A Sydney mom has slammed a daycare center for reportedly letting her son sleep with a bib completely covering his face.
At 2.20pm on Wednesday, a mom was working a shift at a daycare center in Sydney; a place she decided to work so she could pop in and see her children throughout the day.
During her shift, the Sydney mom was taking the afternoon tea trolley to the babies’ room.
As she had done for all her kids, she popped into her five-month-old son’s room to give him a quick check.
She was horrified by what she saw.
Mom finds 5mo son sleeping with bib covering his face
“I didn’t see my son in the playground, I didn’t see my son in the classroom,” she recalled to Kidspot. “So I thought he’d be sleeping.”
Her 5-month-old was fast asleep in his cot, lying on his side, but his face was completely covered, his bib still attached around his neck and pulled upwards.
Earlier that day, she claimed she requested that daycare staff put a bib on him to stop his drooling, but she wanted them to remove it while he was sleeping.
“I freaked out,” she said, putting her hand on her son’s back to make sure he was still breathing.
Then she took a photo.
“I decided to take a photo because this is unacceptable,” the mom told Kidspot. “As a parent, that was worrying, and I just wanted to show the director.”
The Sydney woman explained the daycare used an app to log check-ins with the infants, but she alleged her son hadn’t been seen in over half an hour.
She claimed her child was checked at 1:43 pm, but wasn’t checked again until 2.20 pm when she walked in.
After taking off her son’s bib, she placed it in a locker and walked over to the director, who reportedly “brushed [her] off.”
She then took the photo to an educational leader in the baby’s area and asked, “Is this safe sleep?”
“And she said, ‘No, it’s not,’” she told Kidspot.
“I’m just in shock about child care in general now”
This wasn’t the first time she’d had trouble with the daycare center and was scheduled to complete her final shift that week.
But this was the final straw.
According to Red Nose, babies should sleep on their backs with their faces and heads uncovered to reduce the risk of overheating and suffocation while sleeping.
This is recommended until they are at least 12 months old, as the chance of SIDS is at its peak between two and six months of age.
Following the incident, she explained the owner and manager called and apologized to her, but the Sydney mom is still furious.
“[If] this is what’s happening to my son and I’m in the center, can you imagine the negligence for those who don’t see this?” she asked.
The mom informed Kidspot that she has since contacted the Department of Education and filed a complaint about the daycare center.
Now she’s sworn off daycare for good.
“I’m just in shock about child care in general now,” she said online. “I’m going to stay home with my kids.”
Kidspot has reached out to the daycare center for comment.
