Day 1 of DS settling in - key worker is pregnant

[conkers10]

hi all,
i brought my 8 mth old son to settle into nursery and met his key worker. She seems lovely and I would be happy for her to care for my son.

She mentioned that she is pregnant and having terrible trouble with nausea. I remember it quite well myself and the fact that although I was in work, I felt rotten and just kind of coped with the day. I also remember that as I got bigger I was not able to lift my nephew much who was about 8 months old at the time.

The nursery generally follows the baby's routine until they are waddlers. My son is usually rocked to sleep but he is over 9kg now. I think he is too heavy for her to lift yet I hate the idea of him crying to sleep in his cot or that she may be reluctant to pick him up for a cuddle. He is not mobile yet and teething so he likes lots of cuddles at the moment. I am also worried that she may be out sick a lot or just coping with her days and that it may make the whole nursery experience more difficult for my son. I guess I am just concerned that he may not get the attention I expected or that she may hurt herself, neither of which I want, is there anything I can/should do? Has anyone been in this situation? Am I just being overly concerned?

Exactly the same happened to us, when DS started nursery at 12 months last year. I think you are being over concenred.

Although he has a key worker, there are several other ladies who work in the baby room at his nursery, and they all care for the children to a great or lesser extent. And his KW was pretty active the whole time until she went on mat leave. The only day she didn;t coem in was when the ice was so bad she was scared to walk to nursery (down a steep hill) , but other people covered for her. I don't think he missed out with his KW being pg.

The nursery will do a full risk assessment whilst the KW is pregnant, stating clearly what she will / won't be required to do. As Bike said all the staff will share in the care of your child, the assigned keyworker is the carer that will get to know your DS the best and monitor his development and carry out obs etc. He in all probability won't be with her all of the time he is at nursery, but she will bond / make friends with him as much as she can.

However if she is due on mat leave soon, I would consider asking if another KW could be assigned as your DS will need to start the process again with a new person. Just to add (cos it might sound a bit to ask to change) I'm sure her pregnancy won't affect her ability to work or her role, infact I find pregnant nursery nurses to be very mothery and gooey over their charges, and they generally get rather spoilt. - in a good way that is -

My ds started at 12 months and his keyworker took 2 months off about a month in (bereavement so unavoidable). It didn't matter because he had formed bonds with other carers. At our nursery they have a keyworker but that person doesn't do everything with the child - they are just the contact point.

So I wouldn't worry but there is nothing wrong with discussing your concerns with keyworker or nursery manager

As someone who worked in a nursery I must point out that a key person is a key person in name only - they will only be noted as the key person - they will be the ones doing observations on your child and filling in their development files and that's it. She won't be the one to rock him to sleep, feed him his bottles and be his "surrogate you"

All members of staff in the room will be giving him the care/attention as they should - feeding him, hugging him if he's sad, supporting and answering your questions etc.

Imagine if they keyworker persona was actually put into place there would be days when some members of staff would have 8 children and others have none, your child would be ignored for at least 2 hours a day - the lunch break and part of the shift system, what would happen if the member of staff was ill etc.

So don't worry about your keyworker being pregnant - it will not affect your child in anyway.

At my nursery I was allowed to lift children up til 5 months (for h&S reasons). If she's still in her first trimester it'll be a while before she goes on maternity leave, so your ds will have time to settle and bond with the other nursery staff.

Just because the keyworker is unable to lift or off sick doesn't mean your ds will be left to cry - someone else will rock him! He'll become close to all members of staff.

Thanks everyone. Glad to hear I am just being over cautious. She seems really nice and I did not want to be insensitive about such a special time in her own life, but obviously wanted my son to be cared for as best as possible.

conkers you sound really considerate But please don't worry about mentioning it, you most certainly won't be the first parent too, its the first thing most parents blurt out when one of the girls is expecting, they will be used to it and not in the least bit offended.

I work in a nursery and i am pregnant i still pick up children ( one that weighs 3 stone)I wouldnt let my pregnancy effect the children in my care. The only thing i dont do is sit on the floor with the children(find it hard to get back up)i now sit on a small chair so i am still at a child friendly level.

Please dont worry as someone else mentioned the keyworker does not do the day to day care of your child on her own all staff should be involved, your child should not be effected by a pregnant keyworker

You would be surprised how quickly babies adapt to a change in key worker. A good nursery will prepare children for the change. My daughter has just changed rooms at nursery and I am finding the change harder than her. lol...

Hi I am new to this website. I am 34 weeks pregnant and still wrking at a nursery where i work with the 9-30 month old children. although a risk assesment was mentioned when i initially said i was pregnant i have not seen one nor have i been asked to discuss it. On the whole I have found work very diificult and as they have not been particualrly helpful or considerate and have generally beeen awkward about time ff for antenatal and midwife appointmenents etc.
Many people are saying I should not be lifting the children at this stage in pregnancy and I am finding wrk extremely tiring especially doing nappies and getin up and down from the floor. Just wondered if anyone had any experience of being pregnant whilst working at a nursery and what there employers said and did regarding health and safety as cannot find any clear info on nursery workers health and safety guidelines on the internet????

spanhead You must be Risk Assessed, I'm pretty sure that it's a legal requirement.

In any case appointments in relation to antinatal stuff should be accomodated.

Do you have a line manager, please speak to the management and discuss your physical state, in the meantime post on employment, their are some fab HR Mnetters on here who can tell you exactly what your employers should be doing.

spanhead, I am an Employer.
It is a legal requirement to do a risk assessment as soon as you tell your employer.
I do this and discuss with them what I expect them to do and tell them they must do what they are comfortable with.
for eg i say dont lift heavy children so in that case they could change nappies on the floor.
I make sure they get proper breaks as per all my staff and ask them if they are ok on a regular basis, one came and said she wasnt really happy taking the bin bags out so that is fine it is what is suitable and happy for bboth parties. we work together.
ive even asked them if their hours are ok and have tweaked them slightly so they can leave earlier. Although on the whole any pregnanat staff and ive had/have a few have been ok til the end (like i was i worked 10 hours a day until 3 weeks before\0