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Need Daycare Advice

ericaandsyericaandsy
in Minnesota Babies
My LO is 5 weeks old. She will not be starting daycare until the beginning of December. I was super paranoid about finding an in home daycare, so I started looking early. I have worked in different childcare settings all throughout highschool & college, so I was very picky about the type of in home daycare center that our daughter would attend. My main requirement was to find a provider that kept her ratios low, and that she would be the only infant. We signed a contract with a wonderful lady in March.When we went to interview one of the main points that she stressed with us was that she kept her numbers low so she could offer more one on one time. We were told that there would be 5 children with our daughter being the 5th, and that she would be the only infant. Yesterday we brought our daughter to meet her, and to fill out paper work. While we were there I asked about the ages that the children were who already attended. Turns out that our daughter will now be the 11th child there when she starts in December. I'm not very happy.Working in child care I remember what it was like to juggle all of the kids. I'm worried about the amount of attention that our daughter will now get. Any advice?? I know I am being paranoid!! Any advice?
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Re: Need Daycare Advice

  • BeccaMarieBeccaMarie member

    11 kids with one adult or two?  If just one adult, I would find a new place.

    A home daycare isn't for us, but being that you have chosen that as the care setting you are comfortable with, I don't see much difference between 1 provider with 5 kids and 2 providers with 11.  (actually, I might prefer the 2:11 over the 1:5)

    Good luck!  Surprises in childcare are never fun

    GBCB!

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  • minnteacherminnteacher member
    That is why I am partial to a center. They MUST keep their ratios at 1:4 in the infant room. Currently, my center has 3 adults and 10 babies (on an average day). I like that there are 3 sets of eyes on Sophia. That is just me though. GL. I thought finding daycare was the hardest thing to do, hands down!
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  • VeittobeVeittobe member
    Yikes.  I think 11 kids is way too many!!  Unless there are more adults than just the one lady.  If you're looking at an 11:1 ratio - I'd say definitely look someplace else.  Scary.
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  • C&HC&H member

    No, you aren't being paranoid at all. IMO 11 kids including an infant is to many. This happened to me with both of the in home daycares we up until he my son was two and then we switched to a center. He didn't get the attention he needed and with that many kids it was hard to do activities for the older ones so they ended up in front of the tv a lot. Did you find out how many kids are actually there all day? Some of them might be before and after school which would make a difference in how much attention she gets during the day. My advice is to follow your instinct and do what you are comfortable with.

    Heather
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  • ericaandsyericaandsy
    Thank you for the advice ladies. I started looking into centers & am shocked by the price difference!! I am going to keep looking!
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  • jacquekfjacquekf member

    Are a lot of the children school age?  If so then they will not be there most of the day.  But if most are 4 and under, I see that as a problem and agree to start looking at your options.

    Good Luck

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