Bathing Mindees? Cm's and parents opinions please?

[LoveMyGirls]

Cm's - Would you? Have you? What reasons would push you to bath a mindee? Where do we stand legally?

Parent's - Would you expect your child to be bathed at cm's, how would you feel if they were bathed or not bathed (if they had needed it)?

my mindee here today, her mum told me she ahs explosive nappies so i got her to sign a form saying i was ok to bath...
my full timer who stays nights gets bathed(mum ok'd but not it writing..will i get my wrist slapped for that!
and if any of the younger ones have had sore bottoms(one instance so far, it was so sore it was bleeding with all the bum changes), i bathed her..parents thiink im fab for doing it and keeping them clean and comfortable

I would also do it if we had been painting and got totally messy!

id draw up a form saying that they need to sign if they agree to you cleaning/bathing thir child in event of accident/messy play etc

I agree with Snowflake that you should get them to sign a permission form - that way you're covered.

from a parent, I'd rather my kids were bathed if they needed to be for an explosive nappy or if they got very very dirty. I was actually rather annoyed when dt1 had a big explosion and the cm washed his clothes, and only wiped him down. I'd have rather been called at least and I'd have collected him!

Get written permission from parents then you are covered. More paperwork

I have bathed because of being sandy from the sandpit but would also if really messy for other reasons. I think you do need a permission form to cover you however I didn't when I bathed mindee with sand as it was unexpected and I was new and hadn't thought of that.

Chopster - I see what you're saying but I suppose it depends on how many mindees she has and what ages. Mon-Wed I wouldn't be able to safely bath one and have the others all safe and in sight and that comes before bathing I'm afraid. I think if I knew a parent would want a phone call for an exploded nappy then of course I'd phone but I can tell you now, all the parents I have would be pretty p'd off if I phoned them about something like that - I have one parent who argued on the phone when I tried to send her very poorly and unhappy 9 month old home because she had a temp of 39.9! (103.2) If however she only had your child then I could see she should have bathed them. Seriously though, I think most parents wouldn't want a call about an exploded nappy and therefore childminders wouldn't think to call unless something had been said before.

One of my mindees had explosive diaorrea (6yrs old) and I put her in the shower. Poor mite - I couldn't have just wiped her down! If the mindee has accidents like this or get extremely messy then I would bath/shower. It's unfair to the child otherwise! I speak as a CM, but as a parent I would be very grateful if CM did this for my child.

chopster - wow , washed clothes too! that's over and above call of duty. You've obviously got a very thoughtful CM

My fabulous CM would always bath DD if she has a particularly explosive nappy, and then wash and iron her clothes. If I have to do a later than usual pick up, she will also offer to have DD bathed and ready in pyjamas for when I pick her up - think it's a bit of a treat for her youngest to "help" bath a little one. The woman is a Godsend - don't know what I would do without her!

Ah, but washing clothes? What happens if the little poppet is allergic to your washing powder? I rinse clothes and explain that I didn't wash them for that reason. In fact, I quite often rinse clothes. I have bathed a mindee before, parents, I assume, would rather their lo's are retured in the same condition they arrived in! Its bordering on neglect not to, isn't it?

Right, who's gonna phone Ofsted and get the definative answer then? Go on! Dare ya!

I rinse clothes too, Mo, then into a plastic baggie.

I ain't going to ring OFSTED so ner

I'm gonna ask my Top Gun childminder on the way to school! She's one of those who's got all the certificates, qualifications and even a car sticker! She knows it all. However, she often asks me, the lowly satisfactory graded cm, advice. She's only been doing it 2 years.

As a parent, I would have no problems with our childminders giving either DS or DD a bath if they needed it.

They are very lovely and wonderful (and wash DDs clothes if she has accidents. And lend us spare socks if necessary )

I bathed a 4 yo mindee who turned up having wet his pants in the night. He was staying with somebody else overnight while his mum went on a night out and he had been too scared to get up to the toilet and he had no change of clothes or anything with him. He had his nursery Christmas party that morning, and I had already agreed with the mother that I would go and buy an outfit for him to wear. We headed straight out to the shops when he arrived and as he didn't take his coat off, I hadn't noticed that he was wet until we were in at the shops. So, we got his new outfit, went straight back to my house and I bathed him (well, he bathed himself, but I was outside the bathroom door if he needed me). There was no way that poor child was going to his nursery christmas party smelling of pee. I didn't phone his mother to ask, I just did it.

Now, I have it on my permission form saying something like "permission to bathe child should exceptional circumstances require this"

i would not mind DS's CM bathing him if it was necessary at all, i wouldrather him be clean than have to stay dirty until i arrived to pick him up

Thanks everyone, mawbroon thats a sad story!

Well I now have written permission sorted Thanks everyone at least it's clear about what to do in future now.

my CM has washed my kids and even washed and ironed theier clother - they are both attracted to mud and get really explosive diarrhea when teething - she's uses non bio powder etc - she's great