Childminder is pregnant, what to do?

[TheEagle]

So our lovely childminder has told me that she's pregnant. She's due in February. She plans to work up to 38 weeks.

She minds my 2.5yo and my 15mo twins in her own home. My 2.5yo adores her, and gets along so well with her little girls. The twins are very happy there too.

I'm a non-permanent teacher but I have a job in place from Sept-Christmas. Could go on longer, otherwise I'll be back subbing.

What do others do in this situation? Do I start looking around for someone new now? I'm so anxious about how the change will affect my older boy.

DH has floated the idea of me staying home for a bit. We could organise for him to take some annual leave as well so maybe I could work for a bit during the Feb-Jun period.

Would love to hear from others who have been in this situation as to what they have done.

Ask her what her plans are for maternity leave, if she has anyone who could cover her and if it would help putting your eldest in nursery for his funding. Then go from there. I have done maternity cover before.

She can have the 4 under 5 as continuity of care.

Thanks jannier, I'm not in the UK so that might make a bit of a difference.

I don't want to put my older boy into crèche, our local one doesn't have a good reputation and we're happier with the childminder setting. She has family connections to another crèche so she might well known of someone who would take over for a few months. As I'm a teacher, I'll be off from the end of June so that might help the situation as well.

When ds1 was 9mths he started in the may with cm1 who became pregnant in Aug time I had noticed before she told us in Oct/Nov and she was due beg April told us she planned to only take 4-6 weeks but was continuing even in that time with after schoolers (she had a 5yr old too herself) anyway anyway after much consideration ds1 went 3days we found a new cm as we didn't want to use all our leave covering her mat leave or sendfimg him to nursery lots (he did one day) so he ended up doing nursery 2days and cm2 for 2days til he started school at 4 we just gave 4weeks notice and he moved in the march..... Had we not have found another cm I suppose we would have reconsidered using our leave.

My best friend is a CM, she only took 4 weeks mat leave then was back to work.

She wasn't looking after a young set of twins though!

You are paying 3 lots of childcare fees - may be Cheaper to have your own nanny

I think having 4 under 3.5 will be too much for your cm

It's a tricky one, has she mentioned mat leave?? I took 5 weeks was planning two but had c-section, and so between parents/grandparents & some cm friends I had they covered themselves & then came back to me. It worked out well, but I only had 3 under 3's n big'uns. Not 4 under 3. Nanny sounds like a good idea if you want to ensure you have childcare. If she's a great cm & you really feel that she will pick up after mat leave then discuss with her. It's one of the hardest things I've had to do. I really had to promise my mums that I really was coming back after the 5 weeks & would still work etc. Goodluck OP!

That's a really reassuring post loulou , thanks.

She just told me her news on Friday so we haven't had a chance to discuss anything else.

It will be a bit different come next September (I.e. Sept 2017) when her oldest girl will start primary school and my DS1 will be in Montessori. I'm not in UK so my hours are quite good.

We absolutely love her, she's been so very good to us, we really would try anything we can to keep her if possible.

It's great to hear you really don't want to lose her Eagle. I really hope she is straight up with you & fingers crossed there's nothing that might make going back to work tricky. I guess that's one of the most worrying things. You can only plan so much for childbirth & what happens after.

If she only told you Friday then I imagine right now she's feeling less stressed that you now know. Have a little think about how long in your head you could possibly work around her leave. Then when you have that conversation you'll have a rough idea on what you could work around & know if it's going to be realistic or not.

It's always lovely to hear a parent not stressing at the fact that she's pregnant, just about the MAT leave. I thought my parents would think I wouldn't cope . But to be honest my new baby just got around all the other little ones & they're a great distraction to him now. He's a patient little thing & I love how my boys have so many friends to play with everyday. Trust me...you often find good cm put their kids needs last! My ds2 learnt to hold his own bottle from a very young age haha. Hope it all goes well for you both!

I was the same as loulou, worked right up until I went into labour (Hamas contingency plan in place which parents had agreed and signed saying my mum would care for the mindees if I went to hospital during work hours and parents would be informed to collect their child at their earliest convenience.
I then intended to take 2 weeks off but ended up with an emergency c-section so took 4 (h took 2 weeks holiday to help me to 6 weeks) with the understanding that I wouldn't drive or lift for a couple of weeks.
Unfortunately one of my mindees couldn't settle with a new baby in the house (very clingy to me had him from 4 months) so he left after a couple of months to go to a nursery but the rest just got on with it and was just like an additional mindee

Tricky one but I would work with her and not lose her.

If you have no permanent contract and you could go back to her full time in September I think I would take a career break until June. Financially and practically you might be just as well off. Could you do private tutoring - take it you are across the water ? Loads of opportunity in the evenings to keep you hand in ?

Thank you for your input ladies, really good to read.

I've spoken with her and she intends to take 6-8 weeks off which is brilliant! 3 of those weeks will be holiday time (midterm and Easter) and we will be able to work something out for the other 5 weeks.

I'm still feeling a bit anxious as to how she will manage DTs when she's heavily pregnant. They are a force to be reckoned with. My older boy is easier and not as reckless. But so far, so good and so we will continue on!