Nursery advice

[PreciousPuddleduck]

Hi, my 9mo DD is starting with a childminder next week for 2 days per week. She has told us that she cannot look after her for 1 day in mid March. I don't have any flexibility with work and no family nearby so wondered if it is possible for a nursery to have her for 1 day as a one off or how other people manage these situations??

I can't answer your question. But if your work are that inflexible and you have no emergency child care I think you should consider a nursery anyway. I went for nursery over a cm so that I didn't face to worry about cm sick days, synchronising our holidays etc

Perhaps you could ask who the cm's back up cm is if she were suddenly unable to have the children. That cm may be able to take your dc for the day.

A one off day in a nursery could be very distressing for your baby unless (possibly even if) you are able to do settling sessions. I doubt a good nursery would agree to do it TBH.

You're more likely to find another cm who would take her than a nursery - when ds was at nursery they did take him one extra morning when I had to have an urgent scan, but they said they could only do so because they had a child not there that day. There are strict laws on number of children per carer in a creche, and as creches are usually oversubscribed and have a waiting list, they would only be able to take a child for an extra day if one of their regular children was away. Your cm may know another local cm who could help out - obviously you'll want a recommendation from someone. Bit poor about your work though - you'd think they could be understanding for one day.

I would arrange for myself or DH to take the day as holiday as we also use a childminder and have no family near by. You could each take a half day off, or if holiday not an option is there a friend or family member who could come to stay? Or perhaps a friend or neighbour with similar age child who your child is familiar with. Your CM may know other CM who your child could get to know and who then could be used for these kind of situations.

I find it unlikely a nursery would do this tbh, for all the reasons above, plus they need an inordinate amount of paperwork about you and dp for child protection reasons. However I agree with pp, if your work is really this inflexible then I wouldn't rely on a cm as childcare anyway unless I had a back-up. Is there a trusted friend with a child who could have dc for the day and you pay them back by babysitting or taking her dc on day out? A cm can get ill and you could be left in the lurch. I'd probably just take a day's holiday but I would think about what would happen if this were to occur more often.

Yeah I would agree with others who say that you need back up plans
For childcare, or for your work to be a lot more
Flexible. Childminders can and do say at a moments notice that they cannot have your child that day- it happened to me a lot unfortunately!