to want a non-smoking nursery key worker for my baby?

[jkklpu]

My ds2 will be joining ds1 at my work nursery for 3 days/week when he's 9 months old. Nursery is fantastic with lovely staff and low turnover.

The thing is, there are 4 f-t staff in the baby room and 1 is a smoker. I know this because she's usually outside the building finishing her fag when I drop ds1 off in the morning. I really don't want my baby to spend much of his day being cuddled by someone who stinks of cigarettes and am thinking of asking the manager discreetly whether he can have any of the others as key workers instead.

What do you think?

There is evidence to show that smokers are a risk to babies when they're not smoking - particularly when there's close contact. As a child gets older and the contact is not so close, the risk drops significantly.

I would not employ a nanny who smokes - even if she didn't smoke at work, and I also wouldn't use a childminder who smoked either. If I'm paying and it's important to me, then I do get to choose.

I don't think they have done studies on spending time around people who smoke other than the parents sal so I see your point
but it is being next to the smoker breathing what they breathe out and exude from their body, that is causing the problem in the co-sleeping study, not breathing in the smoke in the house
because the babies whose parents smoke are at less risk of SIDS if they are in their own cot - whereas the babies of non-smokers are at less risk if they co-sleep with their parents
it's bad for babies to be in close proximity to a smoker - I presume the key worker is cuddling the baby a lot of the time? I hope so
whether it has an impact that the OP should be worrying about, is another question, but she isn't being completely ridiculous for wondering, as some people have suggested

I'll never understand why people smoke in the first place.
It makes your breath, hair, clothes stink. It damages your skin. It costs money you could be using on something more useful. It harms people around you. It causes cancer, lung disease.
In fact, I think that if the nursery gets these lovely ladies to stop smoking on order to get the job they'll be doing them a great favour.

Cosette - where is this evidence???

Franny - assuming htey are not actually having a cigarette - what on earth do you think smokers are breathing out that is so bad for your baby?

KatyMac - if you have not employed someone just because they smoke, you have broken the law. I actually think that even asking them if their partner smokes is illegal. What a thing to ask?

And to everyone who said it is a choice - It may well be a choice to start smoking, but please remember it is an addiction and its not simply a matter of 'choosing' just to stop.

Good on you KatyMac, to care more about the children than the law!

Dirty sexy mummy - sorry you are wrong. There is no legislation which protects smokers from discrimination. You are perfectly within your rights not to employ someone because of their smoking status, and to ask them about it at interview.

I chose to send my dcs to a nursery so have limited say over whether their key worker was a smoker or not, but there is no way I would use a CM who smoked.

That must be an English thing, in Scotland you can't. I was on an employment law course 3 weeks ago and it was in the course.

Do you think it is acceptable not to employ someone because their partner smokes though?

Well I took legal advise before I did it - & I am happy that the advise I was given was correct

I person can chose to smoke & I can also choose not to employ someone who does

Link to study here showing that even if you smoke outside, there is still an effect..
"The study showed levels of secondhand smoke contaminant and exposure in infants in homes where smokers attempted to protect their children by smoking outside were up to seven times higher than as those found in nonsmoking homes."

Did you know that there is evidence that having the same surname as a smoker is dangerous too? even that much contact (sharing the same letters) is enough to cause bad things to happen.

Cosette - there is a world of difference between a smokers home and the workplace.

What does "7 times higher" mean in terms of risk? e.g. lets say 100 particles was the identified trigger point. Lets say a non-smoking home has 1 particle - therefore homes where smokers smokes outside is 7 - still within safe range. The article says nothing about an increased risk.

yanbu, i dont like being stuck next to someone who stinks of smoke but at least i can get up and walk away, i dont want my dd's to have to put up with this either.

that was one of the questions i asked dd's nursery when she started but luckily none of them smoked, not sure what i would have done if a new member of staff who did smoke came in after she was settled though.

YANBU
There is no way I would want someone who might be cuddling/holding my baby for long periods of time to be a smoker.
People who smoke, smell of smoke.
People who claim otherwise are in denial

I agree that people are perfectly within their rights to say who can and can't look after their children, and that if you don't want a smoker/someone who smells of smoke to look after your child - then that is your choice. However - the arguments that smokers are actually dangerous to your childrens' health are spurious to say the least.

There seems to be a common misconception that smokers are responsible for all of the world's ills - well, we're not

I've never smoked and hate it, the smell makes me feel ill, especially at the moment, and I hate even having to wait to cross the road near someone having a cigarette, but I thought the OP was being a little unreasonable.

Where I work we advise parents not to handle their babies if possible for 20minutes after having a cigarette as the toxins do stick to clothes and hair.

Only link I can find for any evidence at the moment.

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-399589/Even-smoking-outside-harm-baby.html

In your shoes jkk I would wait and see what happens when Ds goes to nursery and if he does come home smelling of smoke have a word with the person in charge. I am not anti smoking although I have never smoked myself but would not be happy if my child came home and smelled of smoke.
2shoes I think the issue of school is a little bit different in that children dont spend much time being cuddled by teachers.

I am interested to hear people being given advice in an employment law course that having a policy of not recruiting smokers is illegal I think it was DirtySexyMummy iirc, sorry am on preview so can't see thread.

I am struggling to think on what basis a smoker would challenge such a policy. There are no laws protecting smokers from discrimination, so what law would they use to challenge an employer who was seeking to enforce this policy?

KatyMac I am confident the advice you took was perfectly correct.

Message withdrawn

YANBU, something I fud out from MN that I didn't realise is that it is illegal for a childminder to smoke during their working day. My old CM smoked on the walk to school or in the garden whilst her DH watched the children and apparently that was illegal, these rules are made for a reason so IMO there is possible harm.
Also agree with what Franny et al were saying wrt cot death, smoking isn' something you do for 3 minutes and the are fine until the next cigarette, it stays on your clothes, in your hair, and in your lungs.

When I had my son I was given a load of bumpf and one of the leaflets in that said to reduce risk of SIDS that you should ask people who smoke to change their jumper before cuddling your baby. I thought it was a bit unreasonable as a one off but for someone who will be cuddling your child on a regular basis it seems sensible.