Mum picks up baby from nursery with her face covered in scratches
'We couldn’t believe such a horrible thing could happen to our boy.'
A mum was left ‘in tears’ after picking up her 10-week-old baby to find him bleeding from deep scratches all over his face.
The mother, who wished to be known as Rachel, went to take little Noah home from a childcare centre in Melbourne, Australia, on May 17.
But when she and her partner arrived at the Only About Children centre in the Melbourne Central shopping centre, they found Noah with ’20’ red scratches.
‘We were both in tears. We couldn’t believe such a horrible thing could happen to our boy,’ Rachel told TV station 7NEWS through a translator.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Rachel claimed daycare staff said on the phone that Noah was scratched by another child while left unsupervised during a nappy change for ‘two or three minutes’.
‘A kid accidentally scratched Noah’s face,’ Rachel claimed she was told. ‘The face was bleeding before, now it’s all taken care of.
‘But if you want to take him to see a doctor [to] double check, it’s okay and totally up to you.’
‘We rushed to the centre,’ she said in the post, adding: ‘We immediately took our baby to the emergency room for an injury check
Taking Noah to Box Hill Hospital, doctors told Rachel and her partner that they were in disbelief about how the toddler had so many severe injuries on his face.
Medics, after checking that the baby’s eyes and brain had not been injured, said Noah’s wounds should heal without scarring.
Only About Children, which operates daycare centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisban, allegedly sent Rachel a letter after the incident.
‘They still didn’t give us any solution,’ Rachel said in the post.
‘[They] only emphasised how much effort they have done to avoid the accident from happening again but did not mention what kind of remedy or compensation they can provide us.’
In a statement to 9News, Only About Children said: ‘Only About Children takes the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care very seriously and are saddened by the recent incident between Noah and another young toddler.
‘We acknowledge from speaking with Noah’s parents after the incident and during recovery that Noah is expected to make a full recovery and we have continued to offer care and financial support since the incident.
‘As this matter with Noah’s parents is ongoing, we aren’t able to provide further detail at this point.’
The company added that the incident has been reported to the Victorian Department of Education.
A month after the incident, Rachel said she’s now hesitant to bring Noah back to the daycare centre.
‘They explained that this happened accidentally but we just can’t accept this explanation,’ Rachel added to 9News.
‘More than 20 scratches on Noah’s face, how can this happen accidentally?’
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