Broken nose

[DamitJamit]

My dd (2 and 1/2) cam out of nursery yesterday with two accident forms. Nothing unusual she falls a lot. The first was for a grazed knee but the second was a bang to the nose. They said it hadnt been witnessed and they only knew because she was crying which is unlike her as she normally just carries on. They think that she was hit in the face with a toy piano but dont actually know because no one saw. They said it had given her a nosebleed. I didnt realise until i put her in the car how bad it actually was. The bridge of her nose was really swollen (and still is) and a big bruise has formed and two black eyes. Its caused a slight issue ewith her breathing too, she can still breathe but its like her nose is stuffy. We highly suspect its broken and are taking her to the doctors tomorrow to check. My husband is absolutely fuming. The injury happened at half 12 and they didnt tell us until we picked her up at 3. He feels that they should know what happend and doubts it was a toy piano but also that we should have been phoned when it happened as its so bad. Is this an over reaction (i dont feel it is but also dont like causing a scene)? What should we do from here? Can anyone offer opinions please?

I would take her to the walk in centre or child's a&e tonight rather than wait. Yes children have accidents everyday in nursery but for this they should off deffo phoned you as soon as it happened. I would be with your husband here the way they have handled it is unacceptable. Most nurseries have cctv in nowadays get them to check what happened put in a formal complaint with head office and i would also call ofsted as its a serious injury they can investigate further, Hope she's ok.

Also did you sign an accident form they have todo them what did it say happened on that?

I would take her to A and E to be seen this evening in case it gets worse during the night.

Accidents happen and things like that are very hard to prevent but I think they should have rung you when it happened. Then you could make the choice whether to pick her up then and there.

Take her to A&E tonight. If her nose needs re-setting then that needs to happen asap. You can’t rule it out yourself. The swelling makes it hard for a layperson to assess.

Also, I’m with your husband and previous posters. This is not acceptable.

If you didn't know how bad it was until you put her in the car and the bruises have only just started to come out then they didn't know at 12pm how bad it was did they? They've heard her cry and seen a nosebleed and dealt with that. How was she when you picked her up? If she was happily playing then I don't think you can blame the nursery for not being able to tell how the injury would develop over the coming hours. If she was upset/withdrawn/in pain then obviously they should have called you.

Why does your husband doubt that it was a toy piano? Have you reason to believe they'd lie to you?

Take her to a walk in centre. If they are breathing funny definitely take them.

Yes they should have called you, at least to give you the option of coming and seeing for yourself.

It is hard though. I don’t work in a nursery but I do work in a school. We had an incident a couple of years ago that wasn’t witnessed. Two reception age children banged heads. One was fine but the other was crying and was bothered by their nose. No bleeding and no immediate swelling.

It was in a bubble (covid) and I didn’t particularly know the child but also thought something looked a bit off. I sort of knew the mum so I did call and she came and got them. Turned out it was broken, I was very grateful I had called mum immediately. I do tend to err on the side of caution now!

I would also take her to AnE or out of hours doctor tonight.

Accidents do happen, they can't have eyes on kids every second of the day so I understand that, BUT they should have notified you at the time in my opinion.

I agree and would take her to A&E, poor baby. I have to say I hate when people are furious because no one saw it happen, the ratio for a 2 year old is 1-4, staff cannot possibly have their eyes on each child every second of the day. anyone who’s a parent will know how quickly accidents can happen, childcare staff aren’t superheroes

I agree, I can be in the same room as my mindees and they can tumble or trip when my eyes aren't on them. It doesn't mean they aren't supervised adequately, it means I don't have 3 sets of eyes!

I wouldn't "blame" the nursery per say, but it is odd they didn't phone. At my daughter's nursery, anything head related they call immediately, especially if theres crying etc.

Same as PP yes accidents happen and my DD has no fear but also gets too excited and doesn't look where she's putting her feet so trips a lot. My nursery called me Monday because she tripped and hit her head, anything face related they call me. I didn't go pick her up as they said she was fine but wanted to let me know straight away rather than at pick up x

Thank you everyone. We took her to see the paramedic and they said they couldnt really say either way but because she can breathe through her nose and its not obviously crooked that we should re assess in two weeks. I didnt notice it because her legs were covered in red paint and i was trying to work out how bad her banged knee was and also it was very down played by the woman who handed her over(not who usually does) but it was really quite swollen when we got her so i do think they knew before collection. I think my husband may have been wound up more by speaking to his family as one of them works in a (private) nursery that has cctv and different rules and had made him feel like thats standard. I did say to him that all it takes is to be talking to one of the children at their level and it can easily happen behind your back. I have since spoken to two other people from the nursery and they could not have been more apologetic and explained that although they didnt see the injury happen at the exact moment it happened they saw it almost imediately after and it sounds like they saw the other child with the toy so I do believe them. I think when we take her back on monday im just going to ask that if head injuries happen again if we can be notified immediately. I wish that someone else had come out and spoken to me on monday as if it had been explained by someone else we may have understood better as the woman really didnt say much except she had a bang and a nosebleed that was unwitnessed but that some else suspected it was the toy. I absolutely do understand how hard it is to watch them every second of the day! Thank you everyone for your advice.