Hello - my nursery has got rid of it's baby room, what shall i do?

[SevernTrentWater]

there are only two nurseries local to me as i don't drive and have no choice but to go back to work, that take babies under 2. I have a four month old, going in 3 full days a week.

The one i am registered to place her in has just informed me they've got rid of the baby room, so basically there is one cot in the room, and lots of toys on the floor, but the toddlers can come in and out and use that room too. The nursery seems lovely, i've dropped in unannounced a few times and everything looked good but the lack of baby room worries me a bit, i'm not sure if she';d have a dedicated staff member, or if she'll be sharing one minding toddlers - why would she get her own if she's the only baby? they have so few babies apparantly, never more than two at the same time and usually no younger than 9 months, i'm also worried that there is a herd of toddlers stampeding around who could hurt her. Or will she get more attention from staff, being the only little one?

The other nursery has only satisfactory ratings and has been given a poor hygiene warning by ofsted for the baby room. When i went there the staff were ignoring the kids drinking tea and it all seemed very staged. There is a baby room, but the man admitted most days they have no babies, so to my reasoning she could be left in there and ignored as it's in a totally different part of the house from everything else...or maybe i'm being silly and this would work better because she'd have a dedicated staff member?

I don't know about childminders, i'm due to start work in two weeks, not enough time to check one and find one and i would feel paranoid about having her looked afte rin someone's house not able to see what's going on, and what if the childminder is ill etc, no cover.

i mean, with no one else able to check what's going on.

The lack of a dedicated baby room wouldn't necessarily worry me. As long as they are able to keep the room quiet when your dd is sleeping, the rest of the time it will be fine and probably more fun for her to mix with the toddlers. Obviously you have some very reasonable concerns and questions, which you should discuss with the nursery. Once you've talked to them about it see how you feel then.

I don't think it's necessarily impossible for you to find a childminder in the time you have, but they will not have a dedicated baby room either, and your baby is likely to mix with toddlers there.

Don't go for the second nursery you describe, you will never be able to relax.

I think you need reassurance about the level of staffing and supervision, I think it is 1:2 max for under 2's, and continuity of care. Lots of people use cm 's successfully as an alternative. It might be worth enquiring of a few , perhaps on recommendation.

I found a childminder in less than two weeks... go to Child Care Link and search for all the ones in your area with immediate vacancies.. then get emailing tonight. Call or contact the ones that respond to you and get visiting. I only ended up seeing four before I found a fantastic cm who adores ds, and who (more importantly) ds adores.

The ratio for staff to babies is 1:3, if she was being shared with toddlers they have to adhere to the lower ratio of 1:3 so it wouldn't be her plus 3 toddlers (toddler ratio is 1:4)

My advice to you would be childminder. I went back to work when DD was 6 months old and we found a nursery place for her however, with the best will in the world the nursery weren't really set up to deal with babies - toddlers coming and going etc etc. DD1 could just about sit up unaided but they didn't have any bumbos or similar. The staff were also very young and not mothers so wasn't sure she was getting the best care.

We found a fantastic childminder within 2 weeks and haven't looked back. I may be flamed but, for a baby, the next best thing to being looked after by their mother is childcare in the home environment by a good childminder. Nurseries (in my view) are best for slightly older children (18 months +)

I agree sallypuss...

A good baby room in a good nursery can be fab, but from what you say re the first choice I don't think it would be the best option to mix a baby that young with a large amount of toddlers, I would be concerned that it may be too noisy for naps etc, the second nursery I wouldnt even consider, if staff don't know how to keep the place clean it sounds like a no hope kinda place and you will be at work stressing.

WRT using a childminder their are some fantastic ones out their and they tend to have similar ages of children and only take on mindees that fit with the current group, I have two baby spaces ATM but won't fill them until next year as all my other mindees are in the 2-5 and after school age group, so when next Sept they all tootle off to school/nursery I will have a new group of under 1's and retain them until they are off to school and so on. I can understand your concerns about not being able to see whats going on, but the same applies wherever your DC is (unless they use a babycam system), CM's are very heavily regulated and personally we have parents pick up and drop off throughout the day, playgroups fellow minders coming, network groups etc we are on show if you like for the best part of the day, nurseries arn't.

Sick days may be a problem but most minders have back up minders in cases of emergencies which do happen you could always ask about cover if you visit any, sick days are few and far between I've had 2 in 4 years and 1 was pre-arranged for biopsy and most minders I know have a similar number.

I found my childminder almost overnight when the settling-in sessions at my chosen nursery revealed some things that I felt uncomfortable with. My DS went to her for almost 2 years and in that time she didn't have any time off due to sickness at all. She also had her own children and DS thrived there.

Our CM was also very flexible with changing work demands and I'd use a CM over a nursery any day. That said, friends of mine continued to use the nursery that I rejected and they were (and remain) very happy with it.

The nursery we use doesn't have many babies either now, but when they do the staff really love and fuss over them, they are like royalty or something. If you are happy with the rest of it the lack of baby room wouldn't worry me, in fact I always liked the DCs to spend time with older children when they were babies - more fun!