Youngest child ?

Hi,

What is the youngest child you ever care for as a childcare provider ?
At what age do you think full-time daycare is okay ?

:huh:

My youngest child started at 4months.. ft right from the getgo. Remember though, mat leaves used to be only 6months so it wasnt unusual to get one that was 3-4 months old.

The youngest I've had is 8 months.

I feel as though my ratios are good enough that I can handle the occasional infant and I don't have a set rule against taking a younger infant given the right circumstances. I think that sometimes parents have to go back to work sooner, and those babies are hard to place in a center. Most centers around here seem to start at 18 months, so these parents rely on home daycare.

I also appreciate that with a younger baby I have the control of introducing the daytime routines early so that transitioning into toddlerhood/preschool years are easier, IMO.

When I advertise and have to select an age I generally put 8-9 months with the idea of adding a child nearing a year old which is where parents are normally looking. I have had a child as young as 3 months come into care because the mom found out she was pregnant again but had to be back at work for a minimum of 6 months to qualify for maternity leave and benefits again. It wasn't a problem but certainly not something I would recommend for anyone that hasn't had to juggle their own baby while older kids of their own and learned that fine line of meeting everyone's needs. I would prefer to have any baby fulltime so there is less friction between ways of doing things. The advantage of a baby is the younger they come into care the faster they tend to develop. That is something I really noticed with the move to the one year maternity leave was how developmentally delayed children coming into care were compared to their previous counterparts that started care at 4-6 months. It seems in a way that it gets worse with each new group I start. Mainly talking here about moving to table food, off bottle, on sippy cup, walking, talking, playing and entertaining themselves with constructive play, potty training, that sort of thing.

I have to agree with Playfelt, I have noticed a huge trend in children (especially first children) who seem to not be developing the infant milestones as quickly.

The youngest I have accepted children was 4 - 6 months back when the mat leave was 6 months, but now I accept as young as 11 months. I did have an 8 month old in care last year and it didn't work out very well because my daycare is so different now than what it used to be in the respect that I travel more and we don't use my yard now.

I"m fairly new to daycare (a couple of years), and originally started out with only wanting kids my own kids ages (4 and 5) however, once I had that, I'm found myself kinda board, we do all the crafts and activities and outtings and such but they also prefer a great deal of time to just play together (serisouly, they would free-play all day with out even a second glance to me if I didnt interrupt all the time with crafts and organized activities!! LOL!) So, I decided to take on a younger child and ended up with a 9month old!!! Which as I was very nervous, I'm finding is working out well!! Actually, the older kids spend a lot of their previously covetted "free-play" entertaining and playing with and helping me care for her as well! We are all loving it!

[QUOTE=lilac;1315] we do all the crafts and activities and outtings and such but they also prefer a great deal of time to just play together (serisouly, they would free-play all day with out even a second glance to me if I didnt interrupt all the time with crafts and organized activities!! LOL!)


I enjoyed reading your post made me smile. And you are so right the typical 4 and up age will do that.
The youngest child I have cared for was 3months old. It did not last long only about 2 months as I did a lot of school runs back then and her mom thought it was too stressful for her baby. The next was 5 months old and she is still in my care at age 4 years old. I do believe full time daycare can start at any age (I know of a caregiver who started one at 3 weeks old) it depends on the daycare too ie ages of other kids in care, outings/no outings, able to accommodate morning naps/or no, so many factors and above all the provider her/him self (is he/she willing to take a child at a certain age).

Wow. You in Canada sure are lucky! In the US maternity leave in companies that are covered by FMLA is 12 weeks. For companies that do not have to follow FMLA you get 6 weeks.....

The youngest child I have cared for was 5months and I agree with everyone that the children seemed to develop much quicker when they started in care at an earlier age. What I tend to find now is that the 1 year olds take a lot longer to become attached to me and there is a lot more time spent hugging and drying tears. I suggest to my families that they start coming to the daycare before the child is 1 year old, even if they attend only once a week. This way the transition seems to be smoother. :)

As a home daycare provider, the youngest I've had is 11 months. In a daycare centre, it was 5 months.

I do accept infants as young as 5 months if need be, because I know that care around here for young infants is hard to come by.

My youngest is usually 11-12 months but i would gladly accept thenm as young a 6 weeks if need be but in canada with this 1 year maternity leave you dont see many infants in daycare.I agree after 1 year with mommy some have a hard time adjusting in daycare they take longer to settle in

The youngest I have is 5 months. She is part time right now and will go to full time when she is 6 months. I'm finding it really easy, she's a super easy babe though! My current group has been with me for almost a year, so they know the rules and routines. I can sit and watch them play while feeding baby.