Childcare and unintentional injury in young children

A UCL Institute of Child Health study suggests a link between childcare and an increased risk of unintentional injury among young children from deprived backgrounds. The research study, published ahead of print in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health points to an association between childcare and injury for some children. The findings were based on almost 14,000 children, who were part of the Millennium Cohort Study to track the long-term health and wellbeing of UK children born between 2000 and 2002. Around eight out of 10 children between the ages of three and six'years'old, and around one in four of those under three receive some childcare in countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Childcare arrangements were categorised as only being cared for by a parent; or regularly using any amount of informal childcare with relatives, friends, neighbours, babysitters and unregistered childminders; or formal childcare - nursery/childcare centre/registered childminder, nanny or au pair. The responses showed that at the age of nine months old, almost half of all the infants were being cared for by only a parent, but by the age of three this had fallen to about 40%. The use of formal childcare arrangements increased between birth and the age of three, while the use of informal arrangements fell slightly, from around a third at nine months.