Childminders

Shelli

First of all, just to apologise, you guys are going to be sick of me asking questions over the next while.

Today's query is, how did the mothers out there manage to return to work after having your baby? I know most people have a family member to help out, I unfortunately dont. And my other half's parents live in the UK.

So are there childminders who will take on a baby?

ArthurDent

I used a creche for my two eldest - DS1 I returned to work when he was 17 weeks old and DS2 when he was 24 weeks old.

I went and visited quite a few creches before choosing the one I did. I know a lot of people prefer to have a childminder mind a baby, but not too sure how you go about finding a good one - other than perhaps ask for recommendations.


I have 10 week old now and plan on not returning to work fulltime for a while ( work for myself and can just do some work in the evenings/ other times that suit) part of the reason is lack of parttime child care where I live, Dublin

AD

ArthurDent

Also i know that childcare is mad money - I had 2 kids in fulltime care for 6 years and parttitme for 2 years and I have spent over €90k on it in that time - I know that childcare is expensive (and childcare workers deserve good wages), but its crazy when the majority of your take home money goes on childcare - I think that's why so many women leave the workforce especially on child number 2 or 3.

Shelli

Didn't realise creches would take babies that young. That would definately be an option if I could find a good one in my area. (Glasnevin).

dame

I returned to work when my daughter had just turned four months old. She's been going to a creche since then. To be honest I'd prefer to send a child to a creche cos they get more exposure to other people and will be well socialised from a young age.

Also, child-minders can get sick, their own kids or family-members can get sick, they might book a holiday when it doesn't suit you........... anything can happen that will mean they drop you in a pickle with nobody to mind your child. In a creche they will always have the others when one person is unavailable for a while. There is the food and discipline and all sorts of other issues too. A child-minder could tell you they feed the child all kinds of healthy food but actually give them whatever they have in the freezer and you'd be none the wiser. Same way with activities. They could leave the child watching telly all day or be off doing their own housework. In a creche you know you can walk in at any time and your child will be playing/sleeping, supervised by someone with nothing else to distract them from looking after the kids in their care.

I know there are excellent child-minders out there who would probably be horrified at my post here but it's all true.

Oh, and a good creche will be health-board notified, inspected etc etc. Try to find a new purpose-built facility with different rooms for different age children, nice friendly staff, clean, a good kitchen and cook, plenty of toys, books etc. Take you time looking around and visit a couple of times at different times of day before you make your decision. Try to get a feel for the atmosphere of the place. Is it restful and unhurried? Do staff raise their voices unnecessarily? Is there a high turn-over of staff? That's one thing that would ring alarm bells. Preferably no more than 3 small babies per staff member and no more than 7 toddlers per staff member. It's a good idea too to find somewhere that will suit your needs right up until school-going age or above for continuity. I mean that will cater for small baby to toddler to montessori to after-school care even.

By the way, you're right to be looking into this now and when you find a good place, book your child in. Believe it or not there are families who book in child no.2 a year before they're even conceived in some places!

Shelli

Really? I thought I was over reacting a little, but maybe Ill look into getting the wee ones name down somewhere soon.

Anyone had any experiences with the "Giraffe" creches?

deisemum

Dame you're so right, as a notified childminder I'm horrified how you view childminders.

OP I've taken babies from 3 - 4 months of age and have taken on a 7 week old baby but that was only for one afternoon per week. It is advisable to start looking for childcare well in advance. Also always check out references, you'd be amazed how many parents don't. You need to be able to have a good relationship and trust with whoever you get to look after your baby.

MrPudding

Have you considered an AuPair? Not all of them will look after really young children, but some will.

MrP

dame

Deisemum I know there are some fantastic child-minders out there but those bad examples of things child-minders might do are all things that have actually happened to people I know with the child-minder's they employed. You're exactly right to say that the trust has to be there with whoever you get to mind your child. Unless you have fantastic word-of-mouth references though how do you know you can trust anyone to look after your child the way you want them looked after? At least while the baby is small anyway, when the child is old enough to answer questions about what they've been doing or eating for the day then you're just taking what one child-minder tells you. There are plenty of bad creches out there too though. You really have to do your homework!

deisemum

A lot of childminders have worked in creches and a lot of the childminders that haven't worked in creches have done the same sort of courses as those working in creches. We often do the same courses together.

The PreSchool Officers and local City or County childcare committees (they usually work together) have lists of all notified creches and childminders. Those on the lists have been inspected or are in the process of setting up. Childminding Ireland are worth checking out on www.childminding.ie

dame

It is good to know where those lists are to find someone qualified. In fairness I don't think the friends with the bad stories have checked for qualifications, they were always just women down the road, some had never child-minded before (apart from their own kids). Qualifications still don't mean that you won't be left in the lurch by the child-minder getting sick or booking last-minute holiday or whatever. Just my opinion.

Miss Judy

I have to go along with the creche guys, it's worked really well with my 2 and I love the creche they go to and the staff. My kids have always been very happy and my creche are fab. I can talk to them about anything and when I was on maternity leave on my 2nd baby they let me have my son in there 3 mornings a week so I wouldn't have the full time fee burden while on unpaid leave yet keep his place and have one booked for baby when I returned to work when she was 6 months.
I have never liked the idea of someone I don't know from adam minding my kids, no matter how good their references are. Also, since my son started school I had to look for a childminder for afterschool care and it's been a total nightmare. I have been let down by 3 so called registered childminders which was upsetting for us and our son. Luckily, a mate of mine gave up work and she now minds my son afterschool so it's worked out really well. Unfortunatly the creche don't do afterschool care or I would never have had these problems.

Julietta

Hi Shelli

No experience as such yet but am now 28 weeks pregnant and have selected a creche for my baby for October 2007 - I felt like a bit of an idiot going around them so soon but none of them batted an eyelid and were all very kind and helpful - I went with one of the Cocoon creches in the end, the staff were seriously nice and the location is perfect for me - a friends child is in the same creche at the moment and loves it, I think a personal recommendation for a creche or a child minder is worth it's weight in gold.

The monthly fees for this creche are €920 for full time care for a baby, absolutely massive I know but when you think about what you're handing over every morning for them to look after.....The Cocoon creches have a webcam where you can view your child while at work - this didn't really swing it for me, if I had seen another I preferred without the webcam I would have gone with that, but I guess it's comforting to know you can "pop in" and see how things are going any time, I'll never get any work done

If you go onto www.rollercoaster.ie you may get some info and opinions on creches in your area, good luck with your search.

Julietta

SarahMc

A good childminder is much, much better that a good creche, but a bad creche is better than a bad childminder!

Where babies are concerned, research shows that childminding is far better that a creche (flame me!), home from home, one on one care, babies do not need to be socialised (that comes later) they need to be cuddled and loved and get out and about.

A contract between parent and childminder is very very important, this will cover pay, food, discipline, medicine, notice period etc.

A childminder you do not personally know whould be insured, trained and registered.

deisemum

I'm rather curious why so many people thing children aren't socialised at a childminders. Most childminders look after more than one child or baby and usually have a variety of ages similar to lots of families.

I agree that there are both good and bad creches and childminders. Parents really need to find out as much as possible about each type of childcare setting that they're interested in, also which setting may suit a particular family's needs.

Personal recommendations should help relieve some of the anxiety when leaving your child or baby with someone. Gut instinct is very important.

SarahMc

I agree, in fact children with a childminders interact with the world in a real way, and mixed age care is better and less competitive for children, therefore their socialisation tends to be better, certainly their language skills have proven to be better.

I think when parents talk about children being socialised in a creche, they mean playing and interacting with children their own age. I was merely pointing out that this is not important to babies at all.