To bathe or not to bathe?

[mimi]

I have had a child covered from trunk down with harden poop (happened during nap) then I have secured the other children and have given the dck a quick shower(using a hand held shower head) from the shoulders down. I have found trying to rub off the dried feces can irrate their skin so for me, giving a shower is the best alternative and I really would hate handing over a dck to parent covered in poop.

[Mamma_Mia]

I've geven a bath before but it has it's conditions. Age of the child and type of mess.....if the child is 3yrs and has poop running down their legs yes. If 3yr old has pee....no, change of clothes and handy wipes will do.

Now when I had an infant in care (8mos) and she had those up the back poops yes I would bathe....that's just gross.

[Naftafia]

I have given a few baths/showers to d/c kids with a mega poop mess. I just did not feel that the wipe down was sufficient. However, only when all the other kids are down for their naps, or older kids sitting safely with a quiet activity and babies upstairs in the bathroom or hallway with me.

[sunnydays]

Normally I do my best with wipes, but the other day I had a little guy wake up from nap and he was covered in poop...on his shirt, pants, back, etc. I found the easiest way to clean him was to put him in the empty bathtub and remove his clothing and diaper there and then use running water and a cloth to wash him down. I would not give a bath where they are actually sitting in water as there is always a danger of drowning if there is a sudden emergency with another child etc. Plus, I was able to do this because I have a bathroom with a bathtub attached to my playroom and nobody in the family uses this bathtub. It works well just to contain the mess.

[gcj]

I have in the past....only with children that are old enough to stand while I rinse them with the hand held shower head and the other kids are safe...with little babies I've always managed to wipe them.....smaller I guess. I would not bathe a baby.

[Judy Trickett]

Is this the same kid in the cloth diapers that leak all the time and the parents are not doing anything about it?

Something I can tell you with 100% accuracy is that when a problem is only made to be YOUR problem and never affects the parents then YOU will pay the price for it every time. Once you turn that problem back on the parents suddenly it gets fixed. So, in this case, CALL for pick-up and make the parents leave work to come get their leaky, poopy kid and go home to bathe him.

You see, it's only an inconvenience to YOU so they don't see a problem with it. Once it becomes an inconvenience to THEM and they are in trouble for having to leave work to come get their kid a few times only THEN will they fix the problem.

This is THEIR child - not yours. Make them deal with their own problems. Don't adopt problems for them or fix them.

[Mambia]

Yup same kid...arghh! I digress. Some parents are just silly. I just have to learn with experience and put on my business hat vs mommy hat

[Judy Trickett]

Yup same kid...arghh! I digress. Some parents are just silly. I just have to learn with experience and put on my business hat vs mommy hat

Yes you do. Remember this.....daycare is a business first and foremost. You can still be caring and great at your job. But at the end of the day this is a BUSINESS and you have to treat it as so. And with that comes the responsibility of recognizing when it is not your JOB to do something.

[momofnerds]

I have when, but my bathroom is attatched to the playroom so all the kids follow me, if its an emergency I will wash them (like head to toe puke or poop) it happens so rarely that I can't even remember the last time I did it. I also have a hand held shower.
but since its becoming the norm start calling the parents to pick up

[Momof4]

Nope, I agree completely with Judy and clean them up with wipes. They get all the clothes as is, meaning I don't clean them up so they can see how bad it was when they take the clothes out of the bag at home. I'm not washing cloths in MY laundry and spreading the puke or poop germs, I use wipes and paper towels only on the children. As Judy said, if the parents have to put a poop or vomit covered child into the careseat it's their responsibility to clean their child and car, not ours. It's bad enough we have to disinfect our own homes.