Preparation and learning
What to put on a babysitter first aid handover sheet
Leave clear contacts, the home address, relevant care plans and the location of supplies. A short handover helps a babysitter find what matters.
Before you leave a child with a babysitter, make one page they can use without hunting through messages. The first line should answer a simple question: Where are we? The next should make clear how to call for help. A handover sheet is useful precisely because a stressful evening is a poor time to remember a unit number, find a contact in somebody else’s phone, or guess which cupboard holds the medicine.
Write it together, then ask the sitter to show you where they will keep it. A lovely layout matters much less than a page they can actually find and read.
Start with the address and emergency call
Write the full unit or house number, street, suburb, state and postcode. Add a short entrance note if the front door is difficult to find, such as “driveway beside the corner shop” or “intercom 4B”. Ask the sitter to read the address aloud, exactly as they would to an emergency call-taker. “Home” saved in your contacts is not an address.
Put Triple Zero (000) at the top. In a medical emergency, the sitter should call 000 and ask for an ambulance promptly. They do not need to seek your permission first. The NSW Ambulance emergency phone card shows the location and callback details an operator may need. If a call is made, the sitter can follow the operator’s instructions and contact you when it is safe to do so.
Keep the contact list short
Include each child’s full name and date of birth, your name and a phone number you will answer that evening. Add one backup adult who has agreed to be contacted. If another parent or guardian should be called, make that clear. Write where you expect to be and when you expect to return. A little context helps, but do not bury emergency contacts under bedtime routines or screen-time rules.
Talk through the order: “Call 000 for an emergency; call me for an ordinary concern; if I cannot answer, try this person.” The Raising Children Network babysitting checklist recommends displaying parent, trusted adult and emergency numbers, as well as explaining when you want the sitter to contact you. Make the arrangement suit this household and this evening rather than copying a generic form.
Use the child’s actual medical plan
If a child has asthma, a serious allergy, diabetes or another condition that needs a plan, show the sitter the current plan itself. Do not reduce it to a line such as “give medicine if needed”. Point out where prescribed medicines are kept, what belongs to which child, and any storage instructions on the label. Make sure the sitter is comfortable and appropriately trained for anything you expect them to do. If you are unsure about the plan or their role, check with the child’s treating health professional before arranging care.
For asthma, healthdirect advises giving carers a copy of the written action plan and keeping it easy to find. For anaphylaxis, the child’s own action plan and adrenaline device need to be accessible. Keep the sheet as a pointer to those instructions, not a substitute for them. A sitter must also know that severe breathing difficulty or suspected anaphylaxis warrants urgent help through 000.
Walk the route, not just the page
Show the sitter the first aid kit, the child’s medical plan and medicine, the main exit, and any door or gate that could delay an ambulance. Ask them to find the light switch and demonstrate the front-door lock. A note saying “kit in cupboard” is less useful if there are six cupboards. If you have a fire blanket or extinguisher, show where it is, while keeping your instructions about leaving a dangerous area simple.
Consider what else this sitter needs to know tonight. A baby’s safe sleep routine, food allergy precautions, whether the child may go outside, and any transport or car-seat arrangement belong in the handover conversation. The page can point to these details, but a long list should not crowd out the emergency address. You can keep a separate routine sheet for meals, bedtime and house rules.
Give the sheet a quick test
Before leaving, ask three questions: “Where is our address on the page?”, “Where is the first aid kit?”, and “Who will you call if you cannot reach me?” Listen for any hesitation. Fix the sheet or walk the route again while you are still there. Check that the backup adult has agreed to be available and that the phone number is current.
Keep the page somewhere the sitter can reach but visitors cannot browse. If you send a digital copy, check that the sitter can open it without Wi-Fi or a password they do not have. Remove old copies when you change a number, address or care plan. A good handover should feel almost boring: the people, the place and the next safe step are obvious.
Sources and review
Reviewed 10 October 2026. This guide is for preparing a babysitter handover; it does not replace the child’s medical action plan, the advice of their treating professional, or hands-on first aid training.