Caring for your little one and the daycare kids...

[Kaila]

Hi there, I am new to being a daycare provider I have three kids that are signed up, two are starting this month and the third in September. My question is I have a seven month old daughter who is a very needy baby and loves her "mommy time" I am so nervous when it comes time to care for the other children that I won't be able to let go of her so we can all play. How do I still attened to her needs as well as the needs of my other DCK so we can all be happy What should I do? Any suggestions would be great, thanx!

[mamaof4]

My first thought is can you have some trial runs? watch another kids with your DD there? Do you baby-wear at all? When I am away from my kids or they feel disconnected wearing them really helps them reconnect.

[Kaila]

I did have a playdate today and it went well, I think i'm just worrying about it too much, I can put her in my carrier and wear her, I was just hoping for something else that I could do other than that. Thank you and I will defenatly try that Thanx mamaof4!

[Tot-Time]

I started daycare when my oldest was about 10 months old. She did amazingly well. My first little guy was the same age and he became her best friend. I quickly discovered she didn't need her Mommy as much as I thought she did

I took 6 months off when my second was born and she too did an good job transistioning into daycare and I even had another 6 month old in care too. I will be the first to admit that my 2nd as an infant HATED to be held, so she naturally didn't need a lot of attention.

I don't know if having another child the same age starting daycare with them was the key or if they would have did well with any age.

My girls as a result of daycare had friends to play with and didn't need me as much. They even had no issues with sharing my attention. Well, there was one exception and that is when I was doing 24 hour / 7 days a week childcare and my oldest at 9 did get upset with me always having other children in the house and so I quit working the extended hours for her and haven't had any problems since.

[Emilys4Guppies]

I'm also a big fan of babywearing. My youngest is currently 6 months old and I wear him a lot. My favourite is using a woven wrap and ruck-sacking him on my back. I can do anything with him on my back!! I can even carry him on my back and carry the 8mo DCK on my front in another carrier. I had good practice when my first two children were only a year apart.

I also love my ring sling and my pouch sling because they are sooooo quick to put on and take off, and no trouble to get baby into. It really makes attending to lots of children much more managable.

[playfelt]

Something daycare does is also teaches mommy not to be so attentive which in turn helps the baby to learn to self soothe. In the sense of a mom with a second baby that is busy feeding the first child when the baby wakes up will likely finish the last few mouthfulls for the toddler and then go get the baby so there is a brief gap of time there. With the first and you are eating lunch you likely put down the food and leave the last few mouthfulls and rush to your baby immediately. The difference is we feel guilty when it is us. With a daycare you need to treat your own child as part of the daycare group and that means sometimes he will cry while you change the diaper of another child. He will learn to self soothe and that is one of the best lessons you can teach your child is that they are competent. Having said that a sling works well and as he grows he will get more into what the others are doing and want down on the floor too.

[FS2011]

Hi Kaila,
I did the same thing, started my daycare while on leave. My daughter is now 9 months I started when she was 6 months. I have found the chatter, noise and excitement takes her attention from mommy to the other kids. She now crawls around and loves playing and interacting with them. Some days if she's having a clingy day I arrange for more quiet activities so I can snuggle with baby and still supervise. She's sick right now and I can't have her here with my daycare kids so the neighbor is watching her. You will figure it out as you go! My hardest thing with the baby is outdoor play. That's when I use the exersaucer and that allows me to still play soccer or whatever with the dck's. Good luck and all the best!

[Emilys4Guppies]

playfelt is dead on! Each of my own children has become a better self-soother than the last. And with more children around, each of the children has had an easier job learning this because the other children set an example...even the young ones learn fast.

[sunnydays]

I just started providing childcare and my two are 2.5 and 8 months. The new child is 15 months and just had her second day with me. She cried quite a bit because of missing her mom and I found it challenging because it set off my normally independent 8 month old and they both wanted to be held all day! Plus, they didn't sleep at the same time so I had no break. I think the beginning will be hard like this and then it will get easier as time goes on. Just be prepared that it will not be easy at first!

[giraffe]

I agree with the baby wearing. Another thing that i have done with my children is to give them some extra time after the others are in bed. For me that means putting my dckids to bed and then taking my child and reading a short story and having a cuddle before nap.