Child not settling in...

[Lighthouse1]

Hi All,

I have a DCB who is 20 months now, he's been with me since Feb... he's always had a very hard time at drop off, for the first week or two (he only comes 2 days a week), he would cling or cry all day, it was just him and I. Well now I have more children, but he STILL cries at the door big time, most days he settles in quickly and is playing and dancing and is happy... but some days, it's like he's MAKING himself cry, he refuses to play, will just stand around pouting and will cry a little bit. He can do this for long periods of time.

I know he gets coddled a lot at home... I do give him hugs and cuddle with him, but obviously I can't spend all day with him on my lap. I've never had a child behave like this for so long! Usually after a few weeks (p/t) children get over it and settle into the routine.

What I'm looking for is some ideas to make this easier on this little guy.

He is also consistently constipated and JUST started eating proper food (I think he still gets baby food at home)... so not sure if that has anything to do with it. Could his problem be that he knows when he comes here, I'm not going to coddle him the whole day and he has to actually eat and chew? I just don't know what to do about him, he's a sweet funny boy, but these bouts of sadness just bring everyone down!

[Trace of Angels]

My guess would be that two days a week is not enough. Two day a week children usually have a hard time transitioning to daycare life. I have a three day/week minimum and even that is hard sometimes on the children. Plus I know a lot of providers in my area that will only take full time kids.
I wish I had some great advice to help you through this. I would say time would help but gosh 5 months is a long time..............

[Crayola kiddies]

I have a three day minimum as well .... However I wouldn't coddle him at all .... If he's crying I would put him in an area where he can cry for as long as he wants .... I would tell him " sit there till your happy and ready to play with us " and then walk away ... That way he is in charge if his own happiness. By cuddling him you are feeding into the crying. If he's constipated bake some bran muffins with raisins in them and give them as a snack to help get things moving as well as lots of fruit .... Otherwise give him the food you are offering and that's it ... He'll get used to it and the crying will get less. You might suggest having him a few more days a week for a month or so just to get him settled.