Is Twice a Week at Daycare Better Than One Day a Week?

My six month old daughter has been watched by a close friend who is terrific with her in my friend’s home since six weeks. (My friend used to do in-home day care, and is a true "baby person"). She can't watch the baby Thursdays so we enrolled our baby in day care for the last two months on Thursdays, and due to scheduling, some Fridays. For months two and three, we had someone else watch her on Thursdays while I was working at home. The other person wasn’t a “baby-person” and to be honest, the first few weeks the baby was fussy for her, but it subsided after a few Thursdays. Overall, I am amazed at what a happy, easy baby our daughter is. She goes to strangers easily unless it’s after 8pm and she’s tired, and even then is sometimes OK. We’ve had her spend considerable time with 2 additional babysitters with no problem.

We aren’t overly impressed with the day care experience in her room for a few reasons – one of which is that they don’t seem to attempt to give attention to more than one baby at once and the rest of the time the babies spend an undue amount of time laying on boppies staring at the ceiling. They seem pretty tolerant of babies crying and make excuses, but as soon as they pick those kids up they quit crying, which makes me think it isn’t that the kids don’t like diaper changes, have reflux, etc, they just want a little acknowledgement.

Our daughter doesn’t seem to be adjusting well at the day care (both our opinion and the day care’s) – she seems to be crying a lot, cranky with them, and generally cranky at home after day care. We had requested Thursdays and Fridays from the day care due. They said that the reason she is not getting along well at day care is because she’s only there once a week and if she were there twice a week she would do better, and that it shouldn’t be two consecutive days, that it should be something like a mon/thur or tues/thur.

I’m hesitant to take her from a loving wonderful environment on a day that’s available to put her in day care another day a week. It seems counter-intuitive that I should put her there MORE time. Does anyone have any experience that would say this “two days a week would be better” theory is legitimate?

Or, do you think it’s time to find a different day care or a second caregiver?

[jenh171]

just based on your post, and i'm sorry this sounds so cynical, but i've worked in many day care settings, and i just simply don't think it's a good environment for a baby, no matter how good the caregivers are. i just feel that it's an unnatural environment and i would question what they mean by "adjust". do they mean that if she is there more, she will more quickly adapt to the fact that her needs won't always be immediately met? i do honestly agree that there is an enormous lifelong benefit to babies being taught to be adaptable and flexible and that they often learn this more quickly if caregivers don't come running the second they cry, but i just find it hard to believe that that is being consciously considered in a day care setting. however, i DO think that one day a week day care for a toddler or preschooler is a totally different story. i really do think it takes more than one day for a toddler/preschooler to adjust to the schedule, routine, saying goodbye to parents, etc.

maybe i'm a little biased because i do child care in my home, but i really do believe that home child care is a superior child care choice and a far more natural environment for babies! i don't want to make you feel badly about your choice...i just want to give you my honest opinion! so my gut feeling is that you should find another caregiver. just knowing babies are propped in boppies staring at the ceiling is reason enough...that's so sad.

[JenNJ]

I agree 100% with Jen. It sounds like a bad fit for your baby and I would pull her. I've worked in centers and there is good and bad - no in between. Interaction is an important need for babies, just as feeding, diaper changes, and sleep are needs. I would look into a place with a smaller ratio and less "equipment" (Boppies, bouncers, Exersaucers, etc). At 8 months, your baby should be exploring with a positive person encouraging her - she shouldn't be stuck sitting around staring all day

[Daycare Mommy]

I agree with the other posters. And I truly believe, there's no place like home, especially when they are very young! Since you only need care Thursdays and some Fridays, I'd shop around for a sitter (you could look for home daycare, but sometimes it can be difficult to find part time care through them). www.care.com is good place to look for one.

If your baby is happier at the home daycare, then I would pull from the center and stick with the place that you know makes baby happier!

Just my opinion

[jen]

I agree with the others...home daycare for infants is just more my style.

[TGT09]

I am a home daycare provider so I too am a little biased when it comes to baby's being in in-home care. I believe they need more than what a center can provide. However, the wrong in-home provider could do the same thing as what's going on at the center.

Example: A daycare family I have, told me their last provider sat their now 2.5 year old but was there from newborn-1 year in front of the t.v. in a Bumbo seat. She would be there every day when they went to pick her up.

So my advice is, be selective. There isn't a huge amount of things that baby's can do at your child's age but there are some things, with sitting in front of the t.v. absolutely not being on the list! I would interview a few in-home providers for just Thursday's and leave her with the other provider that she loves the rest of the days.

[mismatchedsocks]

If you are wanting to know if two days is better then one day at a daycare yes, I think 5 days is better then one day too. In my experience the full time kids adjust better then the part time ones.
Also in my opinion your daughter has been watched by alot of people, and may just be overwhelmed with how many people are in the center as opposed to a home.

I do agree with other posters that home daycare settings are more comforting, and less structure based then a center. Just my opinion.

[mac60]

I don't know about other providers, but when the end of the day comes, and pick up times are here, I have various times the last bit of the day that parents pick up. I will move the last kids out to the front living many days and put the under one yr olds in the walker, high chair, and the others will watch a cartoon as we wait on arrival of parents. Doesn't mean I am doing anything wrong, doesn't mean I am sitting the kids in front of the tv all day, just means it is the end of the day and it is the easiest for me to move the last few out to the front room by the door. How do you know the provider sat her in front of the tv in the bumbo seat all day, just because she was there at pick up, doesn't mean she was there all day.

I had my kids in a dc center when they were infants, and it was a great place. I had them in a home dc between ages 5 and 7 for 2 years, and the lady was horrible. A real bitch to my kids.

[QualiTcare]

Originally Posted by jenh171

just based on your post, and i'm sorry this sounds so cynical, but i've worked in many day care settings, and i just simply don't think it's a good environment for a baby, no matter how good the caregivers are. i just feel that it's an unnatural environment and i would question what they mean by "adjust". do they mean that if she is there more, she will more quickly adapt to the fact that her needs won't always be immediately met? i do honestly agree that there is an enormous lifelong benefit to babies being taught to be adaptable and flexible and that they often learn this more quickly if caregivers don't come running the second they cry, but i just find it hard to believe that that is being consciously considered in a day care setting. however, i DO think that one day a week day care for a toddler or preschooler is a totally different story. i really do think it takes more than one day for a toddler/preschooler to adjust to the schedule, routine, saying goodbye to parents, etc.

maybe i'm a little biased because i do child care in my home, but i really do believe that home child care is a superior child care choice and a far more natural environment for babies! i don't want to make you feel badly about your choice...i just want to give you my honest opinion! so my gut feeling is that you should find another caregiver. just knowing babies are propped in boppies staring at the ceiling is reason enough...that's so sad.

in general, i agree with you. but - to be fair, not ALL daycares are like that (but most). when i was in school - for early childhood development - i visited and also worked in a lot of daycares - employed by a few and did field experience/observations in a lot more. there were some that were AWESOME - natural environments, furniture, plants, curtains, low ratios, educated staff, etc., but most of THOSE daycares were affiliated with my college or another.

just saying - we can't assume that this particular daycare is like most of the ones we probably think of. BUT - i say if you have a bad feeling about how much attention she's getting - go with your gut and get her out. but again - to be fair - a lot of infants cry at daycare and stop crying when they get picked up. that doesn't mean they aren't getting attention (it can mean that) but it can also VERY LIKELY mean that they're used to being held ALL THE TIME at home so they cry at daycare where that's just not possible or realistic. i didn't hold my own kids much (never carried them around and always put them in the crib to go to sleep alone) because for one - i didn't want to deal with spoiled babies at home AND i knew i'd be putting them at a disadvantage at daycare which they both attended. i've worked with infants in daycares that would cry for NO other reason than they wanted to be on my hip. they were clean, changed, fed, etc. - pick them up and it would stop. i'd tell their parents in the extreme cases to STOP carrying them around at home. it's not fair to a kid that goes to daycare.

[professionalmom]

I agree with the other posters about home daycare being a better fit for babies. My DD was 5 weeks old when I started taking my first client in my home daycare. She was exposed to much fewer germs and got sick less often. Although she was in her swing a lot (usually sleeping), she got so much out of being in my home daycare setting. I had older kids who would talk to her and play with her. She loved just watching them moving about and playing. She is now very advanced for her age. I really credit this to being around older children. In a center, they don't get much exposure to children of other ages. My DC kids were actively helping my DD to talk, crawl, and walk. It was like she had her own personal mentors. It also helped that my DC kids were mostly girls who loved playing mommy to my DD.

My best advice would be to go with your gut. But, remember that she is not getting a lot of time to bond with the people in the center and that is very important. Babies need consistency. I may sound biased toward the home daycare setting, but I am passionate about it being the next best thing to mom, dad, extended family, or a nanny. For older children, centers do have a lot to offer. But for babies, I feel that home daycare with a consistent, caring, loving, attentive provider is light years better than a center.

I agree with the other posters who said home daycare may be the best choice for your baby. In home daycare they will be around different ages of children, with more activity going on (and be more stimulated by that), but have a lower ratio of caregiver to child. In a daycare center the baby would be grouped with a bunch of other babies, usually meaning the daycare provider can only give attention to one or two at a time. They can't hold them all at the same time! This probably also means that there is a good span of time where your child wouldn't be getting any interaction with the provider at all as they change the other diapers, feed the others, hold them, etc This is one of the reasons

I would never want to work in the infant class at a daycare center. Too many to take care of, and only able to take care of one at a time. I wouldn't like not being able to interact with them all enough. At a home daycare I would have fewer babies to care for, and be able to interact with them more. But as another poster mentioned, you do have to be careful even then. Personally I would want my baby in a small family daycare. Class 1 has the least amount. Class 2 has the most (with up to 16, I believe). I would even want to go for the unlicensed daycare, where they are only allowed UP TO approximately 5, depending on which state you're in, as long as you have throughly checked them out and trust them.