Second week of daycare

newbee36

We started in home daycare last week, and I am not sure when should I expect to get better. The first day he cried for almost an hour, then he slept for an hour and then I went to pick him up. The second day he cried the bloody murder when I dropped him off, but was ok after 30 min. or so. When DH went to pick him up, he looked even happy. But now every day is like that. The first 1/2 an hour he screems! It is so painful to leave him like that  Arghhhh, looks like we didn't choose a good period to send him to daycare. He was just becoming very clingy and showing a lot of stranger anxiety. But we have to work! I want to eventually graduate, I am sick of being at school at this age!

jessandandy09

its so hard but he will get better. my little boy ( 13 now!) had really bad seperation anxiety. what are you feeding LO? i ask because i gave my DS fruit loops when he was 1 and went to the sitters and when i went back to college DS was 3 and going to daycare and i would throw m&m's in his mouth when he screamed (only 2 or 3) and run for the door. you cant tell them why they are getting a treat or it ruins the outcome  and then u have to do it in intervals, but after about a week he stopped! after about 3 weeks i quit the intermittent reward. he did great by the time school came around and the anxiety was gone

Pearly609

I know it's hard, take it that your doing such a great job he doesn't want to leave you.  My only daughter, now 16 cried for 3 years straight. It became a routine for her. In the beginning I would call to see how she was doing and within minutes of me leaving they said she was up and playing. 

She's 16 and still doesn't like to leave me for long.

mwd

It is sooo hard, but it will get better.  Eventually, he will run into daycare to play with the toys there.  

Piranha54

DD's been in daycare for 18 months and she will still cry many mornings at drop off.  That said, it generally takes me 20 minutes to get out of there when I pick her up as she doesn't want to leave her friends.  It will get better.

newbee36

I know it will get better, but it is always nice to hear from other people. Thanks ladies:) Today was a little better. He still cried when I left him, but he seemed much more comfortable when the babysitter picked him up. My instinct tells me he calmed down pretty quickly after I left. 

stever

Awww... it does get better. DS is 2 years older than Ian but just started preschool. I cried and clung to the gate waiting for us the first week, stopped crying but said, "I don't want to go to school," the second week, and now he loves it!

Jgiesbrecht

I have felt your pain, and so much so, that I had to ask DH to do the drop off and I would do the pick up. 

I don't want to scare you, but please keep an eye on him. I didn't know what to watch for in terms of separation anxiety. One day, we discovered that my DH had a small bald spot on the side of her head. I asked about it at the dayhome and they mentioned "yeah, she's always got hair in her hands"...I was pretty angry that they didn't tell us about that.  What we ended up learning was that my DH had severe separation anxiety. We pulled her out of the dayhome and tried a nanny in our home. She still pulled. We parted ways with the nanny and had my mother in law take care of her(mind you all the while this was only for 2-3d/week) and she still pulled. After 2 months of trying these I quit my job.  She's never pulled her hair out again.

Trust your gut and if you are ok with it as time goes by then you've made the right decision. I knew it was really, really bad and it never felt ok.  I couldn't even drop her off and see it in her eyes...Even though everyone kept telling me it would get better, it didn't. I wish I didn't wait so long.  I think that there truly are some kids that need to be at home with mom. For us, this is a small sacrifice so that we might have our little be the best she can be.  Huge difference in our income.  Happy child.

If your little one really does improve with the drop off, then you'll feel better.  Keep an eye on his habits and you'll know. Best of luck