Childminders - I'm expecting my first child in June, how long should i take off and will i cope???

[jinglediddle]

I am a childminder and have been for 2 1/2 yrs. I am currently pregnant with my first. I am worried about how much time i will need off, and about losing all my mindies and having no business. Has anyone been in my position? will i survive???

I have been childminding for just over a year and am currently on maternity leave till april 2006.

I told my parents very early on about my pregnancy and asked them what they would like to do. I had to plan very far ahead but also had to ensure i had plans in place should an emergency arise.

I found childminders in my area who i saw alot at groups etc and had places available. Currently two of my full time mindees attend temporary childminders and i see them twice a week still at groups, they will both be coming back to me in April. For 4 months i visited these childminders and helped them build a bond etc with the mindees and also ensured that all documants were in order and that all parents were ok with the cover i had arranged! One of my other mindees goes to nursery full time till April then will be back to me as usual and i make an effort to see her every week at the moment too.

As for financially, i get maternity allowance of £106 per week for up to 26 weeks, make sure you have paid ATLEAST 26 weeks worth of national insurance by the time you reach 20 weeks pregnant. I hadnt but luckily managed to get NI to back date me a bill!!

this is the form for MA

thanks bonkerz. so the ones who have gone to other childminders, will they come back to you?

YES the plan is they come back to me in April. As for coping im not sure yet if i will but all my midees are coming back to me on a trial basis for 6 weeks and will only sign a full time new contract if they and i are happy with everything! I will have 3 under 3 and one 4 year old though FULL TIME and one of those will only be 3 months old!

Its a good idea to talk to the parents now anyway as i found i had lots of appointments that i need to go to and therefore the minders who were taking my mindees when i gave up work were great and had trial sessions with my mindees whilst i was at various appointments!

I'm not a childminder but my friend is, we both had our first babies at the same time. She finished work about 1 month before her due date, she packed in completely as she wasnt sure when she wanted to return. She started work again when her son was 1 year old, she found work very easily as she made lots of new contacts at playgroups, who either needed her services or passed her name on to their friends.

bonkerz - thats sounds excellent. Think i will have a chat to them, and see how they feel about it. When i go back i will have a 4 month old and my newborn, and one 3 year old, gonna be tough, but i hope i can do it.
Of course they know anything can happen, and if i have a caesarean, i'll need quite a while off to recover from that.
we'll see.

Jenkel - thank you, i was considering stopping and starting again, but i don't want to go back to starting my business over again, i would miss the money greatly, and the kids.

you will need special permission off OFSTED to have 2 babies under 1. Ring them ASAP as it can take months to sort a new cert.

hi there just sticking me 2penceworth in, i've just had a baby she's 10 weeks and im planning on becoming a childminder in march when she will be 6 months old i know there is no way i could start much before then i dont think as im shattered at the moment i have a 6yr old dd too and both of them are in bed by 7.30pm and i go to bed about 10pm watch a little bit of TV until 11pm then i wake baby for a feed and change her then i am up in the night for about an hour between 4am-5am then back to bed til 7am then im up for the day the broken sleep makes you feel so tired if it was me i would probably try to plan for going back to work when my own baby is sleeping through the night (this may not be possible for you and you may find it easier than me to cope) and i know it very much depends on money. we started saving when we found out i was pregnant and have managed to leave most of that alone and with christmas that has been hard but im hoping we will have some left by the time i start CMing just incase i dont get any mindees for a while.

I know minders who have taken a year off (and given notice to mindees) before starting over; I also know minders who have taken a couple of weeks off and then continued minding as if it was a "short holiday"!!!

morning, Im due a baby at the end of Feb and so am planning to finish up at the beginning of Feb and go back to work at the end of April (depending how it goes or if I have a c section). I told all the mums when I was about 4 months pregnant and was terrified that they wouldnt bring their children back after I had the baby but the reaction was that they were all really happy for me and why did I think they wouldnt bring their children back?. So after all the worrying for nothing the mindees all have alternative care sorted out. One of the mindees only started with me 6 weeks ago when her mum went back to work and shes going to keep coming after Ive had the baby. Ive done pretty much the same as bonkerz has done and its working out ok. Dont worry! and congratulations on your pregnancy.

thank you all so much, you're a great support. kizzypie - glad to see there is someone else taking limited time off, i'm sure i will cope.

hi i know somone who childminds and is due on sunday and is still working! she only plans to take 2/3 weeks off though. i don't have any kids of my own yet so not sure how easy it would be to cope with your own baby and everyone elses, but i would probably be the same as you in that i would miss the kids and the money. good luck.