CM: How should the settling in sessions look like for a baby?

[apotomak]

I have a 13 month old starting in two weeks. I have told the parent that maybe it would be a good idea to leave him for a few hours a few times before he starts with me properly. I just wanted to ask the more experienced childminders ... what do you do when settling in? Do you ask the parent to stay for a bit? How long would a session be? I'm expecting him to cry as he's never been left alone with a stranger. Please give me some ideas on what to do if he doesn't stop crying ... I wouldn't want him to cry for the whole duration of stay ... of course I'll try to distract him but what do you do if it doesn't work?

I tend to offer two sessions for settling in. The first for perhaps 2-3 hours with Mum or Dad staying for some/all of the time and the second one for longer (without the parents), to include a meal-time and maybe a short nap. I have found and many will say similar that it is important for the child to have something personal to go to sleep with, maybe a comforter or toy that actually looks and smells familiar. One Mum brought an item of her own clothing for her child to snuggle up with and it worked a treat as the child immediately recognised a familiar "aroma".

It is always difficult if the baby cries a lot but it does not necessarily follow that because it has not been left with others before, it will cry with you. I had a 9 month old start recently and apart from the first 5 minutes, he never really cried.

Good luck.