Is it unreasonable to expect childminders / nurseries to avoid food stains on clothes?

[UnsureIsMyMiddleName]

My baby comes home most days with food stains on her clothes, and it’s often things like turmeric which are really hard (if not impossible!) to get out.

I completely understand that babies get messy and I’m not expecting her to come home spotless – general dirt and mess is fine and washes out. But food stains feel a bit different, especially when they’re permanent and ruin outfits.

I’m wondering if this is just something that comes with nursery/childminders and I should accept it, or whether it’s reasonable to expect a bit more care in this regard?

Would you say something?

I would rather my kids child minder / nanny / nursery worker was focusing on other things than keeping their clothes clean. Just keep a few sets of stained clothes and always send them in those.

YABU - both of mine always come home filthy but happy so I chose to ignore it.
Either have nursery clothes or come to terms with things are going to be ruined. I keep stained clothes and use them for nursery.

100% either your cousins kids get bland food and have no fun all day, are changed into new outfits before pick up or she is lying.

im a childminder. It’s part of our job to teach them to feed themselves so they do get messy! I have those overall type bibs I put on my charges but they are not perfect and I have more flexibility being a childminder. I think a full clip onto the high chair bib may be a bit much but I think a bib with sleeves would be a reasonable request if you send it. But you will have some eye rolls behind your back because as you will see from this thread it’s expected kids ruin clothes at childcare. Kids who come home immaculate from nursery probably not getting the full education they should…

At my DCs' nursery they only have a couple of highchairs that they put the littlest babies in, the rest are sitting round a little table together and the bibado bibs wouldn't work so well. They do put bibs on the really small DCs most of the time, but they start refusing them before too long especially when they see other kids not wearing them. DC2 is 2 now and will happily climb into his highchair at home and mostly wears a bib but you would not catch him consenting to wear one at nursery.

do you spray and then wash tumeric in cold water? It lifts the stain.

They should avoid it by using a bib and exercising a normal level of care and common sense. But even in this circumstance kids will inevitably get messy at meal times.

Use anything that is stained for nursery days then it won't matter if it gets stained further.

YABU
Getting messy whilst learning to feed herself is all part of the process!
Agree with others - old clothes for nursery

Children generally "feed" themselves at nursery/ child minders. They will get messy. Same with play, lots of messy play opportunities is good for children along with exposure to sand/ mud/ water play.

Buy second hand or cheap outfits you don't really like that much for nursery. Send them in the same stained ones, but washed ones. If you have already stained clothes they can be your nursery clothes. Nursery/ child minders are used to this.

Edited:
Incredibly weird if you sent her in with it all day (which is what I first read!
Fine to give a couple to the CM to use.
Pointless in a nursery setting they just wont remember/ bother to put it on

My kids come home pretty spotless from CM.
My friends with kids at nursery have mixed experiences but overall their stuff def gets trashed a lot more.

I used to find this irritating when mine were in nursery, but you're fighting a losing battle. Every time my DC went up a clothing size, I would buy a second hand bundle of nursery clothes. They grow out of them pretty quickly at that age, so nothing had time to get really bad. Never ever send them in in something you want to stay nice, it only leads to disappointment.

Wait until she turns into a toddler and she’s painting, playing in the mud and grass, using glue and glitter to make Christmas cards…… I always dressed my DC for nursery in second hand clothes and hand me downs and kept the good stuff for weekends and holidays.

It doesn’t get better when they go to school, they come home with paint, pen, their lunch all down their shirts and jumpers, mud on their trousers…

Perhaps your cousin’s baby doesn’t go to a very good nursery. Maybe at her nursery they don’t let the children feed themselves and do that thing that some people do where they wipe a child’s face between every mouthful. 🤮

Do they not use aprons?

I used to use the same handful of clothes (usually spares were stain free and I took the chance!) once they got stained they just went through the wash and went back on the next day for nursery again.

I don't think it's reasonable expectation to ask for special arrangements to prevent a bit of tomato on your child's top, when the nursery staff's priority is ensuring numerous children with differing needs & allergies are sufficiently and safely fed.

Babies get messy. You are being unreasonable.
Send her in clothes that you don't mind getting strained. You can wash the stained clothes and she can wear them again for when she is in childcare

I had 3 girl cousins in the same family. One of them always seemed to be spotless even though the others wrecked their clothes and they’d all been playing together.

And if your cousin makes judgy remarks, reply “oh lo gets so messy but then they are so active and enthusiastic with food”.

And a good stain remover followed by sunlight can get a lot of stains out.

I would be concerned about the type of child care provision if a child comes back spotless

Just send the stained clothes back to nursery.
Ours used apron bibs in the baby room but not in the other rooms.

Also buy dark or bright colours so the stains are not as obvious.

YABU. Just have a set of nursery clothes which you wash and rewear: ideally bright patterns so stains arent obvious: we use the same 5/6 outfits on rotation. Save anything nice for when you can control messes. You can get ‘nursery bundles’ on Vinted

Mine had a ‘uniform’ for nursery, I bought five packs of t shirts / long sleeved tops / leggings and shorts. Usually in darker colours and from Tu.

I have always had a nursery wardrobe, and a weekend wardrobe - for this reason!

When they’re toddlers I find they come home less dirty. Babies are so chaotic though.

I worked in nursery's and have 3 kids. This is rare most kids get covered in food stains and muddy. Those kids are normally the ones learning, experimenting and happiest. I suspect your cousin is a bit OTT and moans about a messy child. Please dont be that parent. A messy child really is a much happier one.

I would also be concerned about the type of nursery it is if all the kids are spotless. Clean kids means little learning normally if ita a case for all the kids.