I'm doing an interview today with a family that JUST had their little boy this week. I know my normal speech isn't going to fit with such a new family. The mom actually works in one of the larger centers in the area but she was referred to me. Does any one have any tips or questions you would ask when interviewing for such a small infant? Any thing would be helpful. This will be my youngest kid to date.

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So did you kick your sister out????

as for the newborn, I would make sure you tell mom your approach as far as how you care for infants and see if you are on the same page. Make sure moms expectations for care matches what you can provide.

*Make sure baby can take a bottle BEFORE coming to daycare (parents need to work that out so you dont end up with a starving infant that has never had a bottle on the first day of care)
*make sure mom knows how you can and cannot put baby to sleep and where baby will be sleeping. many times parents get infants into really bad habits and expect providers to replicate that. Prolonged rocking, holding during naps, driving in the car before nap, letting baby sleep in unsafe situations like in their car seat

Getting on the same page with sleeping and eating will be the key to making this work! hopefully the mom is easy to work with considering she is a caregiver herself.

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I learned this the hard way, so Im passing this along....
She may or may not have decided how to parent yet, in regards to sleep, how to fix sleep isses, eating/feeding& how to fix feeding issues, toilet training, illness.. Etc..
Make sure you have in place everything you do in regards to things she may have not decided on yet. So she is at least aware of how YOU plan on doing things, not just during infancy but through toddlerhood and beyond if applicable.

I took on an infant in january and did ask mom&dad what parenting philosophies they had/planned on practicing, to see if they would conflict with mine or not. She was undecided . I didn't do any kind of handbook or policies, stating when solid food would be introduced,how I help/or not help with potty training etc....
Well, she was 3months and now she's 12 months walking and just starting table food. And the mom has decided to pay whenever and just started scting like this has been ongoing when it hasn't . Then I started remembering things she would say and I missed the red flags.... That she likes to be in control more than Im comfortable with ( where iteill affect the whole group later) . Like if she doesn't like what you gve her, give her this instead, and she once said she is packing her food because she wants to be in control of what she eats . I dont ever give babies/ kids foods eithout telling her what itis or making sure there are no allergies. But I haven't been fiven the chace to serve my own foods because she said she wants to be in control of that. I disagree with what she sends with her. And anticipate it becoming a problem for them if one sees another eating something junky or better tasting. So when I make my new handbook, Im going to put that for any infant/toddler on table foods I will serve all meals &snacks. And they can choose to have me not aerve some things but Im not substituting, and am not substituting or becoming a short order cook for picky eaters either.

That's just one example.

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Haha! No, I haven't kicked her out yet, but we did discuss it, and we're giving it one more week with a later nap to see if we can fix it. She actually came in yesterday and demanded to know what I'm going to do to fix the problem, and then she told he that she found a DC closer to her house thats actually cheaper than my services!! How rude. lol I'm going to give it one more week and then if she's not happy they're out of here! I almost hope he doesn't get a good nap so I have no excuse to keep dealing with her. hahaha

Thanks for the suggestions!

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There's no excuse NOW to keep dealing with her. At the end of the day day, tell her your done. My sister is a brat like this too - and it's because people ALLOW her to act this way. I don't - so, we no longer speak. Simple. Stop letting her act this way!!!

And... good luck with your interview. I have no advice, except, I stopped taking children under 12 months because it's very difficult for me to work with such new, inexperienced parents.

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She is being so rude OP. I would let her go right now since she found a new daycare. Do you even want to put up with her IF the naps are okay this week?

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No I dont! lol. I can't imagine he's going to make a drastic improvement, so we will see

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I got the infant!! They were SOOOO impressed and excited, but needed to talk over the cost and see if they could swing the full time expense, but they like it so much that they are going with me!! I'm so excited

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