1 Yo Had a Burn Incident at Daycare Centre (at Least We Think It Is a Burn Pictures Attached)

Dr-StrangeLove on 26/02/2024 - 23:24
Last edited 27/02/2024 - 12:16 by 1 other user

Not sure how appropriate it is to ask this question in OzBargain but as an immigrant I think I’ve learned a lot about Aussie culture from this website and always had a positive outcome, so I’ll give it a go.

Pictures.

My younger 1 yo daughter goes to daycare who was fine today morning before I dropped her. I think it’s a very good daycare as my other kid grew up there as well. I got a call around noon time that she had blisters on her right hand. I rushed to the center and luckily I was working from home today to pick her up. None of the instructors noticed it until after she had blisters so the root cause of it is a mystery to them. It was a fairly large burn like thing when I saw it

Took her straight to a GP and multiple professionals (GP and a dentist who happens to know us personally) including a nurse said that it was clearly a burn.

We don’t want to press any charges against the daycare centre (at least now) as they seem to be honest with us with their side of investigation. It’s a mystery still as we initially also checked if it was an insect or spider or ant bite. It seems doctors didn’t think so.

It is obviously concerning for us to not know the reason so we are contemplating what to do next. Learned about this flyer and thinking what we should do.

For any doctors here - We are applying Silver Sulfadiazine 1.0% w/w cream to manage it.

I checked the centre again and the only metal things there were grills and poles, but they don’t get as hot as they could burn so badly. So it’s a mystery for us.

Baby doesn’t have any other symptoms like of a bite (like rashes, fever, sweating) though she was unsettled when I picked her up but she had a bottle of milk and some cereals after coming home.

What should we as parents do in such situation? We got this daycare after almost a year of wait. It was on the top of our list as our elder one had a good experience here. The educators seem to genuinely nice but now I’m not sure.

I’m thinking of speaking with the director of the Centre again if they can investigate for answers as it is very concerning?

Thanks in advance

Health & Beauty

Comments

  • xuqi on 26/02/2024 - 23:41
    +4

    It's most definitely a burn, and pretty bad one at that.

    "None of the instructors noticed it until after she had blisters so the root cause of it is a mystery to them" is unacceptable nonsense…

    They weren't supervising properly and somehow your child go away from them. They ought to be able to provide a written explanation of what occurred. Anything less and they're covering things up.

    If I were you I'd be discontinuing use of their services, but hey its your child..

    It's a reportable safety issue. Raise it again with the director and regardless of their response, I'd be lodging a report about it..

    Example of a 2nd degree burn:

    https://community.whattoexpect.com/forums/october-2021-babie…

    • Dr-StrangeLove on 27/02/2024 - 00:05

      Thanks, yes I’ll raise it again tomorrow with the director. Re discontinuing the service, we are still contemplating it. We don’t have any help and both me and my wife are working full time so there is that. Finding childcare is very hard in our area and we never had any complaints with any instructors until today. So we are still thinking what to do next.

  • elgrande on 26/02/2024 - 23:42

    Maybe a kettle? BBQ?

    • Dr-StrangeLove on 26/02/2024 - 23:47

      No bbq for sure. I’m not sure on Kettle as they don’t allow any hot things near kids play area (at least that’s what they are saying). Kitchen there is also quite inaccessible to children and at a far distance.

      • xuqi on 26/02/2024 - 23:52

        Most likely explanation I can think of is your toddler, somehow managed to escape (ours was a highly skilled climbing escape artist at that age) from the designated area and found herself somewhere unsafe.

        That or an idiot member of staff brought something hot to the touch with them to the area…

  • Broke-Ken on 26/02/2024 - 23:50

    Not an expert, just taking a wild guess, but could it be carpet burn(friction burn)? If she grabbed something hot, then her fingers would have injuries too, but it only looks like the outer palm which is what would make contact to the floor.

    There's no cuts so it's not from concert or something really hard, so I suspect it's indoors, she was riding on something(moving fast) and then tried to slowdown/stop by putting her hand on the ground. Don't know if it's just her hand, but you can see the skin wrinkle in the middle which would indicate the force was coming from outer palm to in.

    • xuqi on 26/02/2024 - 23:54

      Skin is wrinkled because the burn has lifted the skin across an extended area of her palm.

    • Dr-StrangeLove on 27/02/2024 - 00:00
      +1

      Thanks that’s a good deduction. They were playing outside when they noticed it happened. I inspected the place too and couldn’t find anything So hot to burn anyone’s hand so badly. I’ll check again tomorrow

  • johnno07 on 26/02/2024 - 23:52
    +6

    Kids get hurt - it happens - but it's pretty concerning to me that nobody seems to know how it happened.

    • Dr-StrangeLove on 27/02/2024 - 00:01

      Yes that’s true about shit happens with kids this age. And yes concerning that there are no answers.

  • Benoffie on 27/02/2024 - 00:05

    Definitely a burn. I would be reluctant to return child into that setting but understand that may not be a flexible option.

    I personally would deem this a serious incident under the guidelines as there is no way it should have happened to a 1 yr old.

    Report requirements by centre - https://www.acecqa.gov.au/resources/applications/reporting

    I would ask for report copies. If none, i would lodge myself.

  • sumyungguy on 27/02/2024 - 00:18

    Not a doctor, but if that was a thermal burn she would have been screaming in pain. Suggest it may be chemical.

    • YTW on 27/02/2024 - 01:52

      That's my thought. I would ask the doctor about the possibility of it being a chemical burn. It's strange that you little one didn't cry out in pain when the burn occurred, so it maybe came on slowly?

      My daughter accidentally plunged the tips of her fingers into a burning hot party pie and burnt the tips of her fingers. She screamed straight away and was howling and crying hysterically for well over an hour before the drugs at the hospital kicked in. The blisters didn't come up instantly either. So it's quite strange that they never noticed anything. It makes me wonder if they're not telling the truth about something.

      I would be reluctant to send my child back before I had a satisfactory answer from the centre as to how they got that burn, there's no guarantee that whatever did it has been fixed (if it's a chemical spill on the floor it may still be there) if they don't know what caused it. I'd be wanting to know what they're doing to report it, investigate it and ensure it doesn't happen again. I wouldn't be looking for someone to blame, just assurances it is definitely not possible for it to happen again. It's a difficult spot for you to be in given how hard it is to find a childcare place, especially at short notice.

      I hope your little bubba is feeling better soon and healing well.

  • Caped Baldy on 27/02/2024 - 07:54

    Was it a hot day? Your girl may have touched hot metal or concrete outside

    • Dr-StrangeLove on 27/02/2024 - 09:05

      It was hot in the morning when i dropped her but it was not one of those 38 or 40 degree days. I inspected the concrete and the grill and nothing could get so hot to have a burn like this

  • coffeeinmyveins on 27/02/2024 - 11:16
    +1

    What should we as parents do in such situation? We got this daycare after almost a year of wait. It was on the top of our list as our elder one had a good experience here. The educators seem to genuinely nice but now I’m not sure.

    Accidents happen. Moving your kid to another one won't mean this sort of thing can't happen again.

    I’m thinking of speaking with the director of the Center again if they can investigate for answers as it is very concerning?

    Are they not investigating? How concerned are they? They should be very concerned that a 1yo burned themselves like this and they don't know how.

    Not knowing means there's a risk that this will happen again to another child, a high risk at that.

    Is there not CCTV?

    • Dr-StrangeLove on 27/02/2024 - 11:19
      +1

      They are very concerned. I have been notified today that the service director has intimated higher management including the GM. They are following the protocol from their side and I have asked them to share the process details.

      No CCTV from what I understand.

  • Dlw on 27/02/2024 - 13:48
    +1

    Ask the centre if they have made a serious incident report to the department. They are legally required to. This will result in a spot check of the service where they will be to explain what has happened and any corrective actions. I understand that accidents happen, but not this type of accident.

    • Dr-StrangeLove on 27/02/2024 - 16:01

      Yep, it has been reported to the department of education.

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