In the Oise region, an investigation was opened on Wednesday following the hospitalization in March of a 21-month-old baby who was "intoxicated" after a day spent at a People & Baby micro-nursery.

Another scandal has erupted at a daycare center. The Senlis prosecutor's office confirmed on Wednesday the opening of a preliminary investigation against persons unknown following the hospitalization of a 21-month-old baby with a high blood alcohol level after a day spent at a micro-nursery in Plailly (Oise). The case, revealed by Le Parisien, concerns the "Les Petits Gaulois" facility, owned by the People & Baby group.

According to Senlis prosecutor Loïc Abrial, the procedure follows a report filed on March 20 by a hospital and a complaint lodged by the child's parents in Orry-la-Ville. Doctors had determined that the baby was "intoxicated." According to information reported by Le Parisien, the girl was picked up by her parents on March 17 after the daycare center alerted them because she "kept falling."

A blood alcohol level of 2.14 g

Taken to the hospital after returning home, the child underwent medical examinations which revealed a blood alcohol level of 2.14 g/L. The newspaper reports that doctors deemed her "dead drunk." The prosecutor's office indicates that "the investigation is currently ongoing" as part of an inquiry entrusted to the Orry-la-Ville gendarmerie brigade.

Since March 20, the micro-nursery has been subject to a "temporary administrative closure," decided "as a precautionary measure following the hospitalization" of the child, according to a press release from the Aire Cantilienne inter-municipal authority. The authority specifies that the facility could reopen "sometime in June 2026."

The child is doing well today.

The local authority also indicates that investigations conducted with the Maternal and Child Health (PMI) services and the facility's manager, as well as "expert assessments carried out in recent weeks," "have not, to date, identified any evidence of misconduct or abuse on the part of the facility's staff." It adds that "the child in question is doing well today."

This micro-nursery can accommodate up to 12 children at a time. When contacted by AFP, the People & Baby group did not immediately respond. Since the death of an 11-month-old girl in another of the group's nurseries in 2022, the private nursery sector has regularly faced criticism, particularly regarding staffing conditions and child safety.