Childminder’s health - would you worry about this?

[Mcmcmcmc]

I’m a FTM and am starting to look into childcare for my baby, who will be 1 when I return to work. I am torn between nursery (which I think is stronger in terms of safeguarding and general safety as there are always lots of people around) and childminder (which I think would be better for a young child due to the smaller setting).

I visited a local childminder the other day and really liked her. She has over 20 years of experience and only has 2 children under her care at the moment. I only hesitate because I noticed she has very swollen legs - not the type of swelling you have if you’ve had a busy day on your feet, but the kind you get if you have heart failure (I’m a doctor btw). She’s older (I think late 60s or early 70s) which in itself wouldn’t bother me, in fact I like it as she clearly has experience, but I’m now worried that she might have a sudden cardiac problem while looking after the children in her care.

I know no one can guarantee good health - I’m in my 30s and healthy but might drop dead tomorrow, for all I know! But statistically she is more likely than most to have a sudden vascular problem like a heart attack or a stroke.

I didn’t mention this to her as it would be rude, but it’s in my mind. I asked what she would do in case of an emergency and she said she is friends with another local childminder who lives nearby. She also said she whatsapps with parents during the day - which I would definitely welcome. But I don’t think it would make sense to go to work while worrying that the childminder will have a stroke!

Please tell me if I’m being overly anxious about this!

How many other health complaints might someone have that you don't even know about? Or just an emergency in general? I think it's the medic in you looking for trouble. Just choose the person best suited to looking after your baby.

I am a childminder and I fell down the stairs, on my own with 4 children I'd just put to bed. I couldn't move but I had my emergency procedure which I followed and all was well.

All childminders have some form of medical before they are ofsted approved.

I’d go for a nursery or another childminder tbh. It doesn’t sound as if this one is right for you.

Hmm tricky one.

I guess you can never know someone's health record when you employ (nor should you) and so this is always going to be a risk in a childminder setting. Maybe a nursery where there are more people around would be a better fit for you?

This sounds very odd to me. How was her breathing? That would be the guide for me, rather than odematis legs.

Being honest, is this more about you worrying about going back to work? Fine of course if it is, I just think you should be honest with yourself about your reasons.

I would look for another childminder. Even without health issues I don't think I would have a woman in her seventies minding babies on a regular basis. I think it would be too much.

I think you might be more comfortable with a setting where there was more than one adult.

That's why we used nurseries rather than childminders.

Could you look into a smaller independent nursery? We have a few round us that are a smaller more homely environment but still employ 4-5 staff members. I think what you've mentioned is what puts me off childminders, at least in a nursery there are others around if something was to happen.

I would put a small baby in a childminders rather than a nursery.

She's experienced, I'm sure she knows her limits.

Would you stop grandparents looking after your baby if their legs looked the same?

I prefer home from home care for babies.

You can always look for a nursery/different childminder when the baby is older & you want them to be with more kids etc, or you might find they're very settled & happy where they are. But IMO babies are better off being able to bond with a career & eat/sleep to their timetable, not the nursery routine.

Just my opinion, not starting a bun fight about nurseries.

which I think is stronger in terms of safeguarding and general safety as there are always lots of people around

It doesn't always work this way. It's certainly happened that children have been injured/lost because everyone thinks someone else is watching them.

There is an argument that one adult who is 100% responsible, 100% of the time is less likely to drop the ball in this way.

You can look for childminders with assistants or co minders if your worried about her being on her own....but would you say no to grandparents? There is no evidence to show nurseries are safer there have been many accidents, choking incidents, escaped children and abuse I nurseries who often rely on apprentices of 17.

At 70 she is far far too old to be working as a childminder.

Thanks all.
I’m not sure she’s actually in her 70s, but she has to be at least 60 as she’s registered in our local area as a CM since the late 70s and has an adult grandchild. She does seem quite energetic so the age alone, without the (unknown but quite likely) health issues, would not have worried me too much.

@Helenluvsrob that’s really helpful to know - I suspected there would be some health evidence submitted to Ofsted (similar to what we healthcare professionals have to do to work in the NHS) but as the reports don’t mention it, I wasn’t sure. I have now seen the standard form from Ofsted, it looks quite robust and it has a section that is to be completed by the CM’s GP in addition to the self-disclosed evidence.
I imagine this is all confidential (as it should be) but I might ask if she would mind sharing evidence that she has submitted a recent health report to Ofsted and has been “cleared”. I imagine this would be the case as she is currently registered as a CM but I don’t know how often these checks take place. Of course I won’t be asking her to disclose health information to me.

@NuffSaidSam you are right about nursery not being a 100% “safe” environment. It’s impossible for any setting to be, but it’s true that bad things have happened in nurseries. To be honest at my baby’s age (she will be 11-12m when starting childcare) I’d much rather have one person who she will bond with, and who I can communicate with, but because of my work (and of course my personality!) I can’t help but think of the extremely unlikely scenario of a lone person looking after 3 small children (none of whom old enough to call 999) and having a heart attack or similar. I also worried about other unlikely but terrible events like a flood or a fire, but am somewhat reassured that she does fire drills etc. She also lives in an estate where I think neighbours would spot a fire quite quickly (God forbid that from happening though!).
Of course nurseries can have floods or fires but there’s a whole lot of people and policies in place etc.

I’m inclined to meet with this lady again and ask to spend a couple of hours with her during her workday (I would bring my baby and would pay her hourly rate, if she agrees to having me). Would that be a weird request?

No that's going above your remit to ask her that.

And no she can't have you hang about for hours whilst she's working for goodness sake.

I must admit, I'm a laid back childminder and I'd be a bit horrified at having a parents spend a couple of hours with me. Go for another visit by all means though and see how things go but to ask for such a long visit would horrify me lol. We don't have to renew our medical checks regularly BTW but we are expected to inform ofsted if there are any significant health problems and the check may need to be redone. This depends whether cm has reported any illnesses but I don't think you can ask her

Thanks for the comments, it’s helpful to know that it’s not reasonable to ask to join her for an hour or so during her working hours - as I said I’m a FTM so am not very well versed on what’s reasonable or not when arranging childcare. I’m glad I asked!

I've wouldn't send my child there personally. It's probably totally unreasonable, but I'd spend my whole time worrying about it otherwise.

I'm not sure she is the right fit for you and your child. It is not appropriate for you to ask those questions when she has jumped through all the hoops she needs to to become registered. Maybe look at a nursery setting where more than one person is available and no one is in sole care of your child.

To be honest, I'm not a childminder and I would find your assertions offensive. Sorry.

You are being a pfb mum 😘

Sure the cm would have had checks done

Ask to see her accident protocol

If you liked her that makes a huge diff

Do you worry shout your parents having a stroke

I’m a childminder and mum of 3. I think you are worrying like I would have done with my first, but I think your worries are misplaced and that you are trying to control things you simply can’t control.

Remember that in a nursery setting you usually won’t meet all the staff working with your child. They don’t have the same GP health checks as a childminder has to have, and aren’t individually inspected in the same way.

If the lady was too old or unwell to provide adequate care it would have been picked up easily at her inspections, which last several hours and are incredibly intensive. (My most recent one was 5 hours long!).

If the absolute worse thing happened and your childminder had a stroke and couldn’t signal any help.. your child would be in a baby-proofed, age appropriate and familiar environment with 3 parents making regular contact, and presumably school runs/ regular play groups/ other minders who would all be alarmed at the childminder suddenly not turning up/ answering the door/ responding to calls. The chance of it happening in the first place doesn’t seem much more concerning or likely than you worrying about something like a vehicle crashing into the nursery building (after all, there are far more cars in the car park at a nursery than outside a childminders house), but even if it did that is why childminder’s have extensive safeguarding procedures in place that prevent incidents like the one you’re imagining from becoming catastrophic.

When childminders register, they have to have a medical or similar done by their doctor. However this can range from a letter based on their medical records to a full MOT. I registered 21 years ago, had a quick doctors appointment to check if I'm OK and that was it. Nothing since. So chances are, this childminder hasn't had anything since either. Its not a regular requirement.

Fwiw I put my son in nursery when he was 12 months and he had additional needs. The staff did bond with him and he loved it there and loved the staff. For example when he couldn’t nap one of the ladies there always rocked him to sleep and often when I called he’d be asleep in her arms. He essentially had 1 to 1 care at all times because Of his additional needs but each child has a key worker anyway so someone who gets to know them well. So it might be worthwhile checking out some nursery settings too!

My mother has horrendous lymphoedema but no cardiac issues at all. My gran was the same, hoping I've avoided that (and many other!) of her genes!!

@Fleur405

Fwiw I put my son in nursery when he was 12 months and he had additional needs. The staff did bond with him and he loved it there and loved the staff. For example when he couldn’t nap one of the ladies there always rocked him to sleep and often when I called he’d be asleep in her arms. He essentially had 1 to 1 care at all times because Of his additional needs but each child has a key worker anyway so someone who gets to know them well. So it might be worthwhile checking out some nursery settings too!

The keyworker system should work like that but in practice few nurseries operate it properly most using it purely to determine who does the paperwork. At the moment the industry is in crisis with sever staffing and recruitment issues as they are unable to offer competitive salaries due to underfunding. It is not normal to have a baby rocked to sleep 1 to 1 in nursery the practitioner normally having 4 other charges and duties like cleaning down, setting up next activities, completing paperwork, nappy duty etc. Even most with 1 to 1 funding won't be compactly one to one.