Parent having baby

[RedDragon]

I look after a little one 20 hours a week - he is adorable - no trouble.

Now his mum's baby is due end June and she asked me what happens if she goes into labour when little one is with me?

She hinted that she would prefer me to mind rather than take him to relatives.

Am I allowed to look after him if it gets past a certain time (i.e. overnight).

I am not registered for overnight care.

[Helen79]

I'm not sure about this. I'm in the same position with a mum expecting soon so will be looking forward to the replies aswell.
I'm not registered for overnight as a childminder but would have them if it was an emergency if the mum was in labour.

[gegele]

i don't know but i would just assume you would go in emergency plan, inform ofsted and your insurance but i still think that you shouldn't be put in the position. fair enough for a late pick up but not overnight as what happen if she's in labour 2days???

i wouldn't agree to the overnight but would cover til late emergency pick up.

[FussyElmo]

We were told by our DO that we had to put in place that if there was ever a sitution that required us to look after the child overnight because of an emergency we were allowed to do so even if we didnt offer over night care as it would be benefical to the child not to go through the trauma of social services.

Dont know the in's and out's of what you have to do if situation arises but hopefully someone will come along and tell you more....or if I was told wrong!!

I have my mindee overnight as she is also my dd friend but on those occasions she is not a mindee :)

[FizzysFriends]

MY DO told me I could mind up until about 10pm without being registered for overnight care.

[Alibali]

I did this with one of my mindees, but I was doing it as a favour without pay, so not really childminding, just babysitting for a friend!

[Demonjill]

I read somewhere that if you looked after children between the hours of 10 pm and think its 6 am you dont need to be registered but i have never looked into this further as i was trying to find different info out at the time and never went back to it. Cant remember where i seen it but im sure i have more than once.

[nokidshere]

I would just book him out as a mindee and look after him as a favour to a friend.

[Daftbat]

Whilst i do have an overnight licence i have never charged for children in my care whilst covering labour.

I offer to take care of children of people i work for as it seems sensible as the child has a close relationship with me.

Last time it happened i actually went over to the parents house in the middle of the night and slept there to save disturbing the child. I got up and came home before hubby went to work and before mindees came - it worked out well.

[rickysmiths]

I had this last Nov with a mindee and parents. I said that I would be happy to have mindee at any time 'out of hours' as a favour and a friend. They are a fabulous family and I can't wait to start looking after the little brother when they both come back full time in Aug.

Oh yes, anyhow it was quite funny really. I still had mindee full time and on the Friday at pick up she had been a bit off, not quite herself. Mum rang the next day to tell me mindee had been throwing up all night and dad was now, so mum had spent all night cleaning up after daughter, now dad and then she got it on Sunday and so did I, so I couldn't work on the Mon or Tues.

Anyhow, at about miday on Mon I had a text to say baby had arrived, 2 weeks early but all were well. They went into hospital at 3am, took mindee!! Then when mum was settled he took her to an auntie 30 miles away because I was ill with the runs :eek: Best laid plans!
Dad then thought I'll nip home on the way back to the hospital to get the bits out of the loft and missed the birth!!!!!!

[littletreasures]

My mindee doesn't have any relatives close to us that could have had her when Mum went into labour. Labour happened on a day mindee doesn't come. Dad phoned in the afternoon and I went and collected O straight away. Put her to bed at my house and then got a phone call about 9 to say baby had arrived (homebirth). Took O home so saw baby at 1/2 hour old. Because I saw him so tiny and still had O while Mum was on maternity leave we were together a lot and have a really close bond now. I started minding him on the odd ocassion from when he was 8 weeks old and now he is 3.

If the parents don't have anybody around to fall back on surely you as a childminder who they spend a lot of time with is the next best thing to Mummy at a time like that rather than social services.

[sparkibobs]

Hi.
I rang Ofsted to check on this a couple of months ago. I was told that overnight care is when it goes into another day. I look after X sometimes from 2.30pm - 10.30pm and they said this was fine. The lady was lovely and said she'd make a note of it on my file to let them know I was checking for advice.
I'd give them a ring. As another memeber said it's consistency of care and you wouldn't want the child to be upset when they are already comfortable with you.
Good luck
x