Tag: first aid

Ensuring Children’s Safety: A Comprehensive Guide for Nannies

Children’s safety is a paramount concern for parents, nannies, and caregivers alike. From ensuring a safe home environment, managing food preparation, administering first aid, and even monitoring online activities – each facet of a child’s life presents unique safety considerations

Children’s safety is a paramount concern for parents, nannies, and caregivers alike. From ensuring a safe home environment, managing food preparation, administering first aid, and even monitoring online activities – each facet of a child’s life presents unique safety considerations.

First Aid Knowledge

As a nanny, being equipped with first aid knowledge is not just an asset – it’s a must. Familiarize yourself with basic procedures such as CPR, dealing with choking incidents, treating cuts and bruises, and handling allergic reactions. Attend accredited First Aid courses, and keep your certification up-to-date.

Safe Food Preparation

Food safety is critical, especially with younger children prone to foodborne illnesses. Wash hands before handling food, ensure ingredients are fresh and properly stored, and maintain clean kitchen surfaces. Be aware of any food allergies the child may have and adjust meal preparations accordingly.

A Safe Home Environment

Keep an eye out for potential hazards within the home. Childproof the house by securing loose cords, placing safety gates where necessary, and ensuring harmful substances are out of reach. Regularly inspect toys for broken parts that could pose a choking risk.

Online Safety

In our digital age, online safety has become an increasing concern. As a nanny, part of your role might involve managing children’s internet use. Discuss online safety rules with the children and their parents, ensure privacy settings are appropriately set, and always monitor children’s online activities to safeguard them from potential digital threats.

Remember, safety is not a one-time checklist, but a continual process of vigilance, education, and communication with both parents and children. What safety measures do you implement in your nanny role? Let’s discuss and learn from each other.

Bonfire night safety

With the cost of living on the increase and many of us watching the pennies (and pounds!) you might decide to recreate some of the fun at home with sparklers or by building a small bonfire with older children, maybe even doing some campfire cooking. The most important thing to keep in mind is that fire, and fireworks, are dangerous.

Sparklers are cheap and fun. They give off sparkles as they burn and make pretty patterns, but they can also be very dangerous and definitely shouldn’t be used by children under 5. When using sparklers:

  • Make sure everyone wears gloves
  • Hold sparklers well away from you
  • Keep a bucket of water to put the finished sparklers in
  • Only light one at a time
  • Never pass lit sparklers
  • Keep children more than an arm + sparkler’s width apart – around 6ft or 2m is a good distance
  • Never allow them to wave sparklers at each other or duel with them

If you want to make a fire, then follow some simple rules and keep it small so it doesn’t get out of control. Remember that if it’s windy you shouldn’t build a fire as the wind could pick up burning sticks and quickly get out of control. If you decide to have a bonfire at home:

  • Build the fire carefully and make sure it on clear ground away from buildings, vehicles trees, fences and overhead cables. If your garden is too small to build a fire safely then go to a public display.
  • Make sure all clothing is safe to be around fires – some synthetic materials will melt when in contact with heat
  • Don’t use any accelerants such as petrol or lighter fuel to make the fire burn faster
  • Only put wood, cardboard, leaves and and paper on it but keep flyaway materials to a minimum
  • Have buckets or water or a fire extinguisher nearby
  • Follow basic fire safety rules and once the fire has died down make sure you dampen the embers to stop it relighting

And finally, we hope you don’t need it but here’s a quick refresher on how to care for a burn:

  • Cool under cold running water for at least 10 minutes
  • A burn larger than the size of your hand requires treatment in A&E, as do full thickness burns (these look white or charred) or partial thickness burns to the face, hands, feet, arms or legs (these burns have blisters).
  • Get medical help for any burn in a child under 5, a pregnant woman, someone over 60, has a pre-existing medical condition or if there are other injuries or the person is going into shock
  • Don’t pull off anything which is stuck to the burn – if necessary, cut the material around it
  • Don’t touch the burn or try to pop any blisters
  • Cover the burn with cling film or put a clear plastic bag over the hand or foot to prevent infection – do not apply ice, creams or greasy substances such as butter

Travel first aid kit

Whilst being outside and exploring is a fun way for children to spend their time, sometimes these activities can lead to accidents. Common injuries that can occur include cuts and grazes, bumps to the head, sprains and foreign objects in the eye.

It’s always a good idea for parents and carers to be prepared by carrying a travel first aid kit. This means you can usually deal with any small incidents immediately, rather than having to find a first aider on site. Make up your own first aid kit or buy a small one to keep with you at all times.

Essential items include:

Small and medium bandages

Triangular bandage

Plasters

Antiseptic wipes

Nitrile gloves

Eye wash

It is also good to have a cold compress to treat bruising.

If a child has a more serious injury or you do not feel confident dealing with the injury, call the emergency services immediately to ensure they are treated correctly. Always have your mobile phone charged so they can be called should the need arise.

This blog was written by Train Aid, who provide paediatric First Aid courses suitable for registration on the OFSTED voluntary register. You can find upcoming first aid courses on the message board calendar.

First Aid for childcarers

One of the most common requirements for childcarers is a valid paediatric first aid certificate. All registered child minders have to hold this, as well as OFSTED registered nannies. Nurseries only have to have one member of staff trained but it’s good practice for most, if not all, staff to have done a course.

Accidents can happen at any time and frighteningly quickly. One of the biggest risks for small children is choking. The leading First Aid organizations in the UK have just published new guidance for managing choking in a baby. Instead of lying the baby along your arm and giving back slaps to dislodge the blockage they now recommend putting the child face down across your lap to administer back slaps. Changes like this are part of the reason a First Aid certificate should always be within date and fully renewed every 3 years.

It’s important to make sure the certificate specifically covers paediatric first aid as some treatment is different for children that won’t have been covered on an adult course.

Thorough First Aid training means a childcarer should feel confident about handling an incident and this will help them stay calm and remember what to do. A course should also involve hands on practice to ensure the techniques are correctly understood. No amount of reading can replace this practical component.

We urge parents to ensure their nannies and babysitters are trained in First Aid and support this petition to make it a legal requirement for all nursery worker to hold a First Aid certificate too. Please take a moment to read and sign.

First Aid courses are available through organisations such as the Red Cross and St John’s Ambulance, private providers and many nanny agencies.