Am I being silly - baby eating leaves at daycare…

[SkyBlue1987]

My 10 month old has just started at a daycare. I believe the ratio is about 1:3/1:4 in the under two room. Like every baby he is very into putting things into his mouth. I picked him up yesterday and he was outside crawling around and was chewing. I opened his mouth and he had a small leaf inside. A couple of teachers were outside with the babies but had obviously not noticed him put anything in his mouth. At home I usually stop him before he puts this stuff into his mouth. But I can’t expect them to have their eyes on him 24/7. I’m just worried about choking and how I can try and discourage him from doing this. Do they usually figure out quite quickly not to eat the leaves or bark or have I got a few more months of this - I can’t imagine they taste good!

Caught my 2 year old collecting cat litter off the floor this morning and eating it. Kids are gross and the occasional leaf or stick will be chewed.

Is this AI?

Nursery staff are not teachers.

A lot of the time they are teenagers doing apprenticeships as they are cheap. With the legal minimum of level 3 staff.

Also babies and toddlers eat everything. They would do the same even if looked after at home by mum.

Where I am from they are qualified early learning teachers (at least the majority of them are, they have a few non-qualified helpers).

Sorry, I assumed you were in England.

Your problem is at 10 months he really shouldn't be in a nursery.

Don’t be ridiculous. Whatever you feel about nursery (and my bet is you don’t have a lot of direct experience) it is a necessity for many people so that parents can work. You have no idea about the choices OP has made in regards to this and how long/how many days her child is in for so you’d do well to hold your judgment here.

OP, I am a nanny but i temp in a nursery one day a week. We keep a close eye on the babies. They might put things in their mouth but we would notice and remove it, and try and discourage it as much as we possibly can. You learn the ones that are more likely to do this, just as you get to suss out the toddlers who are prone to pushing or snatching. They could definitely be more vigilant so I’d mention it in a ‘by the way’ fashion so that they have it in mind.

The only thing you can do is watch them like a hawk and grab the offending item before it goes in, whilst saying no disapprovingly. They will eventually learn to check your reaction before putting things in their mouth, and from that learn what is acceptable (human food).

I would also mention it to nursery so they can keep a better eye on dc. Not in a complaint way but btw I found dc chewing on a leaf yesterday. Some kids do it more than others. I cant remember one of mine ever doing it tbh.