Originally Posted by marniewon:
I have one infant right now. She's 8 months. In the year that I've been doing this, I've decided that, although I love babies, in the future I will only take toddlers. Why? For the very reasons you mentioned. Schedules are too irregular, they need more attention, they tend to cry more, and you feel stuck with munchkins all day long, inside, without a break. Yes, they do get older, but I had one who got more needy and cried even more as he got older.
In my short career as a dcp, I've had 4 infants. There was only one that I truly enjoyed, even (and especially) as he got older. The other two screamed/screeched constantly, and the one I have now is a good baby, but her schedule is a little off of the rest of the group.
I homeschool my kids and we try to get schooling done during afternoon nap, but that doesn't always happen, with a baby here. So I don't think I'll be taking any more infants.
You homeschool your kids during nao time? How long is nap time? And even then, sometimes it "doesn't always happen"? How does that work? How are they getting their education? Maybe I misunderstood...
I usually only take 10 months and up, 1-2 at a time and can quickly get them into a good schedule/routine that works for group daycare.