Awake and Alert! PSA

[Play Care]

http://wnyt.com/stem/bennington-daycare-worker-arrested/4150464/?cat=300

This happened near me. The only thing the providers "did" IMO, was to believe the parent that the child was sleepy and allow the child to nap on arrival. Once they tried to wake the child and realized they could not, they called 911. This is why children should come into daycare awake and alert, so we can assess their health.

[JackandJill]

How would you tell a parent no (how would you phrase it so mom understood your concerns with out freaking her out)? I had a child dropped off while snoozing a few weeks back and let mom just put him on his mat. Omg could you imagine?!

[daycarediva]

What happened to the child? Are the parents being charged? There is way more to this story! WOW!

I have it in my handbook, and even when I did early mornings and took infants, I woke each of them up COMPLETELY to do a health check.

[Josiegirl]

Yet one more thing I will address in my revisions that I'm in the process of doing.
So the baby is going to be okay right?
Wow, providers get it from all angles don't they? Everything seems to be their fault. WTH ever happened to the parents being the major source of everything for their own child/ren????

[Play Care]

What happened to the child? Are the parents being charged? There is way more to this story! WOW!

I have it in my handbook, and even when I did early mornings and took infants, I woke each of them up COMPLETELY to do a health check.

I agree. But so far only the providers are being blamed.
This was just over the border from me in Vermont and I'm not sure what their regs are about daily health checks.

[nannyde]

Never accept a sleeping child into care. They need to be assessed at the door. They need to be wide awake and acting normally.

[Blackcat31]

How would you tell a parent no (how would you phrase it so mom understood your concerns with out freaking her out)? I had a child dropped off while snoozing a few weeks back and let mom just put him on his mat. Omg could you imagine?!

Honestly, who cares if a parent freaks out? MY liability, MY responsibility, MY livelihood....

It's easy to say "Your child must be awake and alert before you leave them for safety reasons. Thanks!"

Yet one more thing I will address in my revisions that I'm in the process of doing.
So the baby is going to be okay right?
Wow, providers get it from all angles don't they? Everything seems to be their fault. WTH ever happened to the parents being the major source of everything for their own child/ren????

....because the only other people we could possibly blame are parents but parents are rarely responsible for anything.

....leaving kids in hot cars..... just forgetfulness...wasn't dad's normal day to drop off.

....rolling over and suffocating baby while sleeping with them.... just a tragic accident.

the list goes on an on.....

[permanentvacation]

The article states, "Police say Miller and Clough found the child to not be responsive but allowed a considerable time to lapse before calling the parent or 911."

That's what the daycare providers did wrong. They KNEW the child was unresponsive, but ignored that fact for a while before calling 911 and the parents.

Now, if the child did come into daycare in an unresponsive state, I hope they investigate and find that whatever happened to the child happened while in the parents care and the parents are held responsible for allowing something to happen to their child PLUS ignoring that he/she needed medical attention and instead of getting that help for the child, they simply handed the child over to the daycare.

But, since the daycare also ignored the child's unresponsive state, they should also be held accountable for ignoring his need for medical attention.

[permanentvacation]

And, yes, I have always required that all children entering my daycare, including infants, no matter what age, are awake and alert when the parent brings them in.

If the parent is carrying a child in who is old enough to walk, I REFUSE to allow them to hand the child to me for me to hold while the parent leaves, I require that the parent puts the child on the floor in a standing position and that the child then walks (or runs) on their own to get their toys or whatever they are going to do. That way I can see that the child's legs and feet are alright and that the child is in good physical condition when they come in.

I also make sure to talk to the child and get a verbal response from the child (when they are old enough to communicate on cue) to make sure that nothing is in their mouth that they could choke on (food, gum, some piece of God knows what they found in Mom/Dad's car, etc.) and to make sure the child's jaw, mouth, etc. is unharmed. Also, I can typically get a general idea of how their morning went with their parents by the way they speak when they first walk in.

[permanentvacation]

I also do not allow parents to provide any food or drink for any of the children including their own children while in my care. Including infants. I provide ALL baby formula, baby food, and meals, snacks, and drinks for all children in my care. That way, I know that there's nothing in their food or drink that shouldn't be in it.

I've heard of a couple of cases where a baby's formula that they were served at daycare was poisoned. By me providing everything for the children, I know there's nothing in their food or drink that shouldn't be in it.

[racemom]

They are being charged delaying contacting medical personnel. What I don't understand is why when they found the child was unresponsive why they didn't call 911 immediately. Of course, it's always easier to question what happened when you are not involved. We don't know what their thoughts were on the situation at the time.

[permanentvacation]

If the child was brought into daycare while he/she was 'asleep' and they laid him down to allow him to continue 'sleeping', when they tried to wake him up, and he didn't respond, they might have just thought he was still in a deep sleep and decided to allow him to continue to 'sleep'.

The daycare staff, I'm guessing, simply thought he was sleeping and then when they finally decided that he had been sleeping long enough and tried to demand that he get up to participate in the day's activities, realized that he had not simply been sleeping and in fact had needed medical attention. By allowing him to continue to 'sleep' after trying to wake him up without success, they allowed excessive time to pass before calling 911 or his parents.

Now, keep in mind, this is simply my assumption of what might have happened. I really have no idea what happened. I'm just creating a logical scenario that would coincide with the child entering daycare in a non-responsive state and allow the child to remain in an unresponsive state for a while until someone actually noticed that they needed to call 911 and the parents.

[ColorfulSunburst]

How would you tell a parent no (how would you phrase it so mom understood your concerns with out freaking her out)? I had a child dropped off while snoozing a few weeks back and let mom just put him on his mat. Omg could you imagine?!

I do not worry about parents and they will not worry about me if something will happen with their kids here. A kid MUST be awakened before they leave him here. That's it. I can put the kid sleeping later. During drop-off time I speak with kids (I want to hear how their voices sound), I look at their skin just for a case if they have some rash or bruises or something else, I touch them to be sure they have no fever.

[Play Care]

Initally I believe they thought the child was sleeping deeply. And I don't know the kid, maybe he is one of the deep sleepers. I've got one now that can sleep through kids playing on top of him. As the story has gone on, it changed to unresponsive.

But what I want to know is - what was actually wrong with the child? He was airlifted to the hospital and intubated but why?

[Josiegirl]

I agree. But so far only the providers are being blamed.
This was just over the border from me in Vermont and I'm not sure what their regs are about daily health checks.

There have never been any to my knowledge but new regs. were just passed and we're all supposed to receive hard copies by mid-June. It'll very interesting to see if they thought to include anything for that. I heard it's going to be 113 pages, there must be something in it.