Reality check wanted on this mornings creche experience

[KatyS36]

DD is 8 mo. She is PFB and I have negligable experience of babies / creches. I'm after opinions as to whether what happenned this morning is normal, and I should get over it, or something it is reasonable to be concerned over.

I dropped DD of at the gym creche for a one hour session. Normally I settle her for a few minutes and all is fine. The creche has a specific baby room and when we were shown round prior to joining we were given the distinct impression that the baby room was for babies (the toddlers and older children have their own rooms).

when I walked in there were 11 children in the baby room, 1 baby, the rest toddlers upwards, lots of noise, and two staff. I politely queried this and was told it was because it was changeover period, so I decided to stay until it calmed down. I then noticed that some of the older children were playing a board style game with lots of small balls, around 1 cm in diameter, a number of which were scattered round the room and to me seemed a chocking hazard. I queried this and was thold they were in there to calm down and it was ok because the only baby was being held and so couldn't get the balls. I felt pretty uncomfortable at the whole scene, adn felt that the baby room should be for both babies and baby suitable toys. I stayed until the children had been picked up, the game had been cleared away and it was calm, and I decided to leave DD.

After 40 mins I got tannoyed as DD had not settled. When I went in DD was being held, but was sat around a play table with several older children who were being very noisy. I could tell instantly that the problem was that she was scared of all that noise up close. the older children were playing in a perfectly age appropriate way, but it was scaring DD, and again to me this should not have been happenning in the baby room. I calmly took her to the other side of the room and sat her down with some toys where she instantly calmed down. I explained what the problem was to the staff member nad the older children were removed to their play area.

What do you think? Is this what I should expect at a creche? I'm most bothered about the small balls as to me this was a safety issue and surely they should not have been in the baby area?

[Lulumaam]

i think as the creche is supposed to have seperate areas for babies and toddlers, YANBU

but at the end of the day, one hour in a noisier than usual environment is not goign to have a terrible effect on her

bit of YABU and YANBU

i'd be more concerned about the choking hazards for crawling babies

[Indaba]

I've never found a gym creche where I would be confident of leaving an 8 month old.

Might be worth asking staff when is the quietest time and planning your visits around that....pain in butt, but at least you could relax and work out.

[compo]

Well a crèche isn't the same as a nursery
so I suspect they don't have enough staff to stick to the baby room especially if your dd was the only baby
or maybe the baby room member of staff was lonely just with your baby and wanted company
it wouldn't bother me for just an hour
all day would be different

[KatyS36]

Thanks guys. Please keep opinions coming, I genuinely value them.

The second coming, totally agree I can't expect silence. Would have no problem with shreaking coming from other room. It was just that it was coming 30 cm from DD.

Lulumaam, agree with choking hazzard, this was my biggest concern. But I can sort of see the creche view, even if I didn't like it.

Please let me know what you think. Don't want to go off to different gym to find the same

[Morloth]

OP isn't this your 3rd post about the gym creche?

Maybe you should try something different, it really doesn't sound like you are happy with it.

[RuthieCohen]

I think exposure to a bit of noise from older children is probably a good thing - it'll get her used to it.

I'd have thought that they were very aware of the risk of the little balls from the game and with only one baby being held in arms at the time they were in use they decided that it wasn't an issue. Am sure they'd clear them up as more babies turned up. At least that's what I'd hope..

[faddle]

YANBU, And I have 2 kids and a very lax attitude towards stuff in general. If I had left either of my kids in a designated baby room at that age, and had returned to find older kids scaring the hell out of them and age innapropriate toys, then I would have been very angry. Also, sounds like they didnt have the correct ratio of staff to kids, which is very dangerous. I would be wanting to know what the hell was going on, and I would be very reluctant to leave my dc again without some strong reassurance that it wouldnt happen again.
There are normally separate baby and toddler areas in most nurseries for this very reason.

[KatyS36]

Morloth.

Yup!

First I was by consensus being PFB. Message recieved and understood!

Second there was unanimous agreement that they shouldn't have left her unattended in her pram and not strapped in.

It's a learning curve for me and I'm really grateful to be able to use this forum and try and find out if my expectations are reasonable or not.

Thanks

[Tee2072]

The noise thing I think you are being a bit PFB about. Is she never in public near a noisy bus or other traffic?

The small toys, I would agree with. There should be nothing in a designated 'baby room' that a baby could choke on.

[Morloth]

Our gym creche has one room, all the kids mixed in together as long as DS is alive and well when I get back it is all good.

Other kids happen, noise happens, toddlers scream, babies cry. If the adults there are kind and competent then they will be fine if you think they are not kind and competent then don't leave her there.

[Booper13]

FWIW I didn't think you were BU in your original post - they should have come and got you.
Now I also think YANBU - when my 8 mo is in the creche often my 3 yo hangs out in the baby room with him - as do other kids. However, it is still a calm, baby appropriate environment.
Is this gym part of a chain and is its name incorporated in a famous Madonna song?

[MmeLindt]

YABU

Your DD will have to get used to noise.

I can see your point about the choking hazard, but they were not letting your DD play with them, she was safe in the arms of a staff member.

I can remember hissing at cars or passing buses when DD was a baby. By the time DS came along, he had to put up with his 2yo sister shrieking in his ear. They do put up with a lot.

[piscesmoon]

I think that you have to accept with a creche that if you don't like it you don'tleave them.

[StayingDavidTennantsGirl]

I don't think you are being totally pfb about the noise issue, Katy. I think it is reasonable to expect a creche worker to try to work out why a baby is upset and to wonder if the noise might be the issue. I am surprised that she didn't try moving with your dd to a quieter part of the room to see if that helped her settle.

Of course noise is part of life, and especially part of life in a creche, but as your dd has little experience of being in a creche, it's not ridiculous to expect that the noise might upset her at first, and she might need to get used to it gradually, over a few visits - and to do this, the creche workers need to be a bit sensitive about this, and not overwhelm her by taking her to noisy areas and keeping her there.

I would suggest that next time, you tell the creche that your dd found the noise a bit much, and ask them to move her to a quieter area if she is having problems settling. Hopefully she will quickly get used to it, and will enjoy the lively atmosphere.

[KatyS36]

Booper13: Thanks. To your final question 'yes'. Have you had similar problems, or heard of a bit of a reputation?

One thing that is starting to concern me now is the lack of qualified staff. When we were shown around we were told not all staff were qualified but there was always a member of qualified staff on duty. We assumed this meant per an area, but it seems to mean for the entire creche, and as there are different rooms it can mean that there are no qualified staff in the baby area which wasn't what I was expecting and maybe explains a few things.

All, thanks for your input. I've read your replies, had a bit of a think and talked to my husband.

We're going to ask to both meet with the creche manager for a chat. After thinking about it the choking hazard really does concern me, especially as one of the selling points when we were shown round was the baby specific room. She was also left in her pram unattended for a nap and not strapped in last week, and all this added together is raising some serious questions. Unless we get some firm assurances I'm either changing gyms or coming up with alternative child care arrangements.

Thanks again everyone, and Booper if you have any advice or past experience I'd be really interested to hear it, especially if they are regarded as worse that other gym chains. One thing that did concern me was that the creche seemed very cheap (this wasn't why we used it, it had been my gym pre-pregnancy). i'm a bit concerned we're getting what we're paying for.

[laundrylover]

Just a bit of extra info for you here Katy.

I have just had the horrible job of being part of a voluntary committee that has just closed down our local playgroup after 30 years. Most of this was due to the extra burden on staff and committee due to Ofsted and Early Years requirements etc....

...the staff are thinking of setting up their own drop in creche/activity programme because a creche which takes children for less then 2 hours needs no qualified staff, no CRB checks and is not Ofsted registered.

Over 2 hours and you need all of that and more besides.

I have left my kids in Ikea creche (they love it) since they turned 3 (not continuously) but as babies I would've hesitated, especially if I knew what I know now IYSWIM.

HTH - go with your gut feeling on this one. Take the baby out for a long walk in the buggy - much better than a sweaty gym for everyone.

[julybutterfly]

Pff you're obviously not happy with the creche so why keep leaving your 'PFB' there?!

Look after her yourself and do a workout DVD in your living room...or quit moaning

[muffint]

I think you have to look round for a good gym creche. Totally inappropriate to have choking hazard toys. I think you have a valid complaint there - there's no need for it. Try some other gyms - we went to an independent one with a great creche. All in all YANBU in my view.

[Booper13]

Katy - I've always been in this gym chain and used the creche with no complaint when we lived in Scotland.
We have now moved and are in the one at Burdisdy (anagram). I have a suspicion/concern that this might be the one to which you are referring as it has a male manager which is prob quite unusual.
I was quite uneasy about it for a while - felt my 3 yo and older children were left to play quite aimlessly and there should have been more adult input. I was always happy with the baby room and my 8 mo has been there quite frequently. I am obv concerned if it is the same one, as your experiences re care of the baby (not strapped in and left alone/noise/choking hazards etc) really raises some serious questions.
I did have a gut instinct concern about it at first, but now feel happy with it as my 3 yo is always happy to go in and I have never sen anything to concern me re care of the baby. I wonder if familiarity has allayed my initial uneasiness or just my desperation for exercise has clouded my judgement. For this reason I would be really keen to know if it is the same one and if so, what the outcome of your discussion with the manager is.
Thanks.

[Eliza70]

Hi, I think you need to remember that a creche is not the same as full time daycare, it is generally provided as an additional service. While there obviously needs to be some standards and regulation, the staff are having to cope with a wide range of children with differing ages and who they may know very well or who they may not know at all.

I'm guessing your child is only there for a max of one to two hours, can you not find some alternative care for them while you go to the gym?

[KatyS36]

Booper13: No, different creche.

Frustratingly I've still got problems with my pelvis from the pregnancy. Going for a long walk is physically out of the question for me, otherwise that would solve all!

Thanks all.

Katy