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Multiple births

When do you start showing with twins? What is life with twins like? Join the conversation on our Multiple Births forum.

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Original poster

Anybody successfully got childcare student to provide unpaid help with newborn twins?

12 replies

happymango · 02/04/2009 14:31

I've heard that it's possible to enlist the free help of a childcare student when you have newborn twins. I live in south west London and will be having twins at the beginning of the summer.

I don't know where to begin on my search - so if anybody knows of any colleges in south west London where I might put an ad etc - then I would be very grateful for any suggestions.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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piximon · 02/04/2009 22:39

happymango, congrats on the pg.

I contacted my local twins club for information when I was looking for a student. They gave me a contact number and name to contact. The placement I had was wonderful and we are still in touch now.

Last I heard some colleges are tightening up their rules because some twin mums were not being very kind to their students.

The student in general comes for a full week at the start and end of their placement and two days a week in between. They are there to get hands on exp with the dts and have a list of skills they need to learn while there. They are never to be left unsupervised with the children. There is some paperwork that needs to be dealt with to prove the student has completed the key skills needed.

Original poster

happymango · 02/04/2009 22:59

Hi Piximon,

Thanks for the tip - I will contact my local twins club and see if they can help in the same way. That's great - thanks a lot.

OP posts:

lisad123 · 02/04/2009 23:06

contact local colleges. I did my placement with a lovely family with a new baby and 2 little girls. They even offered me a nanny job at the end of it.
The students are given out by local colleges but I know it was changing here, something baout health and safety! HTH

If not try homestart

Original poster

happymango · 03/04/2009 13:14

Okay - I'll try that too - I found a few online yesterday so I'll call around and find out what the situation is.

OP posts:

MotherofInvention · 07/04/2009 21:53

I had two students subsequently for two days a week for two terms. Very lucky with the first one who was fab and had realistic expectations as to what looking after babies involves. The second one was quite spoilt and immature and it wasn't very easy going, although I still really appreciated the help (could go swimming with baby boys etc).

You need to contact colleges offering the NVQ2 or 3 in Childcare and Education. A lot of them have stopped doing the placements for various reasons and won't let their students travel very far. But it's definitely worth a try, the earlier the better as they only do babies under 1 I think and have lots of interested mums, naturally...

PaulaMummyKnowsBest · 20/04/2009 18:37

if any of you are in St Albans, I will happily do some voluntry work with your newborn twins.

I love having twins

jerin · 20/04/2009 22:31

I found that my local college no longer does placement due to CRB checks. I do have someone from Homestart come once a week but actually find it easier to cope on my own. The homestart lady will only come when it suits her and I'm not busy then.

magnummum · 22/04/2009 09:26

Hi Jerin
Contacting local college was on my list of things to do today - I'm guessing we're close to each other as we're both East Surrey girls (is it Coulsdon who aren't doing it anymore?). As someone who has to have a CRB check for work I appreciate it's a bit of a fag but I can't help wondering if they don't do it at college how are these people then let loose with children when they qualify or how do they qualify if they never see a child?

kathryn2804 · 03/05/2009 23:21

I had a student. She was ace. You can't leave them un-attended with the babies as they are not qualified, but after they'd been fed etc, I would go and have a bath or a lie down sometimes. Was really useful

eeyore12 · 12/05/2009 15:33

I live near Epsom and am a qualified nanny with twins experience, more than happy to help out with new born twins if you are localish to me.

bedfordgirl · 16/05/2009 20:14

My college student started with us when the twins were less than a month old and was invaluable. She chose to return to us for her final placement this year(the twins are now one), so it's been great for us to have her back and for her to see them growing up. She's extremely proactive, always does things exactly as I've shown her and we now use her as a babysitter. There was an occasion when we've got back from a night out and she'd washed up all the bottles and put the sterilizer on! She's amazing.

However... a number of my friends have had far less successful placement students, so it totally depends on who you get.

Good luck!

victoriagirl · 18/05/2009 07:34

We had someone from the local nanny agency who wanted to return to nannying but didn't have any up to date experience so needed some work experience. She was fantastic and it meant that I enjoyed my maternity leave with the babies rather than just surviving. She would play with the babies while I could get on and do the washing, bottles etc. (2 mornings a week) It was great. So great that she is their nanny now that I have gone back to work. Don't know if it would be worth seeing if any of your local nanny agencies have anyone like this?

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