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Help with leaving baby at childminders

Hello there

I am due to go back to work late April and wondered if anyone had any tips about how to go about making it easier leaving their baby at a childminders. My daughter is 7.5 months old and I took her for a 1 hour session last week. She played happily for 10 mins then screamed and cried apparently for the remainder of the time. She was really upset for the rest of the morning afterwards. We have further one hour slots planned over the next few weeks so hopefully it will get better.

I also wondered if anyone knew of a toy that you could record my voice/me singing on so my daughter could hear me whilst I am not there? I have searched online but I think most of them only record 10 seconds worth of sound.

Any tips gratefully received, thank you so much xx

Replies

  • I am going back to work at the beginning of April and I have been settling my two with the Childminder since the end of January.

    We started off with 2hours twice a week and now we are doing about 10 hours a week over 2 days. I first of all took two toys with me so they had something familiar to play with and the Childminder also put out the same two toys each time they went round so they recognised where they were,

    I still stay about 15 minutes usually to tell the Childminder about their mood, feeding habits over the last few days and just to ensure they are settled.

    They still dont seem to be eating too well at the moment with the Childminder but they are getting there. It is such a different routine to ours at home it is completely understandable that they probably feel a bit out of sorts but it is something that they will have to get used to.

    Yesterday i left them for 7 hours which was strange and will start doing at least one full day a week in the next 3 weeks so by the time I go back to work they should be fully settled in.

    Unfortunately there is no easy way of settling a child in at nursery or with a Childminder, My little girl is much better than her twin brother.

    Mrs WB mum to 11 month old twins
  • Thanks for this reply. I took one toy with her yesterday but she was the same, ie crying 10 mins after I'd left, I picked her up an hour later. Perhaps we should have started this earlier but at least she will be used to the new situation a little bit for when I go back to work.

    I'll try again with the toys. I am also going to try leaving her at different family members for the odd hour so she gets used to being away from me.

  • Thanks for this. I have since tried the childminder coming out to the car and taking her in. I said bye bye outside which seemed to have worked a little better as she wasn't so upset.

    I appreciate your experiences - thanks
    Andrea
  • i had it so easy so i was lucky my son started with childminder when he was 10 months old and he loved it, im lucky to have a child whos happy with anyone. best thing is really drop child off and leave straight away dont look at them it is hard i know as my son does have them days and i feel i cant leave him. they soon stop.
  • Thanks Leanne I'll try this. She still is not settling after 2 weeks !
  • My daughter is having a different problem. She has just returned to a teaching job,her son is 10months old. She leaves for work prior to him being fed by his father, which he plays up for and screams not to eat his breakfast. Dad then takes him to the childminder and goes off to do a physical days work (both already frazzled at this point). When mum picks him up, childminder says he's been a 'happy chappy' but not slept or eaten much (she looks after other children, but he's the only baby and they go out for the day some days which completely upsets his usual routine). By the time they arrive home, he is so tired and miserable. She attempts to keep him awake. The commotion starts again when it's time for his tea, screamingand crying hysterically  and won't eat. She is at a loss what to do with him. Any advice greatly appreciated. Loving nanny.

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