Daycare in Your Clinic

If it weren't for the whole germ thing, this would be a good idea. I used to go to a grocery store where there was a baby-sitting service in the store and my gym has childcare too. So why not a large medical center? It wouldn't work for every small office, but for a larger place it would probably make some sense. Except as others have mentioned, there's probably a higher than normal percentage of children who would have been exposed to illness so that would be an issue for a general practitioner, but for a place that does dental work, orthopedics, OB-gyn and things other than dealing with people who have contagious illnesses it might make sense.

And this is why God made babysitters!

And who is going to pay for that? The clinic? Health insurance? You? Childcare is expensive, you need the space, the staff, if it's part of a business there are licensing and liability concerns. I do not think that it would be cost effective to have a daycare at most clinics.

If you need an hour or two to go to the doctor, why not get a sitter to come to your home...?

Uhm, people who come to clinics are sick. A daycare in a clinic would be a great way to spread what the parent had to all the kids of other patients.

Find a drop in day care.

I agree with the moms that say the kids will get sick.

I use a drop in only daycare, max of 4 hours at a time. Its not in my clinic, but it works great.

Maybe it's an unreasonable fear but I'd be worried about child picking up more difficult to deal with germs in a medical center.
Hospitals/clinics deal with sick people - yes?
And even if their kids are not showing symptoms - they've been exposed to what ever their parents are suffering from.
And then you group together kids with that exposure in one room perhaps for several hours.
Granted, that can happen in any day care but it's rare for everyone to be sick all at the same time.
A clinic day care is just not something I would ever use.
You need to widen your baby sitting / day care circle if you are having trouble finding someone to watch your child for 4 or so hours.

The cost of health care is high enough. Sorry, but I don't want the cost of an office visit to go up so the doctor can pay someone to work in child care and also pay rent, insurance and everything else that goes along with having child care.

Sorry it's not convenient for you, but why should I pay for child care that I don't need.

On our post, we have cdc centers and fcc homes all run through the Army. There are full day options or you can do hourly care for $4 an hour. If your husband is deployed, then you get an additional 16 hours of free care. The centers and homes run through the Army are held to very high standards. FCC also has homes that are off post as well. In our area there is also a reputable private center off post that offers hourly care. Your child has to be signed up with CYS to use the cdc or fcc childcare options, which can take a little bit of time to get through, but it is worth it in the long run.

I do not know how old your child is, but I have a 2 year old and he usually goes with me to appointments if they are at the hospital on post. They have no problems with this, as long as he can be restrained in a stroller while I am having an exam. If you need x-rays, you can always just wheel the stroller to the safe area where a parent would stand when their child gets an x-ray. If I have an appointment off post, like a dental checkup, I either have my husband take off s couple of hours (they are really good about helping the families out here) or I take my on to the cdc or fcc.

The gym here has a small cdc so you can workout in peace, and I think it is a great idea to have one in the hospital as well!

Added- Beenthere: The hospital that I go to is not just for when you are sick. The hospital has TONS of clinics with specialized doctors. If you are going in for OB/GYN, or the foot doctor, or to get the yearly asthma test done, I don't see the problem with it. Maybe there could be a way for the parents to be limited to using the center only if there are not ill.

While it sounds ideal, I'm not for my son going to a 'daycare' with a bunch of strange kids, some of whom might be ill, tired, hungry or maxed out, etc.

I don't want to leave my son with someone I don't know, which is why I don't use the daycare at IKEA or at a gym. I've worked in child care for far too long myself-- 'just anyone' can pass a background check, put some playdough out on a table, put some coloring books out and call it 'daycare'. No thanks.

I also know that plenty of doctor's offices don't wind up that appointment in 30 minutes. That's why I pack up the backpack with a lot of stuff to do for my son. Even when he was younger...

And that doesn't even cover the cost of paying the person plus the insurance/liability policy they'd need to carry, nor the regs they would need to meet to make the space acceptable for any sort of certification. Some insurance policies require an adult to be in the company of another adult during diaper changes/assisting in toileting. I've had to coordinate this sort of care for events-- it's not a picnic and requires at least two staff members at all times. .... it's those sorts of things which preclude this sort of service.

Things have changed quite a bit since my kids were little. I used to use the center on base at night (6pm or so to do grocery shopping) and drop my son off.

Try to find someone who is at home that provides child care. It's a catch 22 situation where you want to leave your child out of the hospital and if you take him/her there are in the way at the appointment.

When I did a stint at the ped's clinic overseas they used to have toys in the waiting room area and they suddenly disappeared because non sick came in and played with the toys that the sick kids played with and transferred germs. They also had sick baby days and well baby days scheduled.

Welcome to the real world of military and parenting.

The other S.

I want that. I've had to put off important appointments.

We are military, too, so I know exactly what you mean. I would imagine it's a problem most SAHMs have--except military families usually don't have any family nearby.

Most posts do hourly care--but it can be difficult to get them in. A lot of my friends do a standing hourly care appt--say Wednesday 9-1 and then know they can schedule things at that time. I have always had one or two really good friends that would take my kids for appts (and I take theirs).

Good Luck!!

This is what Mother's Day Out Programs are for. The are part time care that you sign up for. You can do one day per week, 2 day's per week, or every day they are open.

We took my granddaughter 2 days per week, my grandson went 1 day per week then went 3 days per week then went 2 days per week.

Because I knew I was able to plan on those days with no kids I could plan ahead my appointments for docs and shopping. It's much easier to go to the store with out anyone else going along.

It's fairly easy, they are usually in a Methodist Church in the neighborhood. I'd call and find one.

Plus it's really affordable since it's only part time and maybe $20 per day.

We lived away from family for a year, and I was a SAHM at the time. I just took my son with me. I broke my wrist once, and they had to do x-rays every couple of weeks. I just put him in the stroller with some snacks or toys, and the staff watched him for the few minutes it took to do the x-ray. (Thankfully, I never had to take him with me to my OB/GYN appts. I think I talked my husband into taking a little time off work.) One time a staff member did look at me and say, "Don't you have someone to watch him?" I just looked at him and said, "No." He was the only person to even question that, and I'm pretty sure he got an earful from a female staff member!

I know it's an inconvenience for you, but it is doable. And don't worry about inconveniencing the staff. They deal with this all the time. You're not the only SAHM in this position.

Until I had DD in preschool, DH would take off for any really personal appointments I had and I took DD in with me the rest of the time. Sometimes I took DD to get her visit done and then wen to the other floor for my thing. It's not just the military - everyone needs to juggle the kid now and then. I have also had friends watch DD for a few hours while I had something to do and then I watched their kids in return.

I would be concerned about germs, frankly. It's germy enough at the doctor's office but at least I am right there to cover her in hand sanitizer or move from someone who is coughing.