Occasional childcare - any suggestions?

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I wonder if any of you who are more experienced than I am in finding childcare can help with this one:

I have two daughters, dd1 aged 6 years, dd2 aged 4 months. I am about to go back to work full time. Dd1 has always been looked after by dh (and a very good job he does too) and the general plan is to continue with that now dd2 has arrived, HOWEVER...

During my 6 months maternity leave, dh's freelance career has begun to take off and he needs to be able to go out for a morning or afternoon here and there, and some evenings. The problem is there is no pattern to when he needs to be out. He can't take dd2 with him and sometimes dd1 will need to be collected from school. Grandparents live too far away to enlist their help.

Has anyone got any suggestions about what sort of childcare might be suitable/available? We have never really had to consider childcare before (apart from regular pre-school/nursery for dd1) so we don't know what options there are, especially as the arrangements would need to be so flexible. The only thing I can think of is a temporary nanny but I imagine they are very expensive.

You may be able to find a childminder locally who would love to work on a casual basis, particularly if she minds before and after school. It is one way for her to fill those free hours.

Go to www.childcarelink.gov.uk for a list of minders near to where you live.

Have a look at my site for what childminders can offer, click here

How infrequent is this? Depending on your answer my two suggestions would be an understanding childminder - my neighbour looks after two children whose Mum is a supply teacher and works infrequently - this suits my neighbour too as she does not want to be a full time childminder but likes the money that being a part-time one brings in - she is busiest at this time of year due to sickness at schools etc. and uses the money for Christmas - so that option would be there. The other option would only be a possibility is this is fairly infrequent - do you have a friend who could have them occasionally - someone you trust and who would trust you or dh to return the favour - they have yours when dh goes to work, you have theirs for whatever reason shopping, gym, afternoon peace etc. Could work.

Jaybee, your suggestion is fine, but anyone who looks after a child that is not related to them for reward, - money or in kind ,must be registered and have insurance. and also be police checked.

It would be okay to have somebody in your own home, no regulations or rules for that!

Alibubbles - how is this situation monitored? I mean there mmust be thousands of people (myself included) who have informal childcare arrangements & are not police checked, insured etc. I don't receive money for helping my friends & neighbours out but they return the favour 'in kind' - last night I had two children round to sleep the night whilst their parents are out - does this mean I am breaking the Law?

Sorry to stray from original subject but this intrigues me - I do understand the need for such legislation (only today I have provided a detailed Ofsted reference for someone who is a volunteer at our playgroup) but surely in 'real life' there is loads of informal helping out going on.

Lindy I didn't realise that applied. I am babysitting the little boy (1 yr old)across the road in a couple of weeks while his parents go out for the evening. If I brought him back to my house and put him in the travel cot so I could sit with DH instead of waving through the window at him (!) would I be breaking the law? And if I invited him across to play with my DS but his Mum didn't come would that be breaking the law?

Alibubbles - are you sure about this? Firstly, my neighbour is a registered childminder but as many others have just said - many of us Mums look after others, have others for tea, etc. Personally, I have my friends two boys for about an hour most mornings and she picks mine up from school - we have been doing this for years. Are we breaking a law?

I am a registered childminder and the ofsted ruling is that if you are not caring for reward you do not have to be registered, if it is for reward you can only care for up to 2 hours per day without having to be inspected.
They are currently looking into registering everyone who cares for a child who is not their own, even grandmas! although its a few years off yet.

jaybee, bozza et al, no you are not breaking any rules, looking after each others' children as you all do is not affected by the Ofsted ruling. I am talking about when you look after someone elses child on a regular basis.
My friend and I used to bank hours for each other, I looked after her son, in exchange she looked after my two. It was an irregular informal arrangement, but we didn't feel put upon by each other, as we knew we could ask each other any time.

I am not talking about babysitting for someone, ( you do this in their home anyway), having kids back to tea etc. I am talking about something that happens on a regular basis , for more than two hours and money is exchanged.

Many, many people do this sort of thing and more. Informal arrangements are not of interest to Ofsted. They are however interested if it occurs frequently, because that child must be looked after and protected according to the law.

Many people childmind unofficially, and I am afraid to say, appear in the press when something untoward has happened and end up giving registered childminders a bad name as they always refer to the accused as a 'childminder' rather than a registered childminder.

People couldn't survive wwithout all the informal childcare going on. However, if you are going to work and a hild needs to be looked after, it is in your best interest and of the child to use 'official' methods, - nanny, reg. childminder, day nursery, etc.

I didn't mean to be alarmist, and give anyone the wrong idea, but children and their needs and wellbeing must always come first.