Settling at childminder

[Mummysarah12]

Hello, some advice please! My 16 month old LO has been at a childminder for 6 weeks & all has been going well. However today I was called after an hour to say they were not settling & in a lot of pain with teething so could I come & collect. I rushed to pick up but when him I got home, my LO was absolutely fine. So I was annoyed that I had to leave work when nothing seemed to be the problem. I called the cm & explained that he was fine & that he is not teething at that moment & I thought she was a bit flippant & just said “oh well I guess he was just unsettled today then”. She also said she would still be charging me for the full session as teething counts as sickness. (Even though I don’t believe he is teething at the moment).
So I am now quite annoyed & now feeling anxious at firstly whether my LO is unsettled there & also if me being called is going to become a regular thing. I am very busy at work & feel that as I am paying, cm should make a bit more effort?
This is my 1st LO so I would appreciate some advice here - is it normal for a cm to call on parents when their child is just unsettled? Surely they should deal with it? (Sorry if I’m sounding harsh, I just really need to make sure I have a reliable childcare plan in place!)

No it's not normal.

How experienced is your childminder?

I am a childminder and if a child does not stop screaming, crying and is very stressed etc and I am unable to calm them down I too would call the parent to collect , would you rather hear at the end of a long day your child has not stopped screaming, crying being distressed? I have only ever had to do this once the poor child was so distressed he started being sick.

I think childcare settings including schools will be likely to be over zealous at this time especially with the younger children as they can't communicate exactly what's making them grumpy and obviously keeping them there with any covid type symptoms would be a huge no no. I'd rather my setting was over zealous than leave my child upset all day. Maybe he cheered up for mum

So would you like to find on pick up 8 or 9 hours later that your little one has not been themselves all day has cried and been upset but you didn't get a call?

Hi, yes my msg may have sounded harsh. I obviously don’t want my LO crying all day & I would rather be called. I was just a bit annoyed as I got the phone call after only just being there an hour & he was absolutely fine when I got him home. I just would have expected the cm to have tried a bit longer to settle.
I will see how things work going fwd. hopefully it was just a blip as he had been settling well.

@Mummysarah12
But while it's a short time for an adult an hour of crying and being upset for a 1 year old is like half a day or longer....that's why the theory behind time outs (if used) is 1 minute per year of their age and only for older children.

Look at it this way your child has been there for 6 weeks without any issues settling in, you know your child best and your childminder is still learning about them. Children can often be very upset or appear much more unsettled when in the care of someone else and then once back with mum and dad completely happy even with teething.
If a child is unsettled for an hour I would be calling the parent to because I would've tried several things to settle them and if nothings working how long do you let it go on for. Did your childminder have other children there too ? If so what about they're needs ?

I was a childminder and sent a child home in similar circumstances. The parents rang me furious once they had got home saying he was fine playing and happy and they'd left work for nothing- I felt absolutely terrible and racked with guilt. That night he was blue lighted to hospital with meningitis. Sometimes childminders just have a feeling, especially if she is very experienced. She will be being extra cautious with covid. Nursery would be the same and this is just part of being a parent.

If I had a normally happy/settled child who was inconsolable and crying for a full hour (that's a pretty long time!) I would call the parent to see what they wanted to do too.

If it ever happens again you could always tell the childminder you can't get out of work and just to let them cry?

If a child in my care was that distressed they were able to be consoled I'd actually call the parent so they could hear them for themselves. They may even be able to tell by the cry what is wrong with them.
Teething is not the same as sickness, it's part of babyhood and part of the job of a childcarer to support them through this stage.

She should have asked for permission to give Calpol at least before demanding you come and collect.

Did she have any other children in that day?

If she didn't Id suspect she'd just fancied the day off tbh.

@LucieLucie.
The attitude of she must want a day off is totally appalling. Have you done up to date training on the impact of covid both to policy on giving Calpol and the trauma to children?
Parents relying on Calpol as a catch all is now being frowned on with the sales going through the roof and children getting through bottles of the stuff rather than it being thrown out after expiry date unless there is clear evidence to suggest the need of calpol it should not be given the op dosent suggest any teething issue why assume an unsettled child is a teething one?