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Have any of you been childminding whilst you were expecting your own baby? How far along were you able to work until? When did you return to work? Is it really possible to childmind with a newborn? Did you need to start over with new customers after the baby was born or did you hang on to current customers?
I was childminding when expecting DD. I had a pretty easy pregnancy, althowugh lots of tiredness at start and end... we just had easy days those days, or went to friends/had friends to us!
I know I saw the midwife .. I had to see her every 2 weeks ... but can't remember if I managed to go out of work hours, if I took mindees with me or what!
I worked up until 2 weeks before my due date ... DD was born a couple of days later! Easy birth and I was back working when DD was 9 or 10 weeks old. BUT I only did my schoolies to start with, and some older LO's .
Most of my mindees found alternative cover for those 2/3 months. But there were alot of childminders where I lived at the time. Most mindees came back to me, but as DS was still in my under 5 ratio and I didn't think about asking Ofsted for a variation for my own baby till it was too late, so I did lose some. But I didn't take on any new children until DD was about 5/6 mths old.
Good luck! X
Have you got some exciting news to share with us, or are you thinking ahead :)
I've had 2 babies while I've been childminding. With both I only had one mindee at the time as I already had 2 under 5s of my own and didn't look after school aged children.
I worked until about 4 weeks before they were due. I could probably have worked longer, but in those days you were advised to finish work 6 weeks before your due date, so I was pushing it working till 4 weeks before! I started back working again after 3 months. To be honest, apart from the tiredness that comes with having a young baby, it wasn't that hard. You just need good routines in place.
The first time I was pregnant while I was childminding, the mum put her son in nursery when I went on maternity leave. She said she didn't see how I'd be able to look after her son and a young baby so chose nursery. Before my maternity leave had even finished she was begging me to take him back as he hated nursery! He came back when my baby was 3 months old.
The next time I arranged cover with another childminder. She'd signed a child to start up when my maternity leave was due to finish, so it worked well for both of us - she was earning money while she was waiting for the other child to start and I knew the child would come back to me as she didn't have the space to keep him on!
No, not expecting, I'm just a planner and wondering how it would all work. Ideally I'd like to stop for a bit and take proper maternity then start back up again but i just don't know if that's the right thing to do.
I would say do what’s right for you. If you can afford to take a longer maternity leave and don’t mind the thought of possibly having to start from scratch with new children, then do it. When I had my children maternity pay was pretty pants so most mums went back to work after 3 or 4 months. If I’d the chance I’d definitely have stopped off longer.Quote:
Originally Posted by mumofone
I was getting all excited for a moment mumofone! Gosh, you might have to change your forum name, lol! xQuote:
Originally Posted by mumofone
Haha yes sorry - i couldn't think what to title my thread!Quote:
Originally Posted by Maza
Back when I had my 3rd daughter I was childminding for teachers children so I planned my pregnancy well and my due date was 14th July - I worked up until my due date and had my baby on the 18th July - the teacher's children were looked after by her friend for last week of school. I then returned to childminding 6 weeks later with my own 9 year old who had moved up to middle school so walked with friends, my 7 year old I had to drive to school each day, a 3 year old mindee to get to Nursery, a 15 month mindee and my 6 week old baby. 23 years ago self employed people didn't get maternity pay so I didn't have much choice.
I'd say it comes down to what choices you have- can you afford to take a break? We all know how quick they grow and how precious those early months are, you never get that time back.
You can get cover for mindees who want to come back to you (parents ca find alternative CMers for a maternity leave period). You may lose some but how hard is it to fill spaces? (depends on your local market).
Or you let everyone go and concentrate on new baba, by taking a proper break you can then slowly build up the mindees again when you and your family are ready, rather than having a date looming when everyone will be back.
But, we don't all have the luxury of taking a break. I know CMers who were back working after 6 weeks. If you need the income then that's what you do and they manage.