So you’re heading out for your first date night since your precious baby was born. You’re leaving your baby with a very trusted friend, family member or sitter – but you are still anxious at the thought of leaving your baby for the first time.
While you can probably never really do anything to stop this anxiety completely, you can give yourself some peace of mind by making sure that the carer of your children has all the emergency and contact information available to them to ensure that the correct and quick action is taken in the event of an emergency accident, illness or other urgent situation.
Make sure that you have the following information available to the carer of your child, and make sure you run through this information and where to find it before you go. Some of this information might sound simple but in an emergency situation it is common for the mind to go blank – so make sure you have everything they may need written down and easily accessible.
Baby sitter checklist
- Your full names
- The name, address and phone number of where you will be
- Direct contact mobile number/s
- Alternate contact (preferably someone close by like a neighbour they also may be able to assist in an emergency)
- The home address
- Nearest Cross St
- Home Phone Number (if there is one)
- Police Non-Emergency number (this is good say if a fight breaks out at the front of the house for example)
- Health Advice number (good if they can’t get hold of you but are not sure if something is an emergency situation)
- Poisons Number
- Where the first aid kit is located?
- Any allergies the child may have and the location and instructions for any medication (i.e. epipen)
- Children’s ages and dates of birth
This information may not need to be written down but you should consider going through some of these depending on your situation.
- Where are all the doors are and are they able to lock and unlock every door? Do they need a key? Do they need to be shown where the key is hidden? Do they need to be shown how to operate the lock? In the unfortunate event of a fire or home invasion they may need to operate these doors in a hurry.
- Do they know how to use the speaker phone on the home phone – in the event of an emergency this is a useful tool where they may need to follow instruction from the paramedic over the phone
Be prepared for your baby sitter
Lastly, make sure you leave everything out that the baby sitter might need and have a prepared meal for them if going out at meal times. You want them to be focussing on looking after your kids rather than digging through drawers to find pyjamas or making themselves a meal.
- Make dinner for your kids and leave instructions on reheating
- Leave details of when bottles are needed and how to reheat them
- Leave a loose timetable of when your kids eat, bathe and when they should go to bed
So now you have given your sitter all the information they need to handle any situation that may arise (well those of an emergency nature anyway!). You can now go out with peace of mind and enjoy some much deserved adult time.
Other things to consider
Does your babysitter know first aid and what to do if your baby is choking? If not it might be time to ask them to take a course.
Are your babysitters immunisations up to date?
Do you hire a babysitter or use ‘the Grandparents’ when you head out for a child-free night? Or do you always take the kids? What are your tips for making the night as stress free as possible?
About the author
Lauren is from Crokidiles and is the inventor of Trollipop, designed to make shopping with a toddler easier.
