Settling in time - no parents inside the house

[sleeplessinthecountryside]

I had my baby in April and have what's called a "lockdown" baby. She's never seen another child, only seen my mum who is in my support bubble.
I've arranged her to go to a childminder but childminder says we cannot come in I have to drop the baby off. My baby is pretty delayed. Not crawling, struggles to eat, notorious for choking and I've really struggled with her. She will be 1 when she goes in a months time. I understand she's just following covid regulations but wondered what people's thoughts were? Thanks.

I’m currently leader of a baby room in a nursery. I’ve uploaded videos of me singing and doing activities so parents can show them to babies and at least the nursery is a bit familiar and they’ve seen my face before coming.

Could this be a possibility?

@littleredberries

Hi OP.

Over here you can make masked visits after hours. No-one expects you to hand over your child without a proper inspection, so everyone is being accommodating and making themselves more available. In one case they did let me come during the day, even in lockdown, which wasn't strictly "correct" but there's a lot of empathy in the childcare sector over here.

Settling in time carrying on as normal, but masked (meant to add). (I'm in Germany)

I'm a childminder and can only express how hard it is for both parties. This last year has been awful I've had meetings in my garden, in the local park and over FT and it's been a real struggle trying to settle some of the lockdown babies never mind also trying to settle the parents too.

Regarding no visits I've had no parents in and this is due to already having to do lots of extra cleaning and obviously the risk of passing on covid. I can see that many on the thread have already said if mums got it chances are baby has it but lots aren't thinking about the possibility of the childminder or children in the setting passing it onto to the parent and child who've come for a visit.

I hate working this way but it's keeping us all safe. I'd suggest getting a note book and writing down your child's typical routine, likes and dislikes and I'd definitely ask if there's any chance of extra meet ups

Tell your childminder everything you want her to know about your child. I ask parents to do this, because the more information I have, the easier it is to settle them, feed them, put them down for a nap, etc.

I have never had parents in for settling in sessions for 2 reasons. 1-The child doesn't start to settle until the parent has gone. 2-It is unsettling for the other children in my care.

During covid, rather than show parents around the house I have used videos and zoom calls.

Are you able to get references from other parents? That should help reassure you.

I’m setting my lockdown baby at the moment. He was born almost a year ago and has only been in our home, and only been held by me, his Dad and my Mum. He is all of a sudden very clingy and wary of other adults but to be honest my older child was exactly the same at 11/12 months.

We’ve been meeting our CM in the park for the last couple of weeks and we’re going each week to play in the garden before settling in properly starts (we’re paying her for extra settling in).

We had visited in December so got to see her house and the baby loved her. But this time he cried the whole time despite his Dad and older brother being there (his brother will be going too.

@SMaCM

Tell your childminder everything you want her to know about your child. I ask parents to do this, because the more information I have, the easier it is to settle them, feed them, put them down for a nap, etc.

I have never had parents in for settling in sessions for 2 reasons. 1-The child doesn't start to settle until the parent has gone. 2-It is unsettling for the other children in my care.

During covid, rather than show parents around the house I have used videos and zoom calls.

Are you able to get references from other parents? That should help reassure you.

I do the same for settling in sessions. I will meet with parents a few times so little one gets used to my face. The sessions are without parents there as I feel it's far more beneficial and I have the other children to consider. They're only a couple of hours long so parents can come early if needs be. It gets then used to mummy/daddy leaving and understanding that they will come back later.