Settling in my 11 month old with childminder - any advice please!

[sarahbanshee]

I'm about to return to work, and I'll be doing 4 days a week with my husband changing his hours to 3 days a week, so our little boy will be going to a childminder 2 days a week from the middle of August, when he will be just 11 months.

When we booked the childminder back in May, we agreed we'd arrange for settling in nearer the time and so we'll be calling her on Monday to fix up what we do. She said at the time that she is flexible and will do whatever we like in terms of a settling in period, so although I will ask her advice I wanted to ask if any childminders, or parents with children at childminders, can give us the benefit of their experience as to what works and what doesn't!

If it helps to know, our little boy is very social and confident, but has lately shown a bit of a tendency to howl when I go out of sight (although is usually placated fairly quickly!) He has been left with my best friend and my parents for the odd morning or afternoon, and twice with my parents for a whole weekend.

Any advice very welcome, and thank you in advance!

I just visited the CM for an hour or so so DS could get used to her and her house, standing back so the CM and DS could learn about each other. A few days later I was there until he looked like he'd forgotten about me being there and I sloped off. It worked well- you just need to go at a reasonable pace, when you think your DS is comfortable, say bye bye, see you in a bit and if the CM is any good she will distract him with something really fun so he won't be so bothered by you leaving. Good luck- I'm sure it'll go a lot better than you expect!

I normally invite mum and new child round for tea and a play together at least two or three times, so that the child gets used to the environment, the toys, the other children etc. I will make a point of playing with them,m talking to them and so on, to make them feel more comfortable. If these sessions go well we will go on to mum leaving child for half an hour or so, to see how that goes. If goes well we will try a longer session, and have as many as we can fit in before the contract starts. This is for everyones benefit in my opinion ! Having said that, I have had children settle brilliantly without ever having a settling in session, and some who haave taken longer to settle despite lots of settling in.

Youve only got a couple of weeks so I would give her a call,go round for coffee and a play,if it seems to be going well keep quiet and leave them to it staying quietly in the background,possibly to include lunch so you can talk to her and she can see how you do lunch.I like to do this as the child is happy eating in the highchair and we can chat and she can see how I cope with the routine.If al seems well I would send him for a half day to include lunch and any problems can be sorted, I'm sure it will be fine.

Thanks everyone for your replies - very helpful! I'm sure he will be fine, he's our first so we're understandably a bit nervy but in fact he's a happy and sociable little soul so I'm sure he will enjoy it lots.