I have 2 children for child care and 3 of my own (2 are in school full time and the other is 10 months old) I also have a 1 year old I watch full time who is the sweetest little thing and adjusted no problem, naps included within a few days of starting... and I now have a 2nd child for daycare that started a couple of weeks ago. The other two are easy peasy with naps, meals, getting along etc. The new child is almost 13 months and lives just down the street so even before the transitioning period, we had many visits and run ins. He started officially 2 weeks ago and was part time for about 4 hours during the week and this week started up full time and I hate to say it but it has been terrible. He cries ALLLLL day long. The parents are super nice and open to suggestions and very communicative with me, but it has been tough! He refuses to nap unless we go for a walk. Today was the one and only time he has napped in his playpen and it was only for half an hour from pure exhaustion. But he has MAJOR separation anxiety. If I am out of his sight even for a second to change diapers, prepare meals, basically anything, he screams like there is no tomorrow. His parents linger so we've agreed that they need to make a quick exit when dropping him off but for the 9 hours I had him today, he must have cried about 6 of those hours... I'm exhausted already. He is happy when I'm holding him, but he is also a big boy and I obviously can't and won't carry him around all the time. I try to comfort him as best I can and plan fun activities but he isn't having any of it. Doesn't want to join in or really interact with the other kids, so I get books for him to look through and that keeps him happy for about 5 minutes. I can see the other kids becoming more uneasy from the constant crying. It is such a loud cry too... I want to give it at least a month to see if things get better. Any other tips for transitioning a difficult baby? And if you've had a similar experience, how long did it take for the child to be well adjusted. . . Anything is appreciated. I want so badly for this to work out, but I also don't want to loose my sanity in the process.
Thanks!