Dumb question about daycares.

GreenEyedGal

My son has never been to a daycare so I'm not sure how they work. But what happens during naptime for an infant? Does he/she sleep in a crib in a lighted room while the other baby's play and make noise? My son isn't a self soother so would the caregivers rock him/her? (I assume so.)

Sorry for being so clueless.

SeaStar430

My baby sleeps in the lit room while other babies play.  She's fine with that.  Some centers have separate rooms for sleeping, I liked that idea at first but was so freaked out by SIDS that I wanted her in the center of everything.

And yes the caregivers would rock him.

IronRangeBride

K goes to a home DC. When she first went (at 3 months old) she napped whenever she wanted. Now that she's getting older and cutting back on naps (I think 2 or 3 during the day), she's following the same schedule as the older kids. And I know that my DC lady would probably do some rocking and soothing to get her calm, but I'm just not sure HOW much time she has to calm my child before a nap.

Also, my DC lady separates the kids into age groups while napping. K is upstairs napping when the other kids are running around on the main floor.

But every kid is different. I'd give your DC a call and see what they say.

chick730

DD is in an in-home daycare.  She naps in a pack-n-play on the other side of the room while other kids play.  DCP will hold her and rock her if she needed to be, but most of the time, DD just likes to roll around and fall asleep on her own.

tpandr08

I currently have an in-home daycare but I have also worked in a center so here goes

 In-home:  All the kids play together in the main area (ages 6 months to 2 years) but the 2 year olds sleep in one room, the 8 month old sleeps in a PNP in another, and my 6 month old sleeps in her crib in her room.

Center:  The cribs were set up in the back of the room and the play area was more towards the front of the room so the babies were exposed to all the lights and noises of the other babies.

In my in-home, I rock the babies to sleep if they have trouble.  HOWEVER the center I worked in was very strict and babies were not to be rocked to sleep just because they were not self soothing.  If they did not fall asleep eating their bottles, they were put on the floor for tummy time until they got cranky enough to be put in their crib and fall asleep on their own.  Just FYI.  I thought it was mean...which is part of the reason I left to open my own...

GreenEyedGal

tpandr08:

I currently have an in-home daycare but I have also worked in a center so here goes

 In-home:  All the kids play together in the main area (ages 6 months to 2 years) but the 2 year olds sleep in one room, the 8 month old sleeps in a PNP in another, and my 6 month old sleeps in her crib in her room.

Center:  The cribs were set up in the back of the room and the play area was more towards the front of the room so the babies were exposed to all the lights and noises of the other babies.

In my in-home, I rock the babies to sleep if they have trouble.  HOWEVER the center I worked in was very strict and babies were not to be rocked to sleep just because they were not self soothing.  If they did not fall asleep eating their bottles, they were put on the floor for tummy time until they got cranky enough to be put in their crib and fall asleep on their own.  Just FYI.  I thought it was mean...which is part of the reason I left to open my own...

Oh wow, that last paragraph is what worries me.

So do you take care of all those kids/babies by yourself or do you have help? Just curious!