childminders-what arrangement do you have for feeding babies?

[BooyhooNOTboohoooORbooyou]

ds is 9 months. we have just started properly with the childminder this week.

in the contract it said that i would provide baby food and milk. i do this, however the childminder also cares for my 4.5 year old ds from 12pm each day and she provides his lunch, snacks and fruit.

i want ds2 to have fruit and lunch the same as ds1, obviously he would need the lunch in smaller pieces or mashed up. so what i am asking is do i have to provide this for ds2 or is it normal for the childminder to provide it. my confusion is coming from the contract. i will still be providing the milk as he is breastfed but it seems silly that i would bring separate fruit and meals when she is making lunch and providing fruit for ds1.

i dont want to cause any offence to the childminder so i am asking on here first what is normal amongst childminders.

If babies are on jars of baby food then I ask parents to provide them, along with baby milk. Once they are weaned onto 'proper food' then I provide the meals. I will puree/mash dinners, pasta, jacket potatoes, veggies etc. i had a parent previously who provided her own pureed food which I froze and used as needed, but it was her choice to do that as she felt she was still 'looking after' her dc.

Ask the childminder what she was meaning by baby food -she might be thinking about purées

Does your DS need it mashed or just cut up a bit more?

at home we just give him what we eat, we will make into smaller bites but i know some people can be nervous about giving actual chunks of food to babies (my mum is v nervous and wont feed him chunky stuff without me being there).

at the minute i am sending jars and his milk with yoghurts and pureed fruit. but i am more than happy for him to have whatever she is making for herself and ds (she only has my two)

so should i just tell her what i have said above?

I would expect to be providing food once they have got the hang of eating and are onto mostly "proper" dinners.

Just talk to her

so you dont think it is unreasonable to ask her to provide the meals for him?

Hi,

I think you should just tell your CM what you told us. I'm a CM and would be totally happy with this as I'm sure most of us would. I don't provide jars of baby food but once baby is eating as the family, albeit pureed/mashed, then I feed them what the other mindees are having.

thanks, i didnt want to say to her because of what the contract had said but after writing it down it does seem to make sense.

thank you all, it always helps to hear from the professionals.

Not at all she may be expecting you to say that soon anyway

she is just newly registered so we are both sort of learning together, i am quite conscious of the fact that she might be waiting for me to give her direction but i on the other hand dont want to seem as if i am telling her how to do her job.

I am happy to provide 'proper' meals for teeny tinies if that is what the parents want.
I do ask that parents supply baby milk (formula) or specialist milks or jars if that is what the parents are feeding.

if your c/m is providing meals for your older child then I can't see that it should be a problem to provide for younger child IMO.

have a chat with your minder, sounds like you value her and thats great - a good childminder will never mind having a chat!

i know she is lovely, i would just hate her to think i thought she was doing something wrong, which i dont. i just dont want to cross that line where i become pushy rather than letting her know what stage we are at.

Well ask when she thinks it might change from you providing to her providing (ie what age?)

It's a nice gentle opening

I provide whatever it is the parents want their child to eat/drink. I provide the meals for the older children so it is only fair for me to provide the milk/jars etc for the babies too. If I didn't I would reduce my fees accordingly. I wouldn't be offended if you wanted clarity on the terms of the contract. I would hope any parent would feel comfortable bringing up any 'issue' with me.

thank you all. we are back with her on friday so i will talk with her then and see if she thinks its ok.