First day at nursery - bit of a nightmare!

[anchovies]

My 19 month old ds started nursery this week and had his first full day yesterday. He will be going twice a week from next week.

Just wondering what the procedure is normally as far as these 2 situations go:

He fell off a trundle truck onto the concrete floor outside and cut and grazed his lip (inside and out) and his hand. Apparently he was fine soon afterwards and the accident book was filled in. Was a bit suprised nobody rang and told me as his lip and face were still very swollen when I picked him up. I could have told them he would fall off the trundle trucks if he was left to get on and off on his own, was suprised they are allowed to do this considering there is one member of staff to 3 children while they play outside?

He was clearly not very well when I picked him up, clearly had conjuctivitus and when I took him to the docs this morning he also had an infection in both ears. He seemed fine when I dropped him off yesterday but when I picked him up his face was very gammy and his eyes were nearly stuck shut. Nobody had cleaned him up or suggested I came and got him. Was really upset as it turned out they asked me what he had been baby signing to them all day and it was the sign for poorly

So all in all not a good first day. Was made worse by the fact my pregnancy hormones got the better of me and I spent most of the day sobbing!

[EvesBigFatMama]

aww.poor little lamb
IMHO opinion i would have severe words if not change nursery(thats just me, i am a very protective mummy), but in all honesty, they dont seem to have had his welfare in mind all day

[anchovies]

Would you expect them to ring you if he had had an accident that warrented the accident book? I was suprised they didn't. Also can I ask what the follow up to his accident was (ie will it happen again!) without them hating me (and him)?

How poorly do they need to be before they ring home?

I should probably add the nursery has just been set up and it was the first week it has been opened. The manager told me about his fall when I arrived and said he was the first accident they'd had. Do you think this makes a difference at all?

[ionaming]

Anchovies, that's terrible. I would have a quiet word with the manager .... and start looking for other nurseries just in case. DD is on her 2nd nursery - I withdrew her from the first one due to general lack of care, flouting staff:child ratios etc - but in any case, both nurseries would ring me at work if she had had more than a small bump or cut. Basically, anything that might "upset" me when I picked her up!

[anchovies]

Am glad it's not just me I was worried I was being overprotective.

[dinny]

I'd take him out straight away. Sounds awful. In fact, I took ds out of nursery recently as wasn't 100% about it (nothing concrete really) I managed to rearrange my working hours and now ds doesn't go to nursery. Thank Gawd. Sorry, realise this is probably not what you want to hear but it's really not acceptable, IMO. (Is it a chain or private nursery btw?)

[Miaou]

Not so sure about the accident anchovies, but am amazed they never contacted you re the conjunctivitis - very obvious and highly contagious - most nurseries can;t get kids out of there fast enough! Also even if they didn't understand baby signing they should have sussed that your ds wasn't well. Yes, I would be concerned too.

[anchovies]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone, when I picked him up one of the girls commented that they didn't think he should go home poorly on his first day.

[ionaming]

If he's poorly, he's poorly . That's not a reflection on their care, it's a fact! Makes them look a bit silly if you ask me!

[annh]

I wouldn't necessarily expect to be called every time ds had an accident at nursery, they have to fill in the accident book for every minor bump, scrape and scratch so otherwise they would be on the phone all the time and unless ds was ill and needed picking up, I know it would just have upset me at work to hear in the middle of the day that he had fallen or had a cut.

I can't believe however that they didn't call you if it was obvious that he had conjunctivitis. As someone else mentioned, they usually can't get you there quick enough to collect a child who has something so highly contagious!

[anchovies]

Thanks Annh, that's exactly what my mum said, would I really want to be upset by hearing about every little bump he has? I suppose it seemed so scary to me cos it was his first day and I hated thinking about him hurt and me not being there and him not really knowing anyone. I think I will ask whether they will still be playing on the trucks on the concrete though because I think he could really do with some practise getting on and off on the grass first!

As far as the conjuctivitus goes, I think I will just re-enforce that I want to know if he is poorly, first day or not. I suppose it might have been a difficult one to call because he seemed fine in himself (still playing) it was just his eyes.

Think I will talk to them about it next week and decide from there. It's just such a shame it all happened on his first day and I was traumatised anyway!