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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

toddler falling over and cutting lip at nursery

16 replies

skyatnight · 22/08/2007 14:52

I'm a bit upset. My dd, who is two and a half, has fallen over again at nursery and cut her top lip. This is the second time this has happened in just over a month. I feel upset and a bit guilty. I feel, perhaps irrationally, that this would not happen if she was with me. I also feel, perhaps irrationally, a bit angry with the nursery women.

The last time she was apparently running round with her arms tucked inside her top and so couldn't put them out to break her fall. (If they saw this, why didn't they get her to take her arms out?!) She had a badly cut and swollen upper lip and a grazed nose. She healed quite quickly and I took her to the dentist who said that the teeth were a bit soft/wobbly but ok, any damage to the adult teeth would only become apparent later, obviously.

Since then, her speech, which has always been a bit indistinct, has got worse. She can't pronounce consonants very well. Sorry to be so long-winded but I'm just upset that it has happened again so soon and apparently is as bad as last time. I expect I am worrying too much but just needed to vent on here. Has anyone else's child had these injuries? Should the nursery be looking after her better?

OP posts:

speedymama · 22/08/2007 15:06

My twins are at nursery and several times I have had to sign the accident form. When they are at home with me they have accidents too. When they go to school, no doubt they will have accidents.

Accidents happening does not mean that the nursery is negligent. The only way to guarantee that your child will not have an accident is for it to sit in a corner and never move.

Original poster

skyatnight · 22/08/2007 15:06

bump. anyone?

OP posts:

MatNanPlus · 22/08/2007 15:10

What are the details concerning the lastest accident?

snowleopard · 22/08/2007 15:11

My DS has had a cut eye from falling against a table at nursery, and also a bad fat lip last week from running into another boy (who got a bump on the head). But if it's pretty much in keeping with the kinds of bumps he gets when he's with me (running and falling, scraped knees, hitting head on table etc) then I'm OK with it, because it is normal for a 2yo. I'd only worry if I though he was gettting significantly more injuries at nursery than at home.

Is your DD there full-time? If so,m you couold expect her to have more bumps there than with you.

I also find DS goes through phases of getting more bumps, eg when he had just started running, when he started to master climbing, etc.

meandmyflyingmachine · 22/08/2007 15:15

God. My ds practically had his own drawer of the filing cabinet when he was at nursery.

I would ask them to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't have her arms in her top. But in a nice way .

Original poster

skyatnight · 22/08/2007 15:16

Thanks Speedymama. I agree with you. dd does enjoy nursery. She is a very active child and loves racing round the playground there. But she also seems to be accident-prone. I have had to sign a lot of forms about minor accidents and just saw that as a normal thing - that she will learn from experience. No benefit in wrapping her in cotton wool. But I am just really upset that she has had the same accident twice, almost in the same month. Plus, the fact that it involves her teeth really worries me. One, because I have bad teeth. She takes after her father and has nice teeth, I really want to keep them that way. 2. I am concerned about how it might be affecting her speech as she has a bit of a lisp already and very indistinct speech, even for her age.

I appreciate it is hard for the people at the nursery to keep a constant eye on each individual child without stopping them from playing. I just can't bear to see her with a swollen bloody mouth like this and feel impotent to stop it happening. This morning she was so busy saying hello to our neighbour that she walked into the car door, as well. My nerves are frayed!

OP posts:

SofiaAmes · 22/08/2007 15:17

It's totally normal toddler behavior and it would be unreasonable and probably not very wise to ask the nursery to contain your dd. At this age they fall over all the time and do silly things like put their arms in their tops. It's how they explore and learn. If there is always someone telling them how to do it and what to do, they will never learn to asses dangers on their own. Of course, you/the nursery should protect them from truly dangerous things, but falling over and getting grazes and bumps is just normal toddler/child behavior. My two (4 and 6) come home with a new bruise everyday. Ds usually has at least one bump to his face becase he's more clumsy than dd. It's normal.

Original poster

skyatnight · 22/08/2007 15:26

Thanks for responding. I don't know the details of this latest injury. I will ask them when I pick her up. I was too squeamish to ask when they rang. Just asked if her teeth were ok.

She is at nursery part time. She doesn't have many injuries at home, probably because she is mainly doing indoors things at home, and follows me around so it is easy to keep an eye on her. I imagine she is more stimulated and gets over excited at nursery and so that is when these accidents happen. She is more like a boy than a girl - loves rushing around and pretty fearless but without the common sense or coordination (yet - she's only two) to keep herself safe.

I think I will have to have a chat with the women, not to blame them but to stress that I am concerned about what has happened and would want them to keep a special eye on her if possible.

Thanks. Maybe I am being a bit of a wimp just feel so that it has happened again.

OP posts:

Mummywannabe · 22/08/2007 20:01

Hi.I manage a nursery and please be reassured that this type of bump is fairly common. At nursery there are far more things to bump into/fall over (children, toys etc). Even with 1-1 it still happens (like you said she walked into the car door when she was with you). I would query how it happened, if it was the arms in the top thing again I would be little more concerned. Might be worth getting her hearing checked if she falls alot at nursery, that coupled with your concerns about her speech might indicate an underlying hearing problem (something like glue ear), which would have an impact on both speech and balance. Over than that she sounds like a typical busy two year old!

Hope this helps

chipkid · 22/08/2007 20:05

My ds's accident form at nursery was three sides of a3 paper by the time he left. He was only there three days a week!

Having said that his records at A and E are pretty impressive too.

some children are more accident prone than others-although I do sympathise as it is horrible when they are injured.

Original poster

skyatnight · 22/08/2007 22:17

Update: I picked her up from nursery. She fell off a tricycle. A lot of the right side of her face is grazed, she has a black eye and the right side of her top lip is cut. Her nose bleed.

They could see I wasn't happy so I discussed my concerns with the room leader and the manager. They said something about her being an unusually active child and going through a phase where her coordination is not keeping step with her mobility. I was saying to them that she is very impulsive and erratic, gets excited easily and overwrought (I know, I know, normal 2 year old!). When she is at home with me, I pick up on this and intercept to calm her down before anything bad happens. They agreed to keep a closer eye on her and to do some more one-on-one work with her but explained that this is not always possible as there are obviously the other children to consider.

I must be sounding like the mother of a PFB, and I am, but I know that these kind of accidents wouldn't happen if I had her at home. (Yes, she did bump into the car door this morning but it rarely happens and was really minor compared to the mess her face is in now.) On the other hand, if she were at home, she wouldn't benefit from the much more stimulating environment that she has at nursery. She loves it. It is just really horrible when they get injured like this.

Mummywannabe, I think I will take her to the doctor and get her ears checked as it had occurred to me before that something might be wrong there. She seems to hear fine but maybe she is missing some of the range of sound.

Thanks for your responses. It helped to calm my distress/panic earlier.

OP posts:

snowleopard · 22/08/2007 22:23

The poor thing! It really does sound as if there might be a balance problem there as mummywannabe suggested. Hope she is OK.

startouchedtrinity · 22/08/2007 22:25

skyatnight, my dcs haven't been in nursery but I wanted to say that the only serious split-lip-type accidents that my dd1 ever had were at toddler groups, with me in charge. I agree with Mummywannabe that being with other children, getting excited and the number of extar hazards (toys, ride-ons etc) in a group setting make these accidents much more likely - you can see them happening and be totally powerless to stop them.

MightyMoosh · 26/08/2007 19:06

Its so bad for you when your kiddies are injured, but trust me its just a sbad for the nursery staff. Even at a grazed knee Id worry will I get sued? Will I lose my job? My sister was one of those accident prone, broken jaw, stitches to forehead, chipped front teeth, fell through front door, also I may have accidently pushed her onto her bike requireing stitches to her leg... I was young. But now she's 23, no accidents in years and she works in a zoo so theres a lesson for all of us.

FrannyandZooey · 26/08/2007 19:14

"Its so bad for you when your kiddies are injured, but trust me its just a sbad for the nursery staff."

erm

I don't think so

(ex-nursery worker here)

Do you have your own children, Moosh?

MightyMoosh · 27/08/2007 16:41

No, but I do have empathy. I dont mean in a heartwrentching, my poor baby way, I mean for all the associated problems- will I be sued? will there have to be a meeting? will the parents complain? did any other parents see the fall etc and will they go to ofsted? What if I cant prove child fell, could I be sacked? As the recipient of a complaint over getting bubbles in a four year olds hair and putting tongue out at 6 year old all I do is worry.

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