daycare moms

RTaylor12

Calling all daycare moms, I have a question. How long did it take (if ever) for your kid to stop freaking out at drop off? Taylor has been going through a clingy phase (I call it a phase but it seems to just be her personality based on how long it's gone on) and daycare drop-off is screaming and tears every time. It's gotten to where she starts whimpering when we pull into the parking lot. I think part of the problem is that she goes to daycare part time. We're on a pay-per-day plan since my H and I have such odd work schedules and she goes maybe once or twice a week. My mom and MIL both watch her when they're available, and we use daycare as a last resort option, mainly because of cost. I'm starting to think that this irregular schedule isn't good for her and probably confuses her since she wakes up with no idea where she is going to be or who she is going to be with. I feel like the lack of stability is doing her a disservice and other than quitting my job, which financially isn't an option, I don't know what to do.
I am still considering going to school this year (pending instructor approval for some classes I need) and if that pans out, I know we will need more consistent child care. Since I will be able to defer my current loans, we could afford to do full time daycare, or at the very least, 3 days a week. I guess I'm just hoping that if she attends more consistently, drop off won't be such a nightmare.
This kind of turned into a rambling mind-dump. Sorry. Back to the original question, how long did it take for your LO to be excited to play at daycare instead of freaking that you were leaving? And do you think more consistent attendance would help solve this problem?

aylafsu88

LO has been in DC since she was 6 months old and switched rooms 2 times now. Each time it took 4-6 weeks for her to adjust. The big thing was adjusting to the new teachers and the new kids. She would cling and cry at drop offs. The teachers were really good and they would pick her up or take her from us which helped. She liked being held for a few minutes before being put down into the madness. How is she at pick up? Is she happy? If so then she just needs time to adjust. I think going more often or having a consistent set of teachers would probably help. In the future you could maybe try talking DC up to her. Saying things like "you are going to play with new toys/friends today" may help her get excited about it. Right now she probably won't get that but I think trying to take a positive, happy approach may help ease her stress about it.

ThePinkSuperhero

LO went full time from 4 months until just last month, and he would go through phases where he'd freak out at dropoff every day. He'd be having lots of fun by the end of the day, though!

RTaylor12

Sorry I kind of posted and ran this morning. @bellaxanthe that's another problem, her bedtime and wake up time is always different because she's been such a crappy sleeper lately. Sometimes it takes until 10 to get her down, and then of course if I'm off the next day we sleep in. It's a vicious cycle and I need to be better about waking her up at the same time every day. It's just so tempting sometimes to let her sleep while I enjoy a cup of coffee in peace. haha. @aylafsu88 I work late so MIL or H picks her up from daycare. They (and her teachers) tell me that when 5:00 rolls around and kids start getting picked up, she gets upset until someone comes for her. After that though, she's usually really happy and in a good mood at home.

I'm going to try to get her on a better wake up schedule, and hopefully going to 3 days/week might help a little too. Thanks for all your advice!

APendola

My daughter starting going to a dayhome when she was 12 months.  I would say it probably took about a month for her to stop crying at drop off.  DH did the drop off 95% of the time.  On the rare occasion when I would drop her off, she would always cry.  She also cried when I came to pick her up from the dayhome for about 2 months (She was just so overwhelmed) until she finally just started to be happy to see me.

She switched from her dayhome to a daycare in May this year and she adapted really fast!  I think she cried only the first couple times that DH dropped her off.