt suntan around her neck and tops of arms and thought nothing of it until this morning when I noticed her face and back of her neck were red raw. Her little face is still bright red and very sore.

I love her nursery and I've never had an issue in 3+ years. I know there are certain rules to follow when it comes to putting sun cream on children and I am grateful that they took it upon themselves to do it (used their common sense over protocol) BUT it was clearly too little too late. Part of me thinks on a day like that, they should have been kept inside. She had no hat in her bag and was only wearing a flimsy little sun dress (although it was cold when I dropped her off at 7:30am so she did have a light jacket).

I cannot let it go unnoticed and I will be reporting it next week when she's in, but wanted to see if anybody else has been in this situation and how it was handled by the nursery.

Why did you not send in suncream and a sunhat?
And why did you dress her inappropriately?
I don't think its reasonable or in the children's best interests to be kept in all day
Surely you know about appopriate clothing for weather conditions?

Sounds like they underestimated the strength of the sun. I tell all parents their children must have long light trousers and long sleeved tops. I have hats and sun cream which I keep here. Clothes are the best sun protection, so make sure she is covered up.

Mention it to them, as she may need more supervision in the sun than other children.

I would ask to see their sun cream policy and then ask why it wasn't followed or why it is ineffective. Either the policy is wrong or their actions were wrong. Sunburn should never happen at a setting.

You can't expect children to be kept in all day especially on a nice day but at the same time I would expect the staff to notice it was getting too hot and usher them in.

Especially if they are playing where there is no shade.

Stick some after sun on your dd and pop a sun hat in the bag so there is always one to hand (thanx for reminding me to do that btw).

Put sun cream on her before she goes so that you know she has been creamed and then she can have a top up at nursery

She was hardly dressed inappropriately. It's a warm nursery at the best of times, and DD is notoriously sweaty . Also, and I don't know where you live, but where I am it has been 7 degrees until early afternoon before it rockets so forgive me for sending her out in a sun dress and jacket! What a terrible mother I am for not knowing exactly what the weather is doing from one hour to the next! I can't be the only person who went to work yesterday in a coat and came home in a sweat. I asked for advice on sun cream policies, not clothing.

You want your daughter kept inside because you failed to send her with appropriate summer kit?!

Put some all-day cream on her in a morning. Then when nursery does theirs it's more of a top up than her main protection. Send sensible clothes and a hat. It's not rocket science

But if she was dressed more appropriately then she wouldn't have needed suncream and wouldn't have had sunburn
You were caught out by the sun so I guess the nursery were too
What arrangements do they normally have for applying sun cream?

My point is that it wasn't hat/sun cream weather at 7:30 yesterday morning. Hence she went to nursery in a JACKET. Jesus Christ. She wasn't the only one who didn't have a hat and sun cream. There were at least 6 other signatures on that form. Somebody should have noticed that it was too hot for them to be out there long before they were burned.

My nursery renewed its Sun safe accreditation on 1st April and asked for suncream and sun hats then
Parents are also asked to dress children in loose long sleeve and trousers

I'd be interested to know how many of you mothers almighty sent your kids out in sun cream and hats and coats, with a selection of long and short sleeve/leg options for any occasion in their backpacks. You're missing my point entirely.

It's just a mistake OP. I took DS out for an hour and he had a light tan when I got back! It's easy to underestimate the strength of the sun when it's so changeable.

Put some after sun on her and make sure she wears sun cream in future.

The nursery messed up - they should have noticed. I'd ask them about their suncream policy and tell them you noticed dd was sunburnt and you're keen to avoid it happening again. I don't think it's your fault. Our nursery is also warm and dd was in short sleeved tops this week. She keeps a sunhat there and they put suncream on - you pay a pound for theirs or send in your own.

I live in fear of inadvertently doing this as a childminder! I worry about applying my own suncream in case of any allergic reaction but can't keep everyone in on a sunny day if one child doesn't have theirs. I would definitely mention it to the nursery as perhaps their sun/weather policies need reviewing. I do think you bear some responsibility to try and remember hats/suncream though. You said it yourself it may well be 7 degrees in the morning and then scorching in the afternoon. Perhaps suggest you leave a hat and suncream in the nursery for her so they don't have that dithery moment I sometimes have where I'm weighing up the lesser of two evils - sunburn or reaction to suncream

The weather at the moment is a nightmare.

Cold in the morning and needing a coat to suddenly being so hot you don't want to move.

You made a mistake and so did the nursery. I would just suggest to them that they need to keep a closer eye as your Dd got a bit burnt

Normally they send a letter out to ask us to bring hats in. It's an all inclusive nursery so they supply sun cream but will ask for consent before applying. I appreciate they put sun cream on her without consent and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. What bothers me is they were in the sun long enough to burn before action was taken.

I think if you're generally happy with the nursery, you should overlook it. It was a genuine mistake. Hope your dd isn't sore for long.

But OP you acknowledge that if was a strange day which didn't seem too sunny at first.
Yes nursery ballsed up but you can understand why as you also were surprised.
If I were you id take in lightweight long sleeves to keep in her bag and hat and cream and just say to her keyworker that unfortunately your dd got burned as you were all caught out but you e packed her sin kit now so no need for it to happen again and can they keep her out of the sun for now please.

The long and short of it is that sun cream should have been applied before they went out. They would have had a good idea of the weather by the time they went out - which was after dinner according to DD so would have been around 12:30. Peak time. What she was wearing and what she did or didn't have in her bag on the first day of proper sunshine is neither here nor there.

It's sunburn from playing outside, not skin cancer.

Pop some aftersun on and tell the nursery to keep her out of the sun at peak times, as you don't want DD getting more burned.

I laughed when you said you wanted to report the nursery. You and the six other signatures at least can protest outside in the sun.

Oh, and put a hat in her bag so she has it for next time.

My DS came home from. Utterly today with a bit of a pink tan mark on his arms, neck and chest (v-neck top), his cheeks are also fairly rosy. My initial reaction was surprise as he had his sun hat and sun cream in his bag. The nursery are normally very good when it is sunny. But then I looked at myself and I had also caught a bit of sun at lunchtime and it made me realise that it is easy to misjudge it. At lunchtime here it was hazy sunshine and some clouds.

I have a little bag for him at nursery and I change the contents depending on the weather - when we got to April, I optimistically put in sun cream, sun hat, lightweight trousers, shorts, and a spare long sleeved top. Might be worthwhile considering bringing in a bag of spare clothes with various clothing options? Also handy to have spares in case of accidents, spills etc.

Nursery not utterly!!

OP, you're coming across quite aggressively. There's no need for some of your insulting comments.

You said you're going to report it. What else do you expect anyone to say? Yes, the nursery should have put cream on earlier, but they didn't. Which is what you're goi g to say in your report.

Posters have simply been suggesting solutions to help your DD not get burned again, surely that's the priority? You asked if others have been in this situation, posters replied. Stop with the snarkiness.

I think you're angry because you feel guilty, and you should accept that you are at fault here too.
Yes the weather is unpredictable, this is Britain, that's nothing new. A quick check of the weather before you leave home in morning would have told you that it was going to be warm and sunny.
I sent my 3 year old to nursery in t shirt, shorts and jumper, but also covered him in the day long factor 50 and put a hat in his backpack. What's so difficult about that? If the sun doesn't come out you've only wasted a bit of suncream, instead you were lackadaisical, expected the nursery to do what you should have done and ended up with a sunburnt child.
It needn't have happened.

Jesus Christ stop telling me to put a change of clothes in her bag! None of us are winning parent of the year award here so let's stop pretending we're all perfect. She got burned in the sun. I asked about how nurseries normally handle these things. Maybe that wasn't clear. Yes I have packed her bag more appropriately. Yes I have applied after sun. I'm Irish, I don't need to be told how to treat/prevent sunburn. I have had more than my fair share! Thank you for your views on parenting. Let's take it back to childcare please.