Bad Parents
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Anonymous
| I always liked my employers but this last week has left me stunned. My almost 6 month old charge has been sick for most of the past week with a stomach bug. I understand it happens. I was a little annoyed all week because I felt my MB didn't believe me. Often times my bosses come home after I out the baby to bed for the night ( he sleeps 11-12 hours). I kept telling my MB that he was projectile vomiting his entire bottle at each feed but she was saying " it's ok to spit up a little more". Closer to the end of the week DB left late for work and witnessed one him projectile vomiting. MB seemed to understand and believe me then. My charge was sick going on 4 days when he started to not have any wet diapers. I kept MB and DB up to date every couple of hours about his lack of wet diapers. We already planned for me to work Friday night because they wanted to go on a date night. My charge happened to not have any wt diapers for almost 24 hours at that point. MB said she was worried but still went out on a date night even though I suggested she take him to immediate care for fear of dehydration. I'm honestly really stunned they went on a date night instead of taking him in. They ended up taking him the next day after over 30 hours without a wet diaper. |
Anonymous
| Yeah, they're shitty parents. But as his caregiver, why didn't you take him to urgent care/the hospital if you knew something was wrong? |
Anonymous
Caregivers are not guardians. They can't authorize any care for the child. |
Anonymous
+1 This. Poor baby sounds like he has extremely selfish + irresponsible parents. Hopefully they see the error of their ways soon. A baby's early health is something that needs close monitoring. Perhaps they should enroll in a parenting class at either the hospital or an Adult Education Centre. 
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Anonymous
Yes they can. Its called " Implied Consent" Its the assumption that any reasonable person would want the child treated. |
Anonymous
| That poor baby! Yes, OP, you are working for very bad parents. BUT You need to be more forceful when reporting something wrong with your charge - "No! Listen to me, Mary - I know the difference between vomiting and spitting up a little and your baby projectile vomited the entire bottle!" Too many nannies are far too timid. |
Anonymous
Any caregiver can take a child into the ER and authorize life-saving intervention while the parent is contacted. The hospital is not allowed to deny ANYONE life-saving intervention in the case of an emergency. However, in the case of a child who is feverish, vomiting, no longer peeing, but who is not having any trouble with heart or lungs? The child would wait while the parents were contacted. And the parents would possibly be investigated for neglect if the child hadn't peed in over 24 hours before going to the ER. |
Anonymous
The parents in question should be investigated. |
Anonymous
My guess is that the parents didn't really believe the nanny that there had been no wet diapers. |
Anonymous
| How would nanny even know that there were no wet diapers in 24 hours unless she was there overnight? How would it only be 30 hours ~12 hours later? There is clearly some embellishment going on here. |
Anonymous
| Op here. I can't really remember the exact hours but I know because I put him to bed ( he had a wet diaper). The next morning ( he sleeps 11-12 hours) the mom said he didn't have a wet diaper that morning. We started with small amounts of formula more frequently. Throughout my 11.5 hour day shift, he had not had a wet diaper. I put him to bed and the next morning, they took him in because he didn't have a wet diaper and he looked worse. They are both physicians and DB said he was not showing any true signs of dehydration and showed me what to look for. I was stunned because they have always been amazing parents. |
Anonymous
So, DB did exactly what would have been done at the hospital -- an exam to assess for dehydration. This is a pretty crucial bit of information before we hammer these parents. They were giving the child more formula to replenish fluids, and assessing for dehydration. When they saw evidence, they took him in. The 24-hour guideline is so that those of us with no medical training don't let dehydration get to a dangerous point. They are much better equipped to follow the situation at home before taking their child in. When my DH, a doctor is home, we are much more likely to practice "watchful waiting" in situations where many people would take a child to the hospital. When he is not here, I don't have the information to know how quickly something terrible could happen, or how likely it is, and I follow the more "general public" guidelines. He does know these things, and I trust him when he says that we don't need to worry yet, even when the guidelines say to get the kid checked out. |
Anonymous
| I was going to guess that at least one of them is a doctor and knows when something is actually an emergency. There have been a few times that my nanny has freaked out and thought we needed to take one of the kids to urgent care, and really they were better off not going. |
Anonymous
Wait! The parents are doctors?!? That's clearly something you should have included upfront. 24 hours w/o wet diapers is just a guideline for non-medical professionals. These parents were capable of doing a dehydration assessment themselves. My DH is a peds ED doc and our kids (3 and 1) have had 0 ED visits and 0 sick visits to their regular ped between them; 1 of our kids has had 1 visit to PM Pediatrics (essentially an Urgent Care facility) because my DH was afraid they had broken a bone (and they had). This isn't bad parenting it's having a doctor for a parent. |
Anonymous
+1 The thread should be titled Bad (judgement) Nanny!! |