what shall I tell ofsted about nap arrangements?

[shivon]

I am concerned about where the children in my care will sleep/nap. I was told on the pre-reg course that it's ok to say that the children will nap on the sofa, but another lady said that her friend was a childminder and she had been told by ofsetd that you were not allowed to let children nap on the sofa incase they fall off. I know this is a question Ofsted may ask me on my pre-reg visit and i'm not sure what to say. Where do other people let the children nap?

[ruby]

mine sleep in pushchairs( with parents premission) if they fall asleep when we are out and i leave them in it when we get home
.
on ready beds, cots and on occassion the sofa
i do put pillows on the floor in front of the sofa so if they do fall off they will have a soft landing

cathy

[green puppy]

One of mine sleeps in a travel cot and the others in lay flat pushchairs, this is how they nap at home and I have signed permission from parents to say they agree. Each child sleeps in their own room upstairs (mine, my dd's and spare room), when I have all four, one sleeps in the lounge in pushchair.

[babs]

younger one sleeps in a travel cot , older ones on sofa or blow up bed on floor, or like today in a heap in the middle of living room floor lo was fighting going to sleep and was playing on floor and nodded off..

[mama2three]

if you are asked at your prereg i would say you will discuss individual childrens needs with their parents , as some prefer to sleep in buggies , others in travel cots , some only sleep in darkened rooms etc. As every child is different you will buy your resources to suit them once you know..then risk assess / do evac plan relating to where they are..

[singingcactus]

Under 2's in my house would sleep in a travel cot. Over 2's will sleep on the sofa. By 2 they are too old for travel cots and will most likely be in beds at home so I can't see that they would be more likely to fall off the sofa than fall out of bed. If ofsted were to have a problem then I would just explain my reasoning and also my strategies for minimising this risk.
Truth be told though, the kids generally stay awake in the house and only crash in the buggy.

[Millenium]

One sleeps in my fully-recling buggy (at parent's request). I also have two large travel cots - even big enough for the one who is almost four! They all sleep together in the same room.

[coffee-time]

ive got a pop up travel cot for younger ones (not that ive got any mindees yet though)! and im very interested to read that a lot of you use buggies that lie flat, i asked the ofsted inspector on my pre reg about doing that and he seemed quite surprised that id even want to! i cant see whats wrong with it as long as it lies flat as someone mentioned its where they usually fall asleep anyway! well mine always did! ive got a single blow up bed, i might use that also.

[TheBTeam]

My older ones (20-33m) sleep on large flat cushions on a carpeted area covered with their own sheet and a blanket each. They are all at the moment sleeping in the same room, which is on the ground floor and closed off to others playing around them at the time they are sleeping.

The younger babies at the moment are sleeping in the same room as dh and I and luckily for us some days at the time of the older ones, they lay flat on our cushioned rug and again have their own sheet and blankets.

I have previously allowed toddlers to sleep on our leather sofa on a sheet and put a cushion to stop them rolling off, we have one of us in the same room and could respond if they started to stir.

I have also in the past had two boys that slept in lieback pushchairs in an upstairs room using a monitor, this worked very well, but isnt something i will probably do again, simply because i dont want upstairs used really anymore. I have again used a pushchair for a younger child in the room where the older ones were sleeping when they napped at the same time.

I think you need to explain to Ofsted that your arrangements will be what works for the age/stage of the child, and meets their needs over the time they need to sleep and the other children that may be in your care at the same time, so you will be open to suggestions/the needs of parents and will assess the final details for each child you are asked to care for. If you make it clear what kind of options you may have available, ie pushchairs, travel cots, sleep mats, etc this should be sufficient.

[shivon]

Thanks for all the replies everyone they have been really helpful x