Move baby from childminder to nursery

My childminder was truly wonderful I actually was jealous at times of the relationship she had with my dc .Then gave myself a huge shake and turned it to feeling so grateful at the level of care and affection she had .
She still keeps a light contact with my grown up dc and was at their wedding .

Childminder. It's best for babies and toddlers to create that attachment with a caregiver.

I love seeing the bond between my childminder and children. I just don't see how that could happen in a nursery.

I did nursery for our son. I wish I had chosen childminder.

regardless once he was settled I wasn’t going to move him unless it was urgent

I'd have a childminder until prep school age at 3-4 personally.

My childminder has practically become family - if you have safety concerns surely you'd not leave your baby there anyway?

There are pluses and minuses to childminders and nurseries, it depends what each setting is like and your priorities.

Is it more important to have a one-to-one relationship with the carer, who can be like a grandparent or relative looking after them in a home environment. A childminder would only have one baby at a time, and a handful of older children. Or do you prioritise having the additional scrutiny of more adults being around, even if it means there are multiple adults looking after multiple babies and there is less of a one-to-one relationship. Is a homely environment preferable to a more institutional nursery. Is the childminder the sort who gets out and about going to different classes, drop-in playgroups, day trips to the park and the beach, like you would at home? Or does the childminder do school runs in the car every day for older children and you'd rather your baby didn't have to tag along on those. Does the nursery have lots of free-flow time outside and also do trips or are children mostly in the same room all day. Are staff at the nursery all young school-leaver apprentices, do they regularly have to use agency staff, or are there staff there who've worked there for years and years.

CCTV won't cover every inch of the premises so if someone really wanted to do something untowards they could probably find a way, and it's only useful after the fact, so I wouldn't place a huge amount of weight on that in making a decision.

If it helps, nurseries often don’t check the cctv or use it properly. And there will always be a staff turnover which his hard for children. How long has your child been with childminder? Go with your gut.

I've never known a childminder to have CCTV?

Is this a new thing now that childminders should have CCTV? I used to be a childminder and it was never a thing, not that many years ago. I mean I wouldn't have minded, reassurance for myself as well as the families.

Fair enough- I had my children before universal CCTV was a thing, so I can't comment on that. It just seems to me that moving a happy child because of such a vanishingly small risk is not something I would do. But you need to do what makes you feel most secure about leaving her.

It's very odd to want your child filmed 24/7, you have to trust the caregiver. I'm a childminder and I'd throw myself in front of a bus to save one my mindees, I'd do anything, they are like my own children and I'm devastated when they leave. My issue with nursery is that alot of the staff don't have many qualifications or experience, they are often young, unqualified and don't care that much so yes there may be cctv but children know when someone is not being authentic. It seems unfair for the childminder and the baby to build a bond, settle in and then you move them because you are anxious. Children grow up fast and you can't control every situation, they go to school and they have to fend for themselves alot, you do really learn what's important to worry about and what isn't. Yes you here the odd horror story, but you can't live life worrying about those things happening. Personally if you are happy with the childminder, leave the baby there and focus on your work when baby is there.

Baby is happy and settled in a homely environment. I really wouldn’t mess with that. Nursery won’t have CCTV everywhere e.g. in the toilets so it doesn’t mean anything is safer and at least with the childminders you know exactly who is looking after your child- nurseries often have to use agency staff if they’re short staffed. I’d personally stay with the childminder and maybe look to move to nursery/preschool for the year before they start school, like lots of people do school nursery with the childminder for wrap around, just because I think at that point they benefit from the socialisation with lots more kids their age and also the more formal environment is good prep for starting school.

I would always go for a "family" type setting for a little baby if at all possible. Why is CCTV important to you?

I preferred a childminder over nursery because of the home environment, amd she was able to be the next best thing to me looking after ds myself

With the caveat that my childminder was pure gold and they broke the mould with her!