The First Aid Nest

The First Aid Nest 👩🏼‍⚕️Paediatric nurse 25yrs
😷 Child Health • Allergy
⚽ Boy mum | 🐶 Dog mum | 🇬🇧 🇦🇺

01/06/2026

👩🏼‍⚕️ Introducing allergenic foods: what you actually need to know

👶🏼 1 in 10 babies now has a diagnosed food allergy, which means introduction matters, and how you do it matters too.

⏰ Timing first. Always introduce a new food when your baby is wide awake and well, after a morning nap is ideal. You want to be able to watch them closely for at least 1-2 hrs.

🥄 Start small. Then build.
Start with ⅛ tsp → wait 20 mins → ¼ tsp → wait 20 mins → ½ tsp.

👌🏼 No reaction? Great. But you’re not done yet.

Keep it in the diet. Offer the same food the following day and the day after that. Three days in a row.

After that, in line with guidelines, that food needs to stay in the diet, at least weekly. (It used to be 2–3 times a week, but weekly is realistic and achievable.)

The top allergens to work through: peanuts, tree nuts, cow’s milk, egg, sesame, wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish.

Have you started introducing yet? Which food are you working on? Tell me below 👇🏼

We delivered 29 flowcharts yesterday…This means today there is 29 childcare centres with ‘easier to follow’ policies, ho...
21/05/2026

We delivered 29 flowcharts yesterday…

This means today there is 29 childcare centres with ‘easier to follow’ policies, hopefully resulting in less overwhelm should a situation arise.

This is our ‘hero’ product, as it seems to be the most popular, but it’s not all we do.

Our products & delivery systems are super simple. Policy & box ticking does NOT always need to be complex.

Check out how we can help you today.

This is our thing. Take a look 👀
https://thefirstaidnest.com.au/childcare-audit/

I've just delivered this Medical Conditions Policy Flowchart to another childcare centre in Brisbane. As someone who see...
19/05/2026

I've just delivered this Medical Conditions Policy Flowchart to another childcare centre in Brisbane.

As someone who sees a 16 page policy and literally goes blank at the thought of reading and understanding it, I can feel how helpful these are going to be.

It's not that policies aren't important, and they are definitely have their place, but the volume of policy in early childhood education right now is defeating the object of safety.

Would you like one of these in your childcare? Or maybe you know someone that would?

17/05/2026

Hi everyone, I hope it's okay to share this here. Please let me know if not & I will delete.

I'm Heidi, paediatric nurse, clinical educator and first aid trainer to childcare centres. I've been working on something (after spending a month talking to educators and directors). I'm creating a bundle of services to help early learning centres in a time where regulation & policy creation is sn*******ng and becoming very difficult.

One of the services is taking mandatory policies and creating simple one-page flowcharts that sit alongside them. Almost like an allergy or asthma action plan, but for all the different policies and directives. Same legal requirement, same clinical accuracy, but something educators can pick up and follow in the moment.

This is the Medical Conditions Policy one. 9 pages to 1 page. I stress this is just a rough first draft example!

Happy to answer any questions or chat to your director about how this could work for you at your centre.

More details here if this would help you thefirstaidnest.com.au/childcare-audit

I’ve given adrenaline to babies in anaphylaxis.I’ve given the nebulisers to children struggling to breathe during severe...
15/05/2026

I’ve given adrenaline to babies in anaphylaxis.

I’ve given the nebulisers to children struggling to breathe during severe asthma attacks through the night.

I’ve comforted frightened children & families during seizures.

I’ve looked after children with traumatic injuries in real paediatric emergencies where the first few minutes mattered enormously.

And because of that, I read childcare policies very differently.

I don’t just ask:

“Does this policy exist?”

I ask:

“Would an educator actually be able to USE this under pressure?”

Because right now, many childcare centres are drowning in documentation.

500-page policy folders.

Overwhelmed educators.

Compliance systems written for auditors instead of real-world practice.

Policy overload is becoming a hidden safety issue in childcare. There's a thing called Compliance paradox. (I read about it here on LinkedIn!).

"The paradox is that compliance doesn’t actually predict security. In fact, sometimes it does the opposite, it creates a false sense of confidence that leaves organizations more exposed. Compliance is a point-in-time snapshot in a world of continuous, evolving threats." Taken from an article by Chris Geier on LinkedIn, but outlines the issue perfectly.

Now if you have ever worked with children in any form, I can assume you will recognise the 'ever evolving' nature of the things they get up to and the threats that are all around them while they are blissfully unaware!

Page after page of policy is becoming a huge issue, because we cannot absorb endless information while also caring for children.

That’s why I’ve started creating visual QA2 systems and educator-ready flowcharts that translate complex compliance into rapid educator action.

Not more paperwork, clearer systems.

Because if an educator has to read 3 pages during a situation or emergency, the policy has already failed.

I had spend 7 years talking to and supporting parents, but they don't need me anymore...After closing down my baby first...
14/05/2026

I had spend 7 years talking to and supporting parents, but they don't need me anymore...

After closing down my baby first aid business a month ago, I knew I had to pivot. I knew I had resources, skills and knowledge to help someone.

But who?

The feeling of knowing I can do more in the world has been an itch I just have not been able to scratch, then with the rise of health AI, my resources for parents just died a very quick death, as the information is now literally right there by your finger tips.

Then I got busy talking to childcare educators, owners and directors (I spent the last 7 years liaising with them during first aid courses in centres) and I am hearing that centres are drowning in 500+ pages of regulation, policy, spot checks, childcare closures and paperwork with no exact instructions as to how they can stop the penalties, closures and wrist slapping when they're just trying to protect, nurture and teach our children.

So I took the policies, set about deciphering the important bits, picking them out and delivering it to educators in a digestible way.

This is perfect for me as pages of policy makes me sleepy (after 25 yrs nursing in public hospitals I've had many 'head on desk' moments) I need important information to be engaging, I just do not learn any other way.

People say if you want to thrive at something, solve a problem that YOU have. make it personal. So here it is.

👉🏼 Making paaaaaages of policy into colourful flowcharts
👉🏼 Rewriting important policy (without loosing legislation)

These aren't groundbreaking numbers, but I have only reached out to a few hundred people over the last 2 days and it looks like people are interested 🎉

I'm quite excited as I have felt for a while now that parents just did not need my skills as much as they used to, but this feels like I am in the right place at the right time for the childcare world.

Watch this space of you are interested in watching my childcare support journey!

What Allergy Training Do Childcare Workers Actually Get?The Reality Every Parent Should KnowIf you're sending your child...
24/02/2026

What Allergy Training Do Childcare Workers Actually Get?

The Reality Every Parent Should Know

If you're sending your child to daycare with food allergies, you need to know what training the staff actually receive.

The answer might surprise (and concern) you.

In this video, I'm pulling back the curtain on the mandatory allergy training requirements for childcare educators in Australia, not to criticise the incredible people working in early childhood education, but because parents deserve to understand the reality.

What's actually required (mandatory training):
✓ First aid certificate (including CPR)
✓ That's it.

What that module covers:
Basic allergy definitions
Action plans exist
EpiPens exist
General emergency principles

What's NOT covered:
❌ The difference between reactions in young babies & older children
❌ Real-time reaction recognition
❌ Cross-contact management
❌ Label reading for allergens
❌ Decision-making with unclear symptoms
❌ Communicating with scared parents

The comparison that matters:
Schools have RAMOAP (structured allergy management frameworks). Childcare centers? Not required, even though they care for younger children who can't always communicate symptoms.

This is a systemic problem, not an educator problem.

Childcare workers are caring professionals doing their best with minimal training. The system is failing them AND our children.

I created Beyond Compliance to fill this gap, practical, scenario-based training that gives educators genuine confidence. But more than promoting my course, I want to hear YOUR experiences.

💬 Tell me in the comments:

Did you know how basic the mandatory training was?
What's your childcare experience been?
Has your center gone above and beyond?
What would make you feel more confident?

The more we talk about this openly, the more pressure for change.

Full Video, Blog & Poddy 👉🏼 thefirstaidnest.com.au/blog👈🏼

🎁 Get your FREE Phone-Sized Allergy Reaction Cheat Sheet, infographic you can save for quick reference. here https://thenestcpr.systeme.io/phone-infographic

🪺 The Nest Allergy Membership - support for new mums and allergy parents at every stage. Join us here https://thenestcpr.systeme.io/the-nest-allergy-membership

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Sydney, NSW

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