Daycare woes

Brief background: My boys go to daycare while I sleep after I work 12 hr night shifts. They go approximately 11 days per month. They started daycare when they were 9 weeks old. I had issues with our 1st center...cleanliness, staff inconsistency, not following my requests/schedule, kids always sick, etc. We switched to a smaller center when the boys were a little over 10 mos old & LOVED it. They adjusted great & were doing very well. That is, until we found out the center had lost it's license 3 months before our enrollment & had been lying to us about multiple things. We were so mad & felt so betrayed. We spoke with the state & found out more info, so immediately pulled our kids out of the center (now that center is actually closed down---which it SHOULD HAVE BEEN months ago). This leads us to now...in desperate need of daycare and SOON!

I've found a few centers that have immediate openings so I've begun touring them. Unfortunately, I'm not liking any of them. There are pros & cons to all of them, but I haven't fallen in love with any of them (not that my judgement must be all that good ....). We got word that the directors of our 1st center (that had left before all our issues arised) are going to be running a center that currently has openings, but it won't be for a few weeks. The issues I have with that center are that there are few toys (both inside & out), the toys are only cleaned weekly, the kids rarely get outside (at this age, the kids 2+ get out daily or twice daily), & the toddler room has been converted to an infant/toddler room due to census. This means that there are kids from 3 months to almost 2 years all in one room. That's a HUGE age span & it's difficult to organize age appropriate activities with spans that large. That center won't allow my boys to nap in cribs & want to push them to 1 nap, which they quite clearly are NOT ready for.

So, my question is, do I keep looking or accept these openings in hopes that our old directors will take over soon & fix things quickly (I've talked to them about my concerns, all of which they intend to change, but change takes time!)? I can deal with the low toy thing, as long as the staff can entertain the kids so my boys don't get bored (geesh, they get bored at home & we have more toys here than that daycare has for the infants thru 3 yr olds!). I'm most concerned with the nap thing. Being that they're part time, they don't adjust to daycare easily. I'm not willing to push them to 1 nap at home yet to conform to daycare's schedule. The center did say they'd lay them down in the morning, but if they're just laying on a mat, I doubt they'll fall asleep. Granted, they will be 1, but since there are young kids in that room that aren't on a schedule, shouldn't it be ok for mine to be on a slightly different schedule, too? I'd understand more if ALL the kids in the room were on 1 nap, but there are 3 or 4 that are younger & obviously nap when they want. Do any of you have success stories of kids going to 1 nap at daycare when they were only part time & were on 2 naps at home (mine currently take 1-2 hr naps in the morning & 1-2 hrs in the afternoon without a fight)?

Do you think I should look past my current concerns in hopes that they'll eventually get better? None of them are life threatening or harming to the boys, or obviously I'd not be considering it at all. I'm just at a loss & so upset. I hate to 'settle' for a center, but I don't really have a lot of options. The other centers I toured were either were way out of our price range, way too unorganized, or WAY too noisy (too many kids in smaller rooms). I've already ruled all them out. So, either I take this one I'm not fond of, try to keep looking, or continue to go without daycare...resulting in me staying awake 36 hrs or so at a time, only getting naps while the boys nap. It sucks!

I hate daycare !

PS Since I'm sure these suggestions will come up, I do not want a nanny or anything at our house, since I don't sleep well when the boys are here (they're so noisy!). I also am not interested in an in home center at this time. And, no, I do not have any family within a 3 hr radius.

 

I'd keep looking, I think it is important to feel comfortable with who is caring for your children. Any possibility you could do a nanny share, where the nanny is watching different children in additiion to your kids. They could then be at the other house while you sleep?

 

The nanny share is a good idea.

If it were me, as long as you think the kids will be safe, healthy and happy, I would put them in the best option now. Then tour the other centers that don't have openings and get on their wait lists. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll get an opening soon. I know it's hard to find daycare for two of the same age on such short notice. I've been there.

That really small center will probably fill up quickly too and it might become something you like better. You can also donate some of the toys that are less used at your house to them if you are so inclined.

In my experience, every daycare I've been to makes the kids go to 1 nap at 12mos. I was NOT thrilled by it. One of the reasons I yanked mine out the first time. My girls NEEDED a second nap until they were 21mos!

 

I totally understand your concerns and we all have different concerns about different things.

My daycare is pretty good all around but there are things I would like done differently but it's not worth it over all.

If you think the center will take care of your children, then I would consider placing them until you find another one. I know slots are hard to come by, especially for two.

I wouldn't be terribly alarmed with the one nap thing. I think that's pretty standard with most daycares to transition to one nap around one year. Mine transitioned then, and took two naps at home on the weekends for the first month and they did fine.

They also transitioned out of cribs on to mats at daycare at that time too.

As far as outside time, my daycare rarely takes any children under 18 months outside. It wasn't until my boys moved to the 18-24 month class (they were being understimulated) that they started going outside regularly. The prerequisite for moving to that class was that they be efficient walkers because they do have free play time outside. I think they might have gone outside maybe 4-5 times during the year before that at daycare.

I would be most concerned about having the infants with the toddlers. Toddlers require much different supervision/activities than infants. There are also issues with toddlers you don't have with infants...my two were biters for a while (primarily each other) but I would have been mortified if they had bitten an infant. However, a lot of inhome centers keep that age range together and well at home I will too when this baby comes along so it's not an unreasonble placement situation.

Just my two cents...but you must be comfortable with your choice, and if it bothers you that much, then perhaps you'll have to sacrifice some of your sleep time until you find the right one. I certainy with you luck with your decision.

 

my daycare did 2 naps until 18 months. then they switch to the toddler room and go to 1 nap on a cot. they also rarely went outside in the infant room, maybe they would take them on walks in this giant buggy stroller. but now, in the toddler room, they go outside all of the time!

My biggest worry would also be having infants to toddlers in the same room. As the PP said, biting becomes an issue. One of my girls was bitten at one point...and then the other girl bit someone at one point....

 

We toured a daycare that had children 6 weeks though 18 months in the same room. The rationale is that the infants spend so much time sleeping, that the teachers really have more time with the toddlers. They work the schedule so the infants and toddlers really aren't on the floor at the same time. They said that it works great, because the teachers are much more active since they have more than just babies to look after. All the children there seemed happy and content. They did have a sleeping area for the babies so they weren't bothered by the toddlers playing.