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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Help With Infant Section Of Handbook
slpender 06:02 AM 01-17-2013
How would you nicely word in your handbook that you do not hold infants all day. Lately this seems to be my biggest issue with the infants that I have enrolled.

Thanks for the help
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Willow 06:53 AM 01-17-2013
I'm not sure why you'd want to put that in your handbook. It's pretty much a given that it's an impossibility. Putting it in black and white for all interviewing parents may make you come across as cold and I'm sure that's not the impression that you want to put out there!

If you have a situation with an individual family not understanding a daycare providers limitations then I'd say your best bet would be to address it directly with them and them alone. Let them know you do the best you can but that you have to take care of everyone throughout the day and sometimes that means the baby will have to wait just a few minutes to be tended to next.
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slpender 07:05 AM 01-17-2013
Willow
the reason I am asking is because in the past 6 mnths I have enrilled to new infants and both of them are awful they cried all day for weeks unless they were being held. One child now 6 mnths old is still a very hard baby mom holds him all the time at home and rocks him to sleep. He cries all morning and nap time are awful. Both parents took extended leave and were home for 12 wks I am used to getting the infants at 6 wks. I have a new infant starting the 2nd week in March and I am going to meet with the parents next week to go over my infant policies this parent is also on extended leave of 12 wks. I am looking a good way to address this with them b/c I cannot deal with another child that sreams all day.
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blandino 07:26 AM 01-17-2013
I include a section about getting your child ready for group care. It doesn't specifically state that you can't hold them all day - but it does really reiterate te fact that there are multiple children that need care and the needs of the group are important to meet. Nannyde has some great stuff on her website about group care.
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slpender 09:53 AM 01-17-2013
Originally Posted by blandino:
I include a section about getting your child ready for group care. It doesn't specifically state that you can't hold them all day - but it does really reiterate te fact that there are multiple children that need care and the needs of the group are important to meet. Nannyde has some great stuff on her website about group care.
Can you send me a link to this site I guess that is really what I am trying to address and not so much the children being held all day.
thanks
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MarinaVanessa 10:17 AM 01-17-2013
Here's what I have in my handbook. It's the very first thing that the parents read after reading a section about mutual respect and that I am a business owner. I wanted to make sure that I addressed these two issues first (that I am not their employee and that this is group care) before anything else.

"Group Setting
[DAYCARE] is a group family child care home and does not have sufficient staff to provide individualized childcare. Any requests for specialized care out of the normal array of services that we provide must be conducive to group care and are subject to the child care provider’s approval."
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Starburst 02:12 PM 01-17-2013
Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa:
Here's what I have in my handbook. It's the very first thing that the parents read after reading a section about mutual respect and that I am a business owner. I wanted to make sure that I addressed these two issues first (that I am not their employee and that this is group care) before anything else.

"Group Setting
[DAYCARE] is a group family child care home and does not have sufficient staff to provide individualized childcare. Any requests for specialized care out of the normal array of services that we provide must be conducive to group care and are subject to the child care provider’s approval."


Maybe you (OP) can also put something about how it is to teach infants about delayed gratification (as opposed to instant gradification) and independance. Maybe you can also put something about tummy-time/floor time to encourage infants to build upper/lower body muscles and core strength (also helps prevent SIDS). Because I have heard that babies that are held all the time and not given enough tummy time tend to walk later. But I wouldn't say (or do it) that you are going to put kids in swings, car seats, or anything else restrictive all day because in younger infants this can cause positional affixiation (one suspected cause of SIDS). And depending on your local regualations you cannot even have a walker on daycare property (like in CA) plus they actually delay walking despite what the name implies. Just try to find the benifits and try to have a place bookmarked on your computer as backup if needed. Im sure when parents see the benifits they will calm down a bit.
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Michael 02:15 PM 01-17-2013
Another helpful thread: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29342
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frugalmama4 03:23 PM 01-17-2013
Great post slpender!

This whole week I have been thinking about writing up a "Infant policy book/by-laws...still working on the name"

I don't specialize in infants for many reason..but I do keep 2 of my 12 spots open for the infant-12mo age " it covers my family's extra spending" I have a new baby that started last week...I posted about his eating and thumb sucking habit earlier this week.

Anywhoo-things I thought of covering so far

Feeding (when/how/why to introduce new foods)
Sleeping (when/how/why to allow self soothing)...this will diffidently cover thumb sucking/teddy bears/blankets etc)
One-on-one time (what it means in family care, how its done)
Walking (why walking shoes where invented)
Weekends/time away from daycare. (Life would be great for the children if the schedules where followed at home)

Good Luck!
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Abigail 06:06 PM 01-18-2013
I do not have anything in my handbook as far as a dedicated section for infants and I will not. Mostly because my choices on infant care can and do change over time. Most infants will already come into care with a plan of action with mutual respect between their parents and myself or else they would not be enrolled. I do great interviews with families and I don't need to put something in writing in a handbook meant overall for all families, not just those with infants. I've had three infants enrolled and not one has been the same or same type of background, but all parents and I have been on the same page. If a parent doesn't ask how their infant's doing is going to go I tell them.

They're on their own schedule until they're older. I give out an infant report that has their eating and sleeping schedule and also have parents give me updates all the time how things go at home. Switching to food and different stages of their life, just like an older child's stage will change, is all discussed as it occurs as well. Not reason to put those things in the handbook besides covering it in the COMMUNICATION section stating you expect both the parents and you communate continually to make sure you have a great relationship and great consistancy between home and daycare.
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