Hamburg, January 11:

Amid headline-making cases of child neglect in Germany, enterprising professional babysitters are in greater demand than ever before. During the past two years, Germany has been shocked by at least five cases in which children were starved to death by drug-abusing or dysfunctional parents and neighbours who did not notice anything.

So the demand for professional and qualified babysitters has soared, as responsible parents prefer not to let their little tots out of their eyes even at the doctor’s office or at the gym.

Commonplace in Britain and the US, childminders at stores and business offices are almost unknown in Germany, where childcare traditionally has been considered the job of parents.

The media attention to cases of child neglect has created a demand for professional babysitters. “We are trying to meet the needs of modern mothers who want to go shopping but who don’t want to leave kids at home or in the car while they pop out to the shops,” says Birgit Pridat, manager of the big Elbe Shopping Mall in Hamburg which has recently expanded its ‘children’s corner’ into a full-service child-care centre.

Other major malls have scrambled to meet the demand. “Profits aren’t the only thing. We have to make sure that customers feel free to spend time here in our shops, and they can’t do that if they are constantly worrying ab-out their kids,” says Heinrich Ha-sselmann, head of Hamburg’s en-ormous Alstertal Shopping Mall.

Gyms, hairdressing salons and health clinics have jumped on the bandwagon. “I’ve got a two-year-old son myself and know from personal experience how hard it is to find reliable and affordable child care,” says Heike Meynberg, a Hamburg dentist, who has become the first medical practitioner in that city to provide professional child-minders in a special waiting room.

Hairdresser Sevgi Doganarslan has restyled her salon so that it features a ‘Diva Baby Lounge’ where children can be engaged.