A mother has been left "horrified" after she picked up her 10-week-old baby from a childcare centre to find him bleeding and covered in scratches.
Baby Noah's face was pictured covered in deep, dark scratches.
The woman, who wants to stay anonymous, claims the childcare centre told her it was an accident that happened while her newborn baby was briefly unsupervised during a nappy change.
She told 9News that the Only About Children centre in Melbourne said her son had been scratched by another child.
She said: "I felt lots of pain in my heart, I didn't even want to click the images because they were too graphic. It was such a horrible thing that could happen to our boy, we couldn't accept this."
She said she does not believe such a horror can happen by accident.
The mother continued: "They explained that this happened accidentally but we just can't accept this explanation. More than 20 scratches on Noah's face, how can this happen accidentally?
"We [her and the children’s father] were both in tears. We couldn’t believe such a horrible thing happened to our boy.
"My husband says that this was definitely not an accident; this was child abuse."
Only About Children released a statement on the incident and said they were also upset about it.
"Only About Children takes the safety and well-being of every child in our care very seriously and is saddened by the recent incident between Noah and another young toddler," the statement said.
It continued: "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."
A Department of Education spokesperson said they have put measures in place to address the incident, including reviewing its procedures at nappy change times,
Noah was taken to hospital by his mum where doctors told her the scratches should heal without scarring.
