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Parents Who Bring Their Children With Dirty Cups And Bottles
I am new to the forum, so forgive me if I am asking about something that has been posted before. I have situations with a few of my parents who daily bring their child to me with either sippy cups that have not been cleaned, and I am referring to the plastic non leak valve types, they are black and moldy! As well, another parent who brings their baby with bottles that have a black sludgy type of disgusting buildup on the rings of their bottles and including the Dr. Brown's inserts.. Do I just daily wash and return or bring it up to the parents?? Thanks!
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You have to speak up. That black sludge can cause health problems.
You need to hand it back to the parent and point out the mold explain you have been cleaning it but from now on it needs to be done. demonstrate how the valve comes out of the sippy cup
Some times we need to teach parents these things expecially young ones. You might even explain it is actually neglect and they could be turned in to family services.It:
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Do they provide the cups? Is it possible for you to just provide them, or have the parents leave them there for the week or even the duration that their child is in care.
I used to have parents provide sippys, since each kid liked a different kind. They would leave them in the car overnight and hand them right back to me.
They were just gross. I now provide EVERYTHING, and charge a small supply fee that covers the costs.
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I no longer have infants with bottles so the only issue I have is the sippy cups. I do not allow them to bring their own from home. In my state the rule is the kids are not allowed to carry them around anyways (and it's also my rule as if one kid lays one down and another picks it up...germs). So I only use my own cups which I thoroughly wash and sanitize in bleach water.
If a child brings one in the daycare (and it seems they do it all the time because the parents don't want to tell their kids no, and leaves it to me to be the bad guy to take it away) then I immediately take it from the child, RINSE it out and put it with their belongings.Comment
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I do not allow parents to bring anything into the daycare. I supply the cups and the parents upon enrollment of an infant are required to buy two new in the package bottles to leave here.
I don't allow premade bottles to be brought into the daycare because I can't trust that nothing was added to it...kwim?
I don't allow sippy cups at all. When a child is ready to be transistioned off the bottle, we start with the lidded cups (like old school Tupperware ones) and then moved to a small child sized cup with no lid.Comment
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I supply everything too. But every once in a while I'll have a kid that comes in with a sippy cup. So I usually just take it away.
if its happening alot, show the parents, don't wash them. They need to see it. I use to have a dck who was constantly throwing up, but then I noticed that her bottle was so full of caked on old milk it was gross.Comment
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I have a dcp who never checks her child bag and this one particular childs cup is always nasty! Just like today, obviously he had milk or something yesterday after he left because it had dried up milk in it and it smelled
I will not wash it, so therefore I send it back home the way she sent it with him.
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I don't allow any bottles or sippy cups from home. I supply them so I KNOW they are sanitary.Comment
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Thanks for the advice...
I intend to just inform the parents in the form of a flyer which will be sent to all the parents, so I am not pointing fingers, stating that I will now be providing all the cups and bottles for the children in my care for health and sanitary reasons. Thanks to all, and I too have parents that bring in diaper bags that are hardly or if EVER checked, to find dirty clothes, old food, etc, it is quite gross. I guess I am not at a place where I need to speak up and quit trying to be everyone's friend, I guess it is just harder for me. I see from most of you, the adherance to your set policies makes for a much simpler and effective way to handle situations, but after so may years and letting parents slide, all my policies no longer exist.. However, a new year will bring policies and procedures!!YAY!!!
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I do not allow them to bring any food or drinks from home.
I do this for sanitation reasons and for accountability. I don't want them bringing in anything that is not clean (germy,moldy,...) and I don't want to be accountable for the contents of what they bring (it could be expired, or anything could have been added, accidently or not). If a kid was to get sick because of something they ate or drank while in my home, even if it was provided from their home, I think I would be accountable.
I do allow them to bring 2 new bottles or 2 new cups from home that stay here. Some parents/kids are picky about their bottles/cups, so I allow them to provide what they want. They are labeled with their name, and only go home when they have outgrown them.Comment
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I had a kid here that had been very sick for a while. They couldn't figure out what it was. (thought it was something called H Pylori) They ran tests, and almost hospitalized her.
Then, the doctor asked her about what kind of cup she drinks from. The mom pulled one out of her purse, the doctor pulled the stopper out and it was plugged with thick black mold. She said she was so embarrassed.
She went through all of her sippy cups and all of them had some degree of that gunk in them. (I used regular cups, and this kid was too old for sippy cups)
When she took a bottle, they never cleaned those either. They always had tiny specks of grey spots on the inside. I mentioned it a few times, then finally asked her to just bring the formula over and i'd use bottles that I purchased.Comment
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One thing that I do to prevent the "gross stuff left in diaper bags" problem is to have cubbies for each child and require that all clients provide enough supplies such as diapers/wipes/ointment etc to last me about a month or so. I also have them bring and leave 2-3 spare changes of clothing depending on their ages (infants need 3, toddlers need 2). I also require that they provide any and all bottles that an infant will need and I supply the sippy cups. This way either way I have all of the things that I need here at daycare and I can wash everything as needed and they don't need to leave diaper bags. Some still do but I NEVER go in them. They get left there on a hook untouched until they take it away again.I intend to just inform the parents in the form of a flyer which will be sent to all the parents, so I am not pointing fingers, stating that I will now be providing all the cups and bottles for the children in my care for health and sanitary reasons. Thanks to all, and I too have parents that bring in diaper bags that are hardly or if EVER checked, to find dirty clothes, old food, etc, it is quite gross. I guess I am not at a place where I need to speak up and quit trying to be everyone's friend, I guess it is just harder for me. I see from most of you, the adherance to your set policies makes for a much simpler and effective way to handle situations, but after so may years and letting parents slide, all my policies no longer exist.. However, a new year will bring policies and procedures!!YAY!!!Comment
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I have an infant who's parent would bring one bottle (the playtex liner kind) and ring and just throw in 3 extra nipples. Apparently they just switch out the nipples and liners for each feeding. I was always used to using a completely different bottle as well. What I noticed is there would be some old milk inside that ring. I ended up just washing the ring and bottle, before using it. I don't mind. But from now on, any new babies I get I will require they buy brand new in the package bottles to keep here at my house. And I'll just wash them and keep them here.
When I had toddlers in the past oh my gosh I remember seeing that sludge in the sippy cup valves too ! When my own kids (well older ones, I have a toddler now too) were all little, I knew to remove the valve and wash it separately too. Maybe its just not common sense or it doesn't say to do this on the packaging ?Comment
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I agree, isnt it common sense to take apart the cups/bottles to wash thoroughly? I am sure the parents wash out their gym water bottles, reusable coffee cups and other things that are similar to a sippy cup.....why wouldnt they do the same thing for their child???? I dont buy the "first time parent" excuse. I think parents are just so busy they dont even think of doing things until it becomes a problem. They are just surviving parenthood, not being proactive before things become an issue. Same thing with illness, discipline, nutrition, etc, etc.Comment
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I had a parent ask me this am could I wash here son's cup because she didn't take it out of his bag last night. This is what i told her..ummmmmm no I will not wash it, but what I will do is let you take his cup back home with you and let him use one of mine! I had no problem biting my tongue because this is the same mother who never washes his cup, check his bag or anything else. I ordered those Toss & Take cups that someone was talking about on another thread, so from now my dck's will not be allowed to bring anything else with them besides their diapers and wipes when needed.Comment
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