Daycare ratios

jenn43 · July 2014

I'm sorry if this question has been answered before. I'm looking at daycares for LO (3mo old), and the one closest to us has a 1:5 ratio. That seems kind of high to me. Does anyone have experience with that? I'm just wondering how one caregiver can manage 5 infants...

[Deleted User] · July 2014

That does seem high but each state has an allowable ratio depending on age (my state has 1:4 for that age, for example). Some daycares go beyond and make their ratio smaller than the state's set ratio.

Our daycare divided responsibilities so it made it easier to handle 3 infants at once (my daycare's infant ratio). DS had a main caregiver but the others helped out with him. Each caregiver had 3 children as their main kiddos- one small infant, one more mobile infant and an older infant. Each of those ages have separate needs so it worked well.

I would find out what your state's minimum ratio is and ask how the daycare handles the workload of a 1:5 ratio. Do they have a plan of attack or is it just whoever does whatever.

MickeyM04 · July 2014

Our state's requirement is 1:4 so that would be illegal here, but every state is different. I agree that you should check and see what is required in your state.

jennyelf · July 2014

That seems high, but I checked, and some states do allow a 1:5 ratio (Arkansas and Louisiana allow 1:6!) Most states are 1:4 at that age range.
You can find a spreadsheet listing the ratios for states here: https://www.naccrra.org/about-child-care/state-child-care-licensing/child/staff-ratios

Mustardseed2007 · July 2014

1:4 is our state ratio. It ought to be 1:3. I wasn't ever able to find a daycare anywhere near us that had a 1:3 ratio as their standard though.

Leap08 · July 2014

My state has a ridiculously high ratio for infants - 1:6. So, when I was looking for daycare I wanted a place that maintained a lower ratio than the state standard. Unfortunately there weren't many. The center we're at now was only one of 2 in my area that tries to maintain a lower ratio. When my girls were that age, there were usually 8-9 infants, so most of the time they were at a 1:4 or 1:5 ratio. Personally, I would be okay with 1:5, because where I live that's about the best you'll find.

jenn43 · July 2014

jennyelf said:

That seems high, but I checked, and some states do allow a 1:5 ratio (Arkansas and Louisiana allow 1:6!) Most states are 1:4 at that age range.
You can find a spreadsheet listing the ratios for states here: https://www.naccrra.org/about-child-care/state-child-care-licensing/child/staff-ratios

Thank you! I checked, and the ratio is 5 in our state (Ohio). It looks like that's fairly common, so I guess I'll just have to stop by and see how chaotic it is!

radiohd18 · July 2014

I believe Massachusetts is 1:3 or 2:7 (and extra 1/2 a kid if there's two teachers), and that is what my daycare has. Sometimes I think 1:3 is a lot, especially if there are some high maintenance babies that need attention. Some babies cry more than others, need to be rocked to sleep or are having trouble taking the bottle; I think these things end up leaving the lower maintenance babies with less attention.

Beesq · July 2014

I just wanted to encourage you to check it out. Our daycare promised 1:4, but really for the vast majority of the day it was 1:3. I'm also in Ohio and it is tough to find good infant care!

emberlee3 · July 2014

My state mandates 1:4 for infants up to 1 year old. My son was in a center with 1:4 as a baby. Usually not all the babies were there and there were floaters, so the ratio was often lower. My DD is in a classroom with 1:3 for 6 weeks to 2.5 years. It is awesome!

Mustardseed2007 · July 2014

I'll echo what someone else said about inhome care being different. The allowed ratio for that is actually really complicated based upon the range of ages of the children that are in the program.

Currently, DDs daycare is usually lower ratio b/c it's summer, but after the summer is over they have let us know to expect the ratios to max out.

dancingmatilda · July 2014

Our state requires 1:5 and that is what we had in the baby rooms @ DD's daycare. It was never a problem for us.

Tink112011 · July 2014

1:4, and while the thought of caring for 4 infants seems daunting, it appears to be much easier when its a FT job in an environment completely set up to accomodate it. The infant room at our center was smallish, making it easier to get from one infant to another or multi-task.

Also, very rarely where all babies in attendance. Between vacation days and sick days (especially at that age) for the enrolled infants, and then the chances of them not running at 100% full capacity, it was unusal to see all 8 babies in there at once. But of course, they were staffed for it in case it happened.

A center running at a 1:4 or 1:5 ratio likely has to to make ends meet. Our center told us that they lose money caring for the infants (at $250/wk!), but that they provide that care because the infants almost always feed into the older rooms and it is a better business model to secure those "customers" at birth.

Xtine22 · July 2014

I use to work in daycares, never the infant room but here is my inside information. Yes, 1:4 or 1:5 sound like a lot but there is usually always 2 teachers with more babies but 2 sets of hands. In the infant room there is no room schedule (everyone eats, naps, plays ect at the same time), each baby is on their own schedule. So of those 5/6 babies, one or two could be napping, one or two having tummy time,/play time one eating and one getting their diaper changed. So with if you have 2 teachers one is feeding while the other is playing with the other awake children. Or the feeding teacher is supervising the playing babies while the other teacher does diaper changes. In a well run/quality center those teachers are pros and truly love working with infants, they have their routine down pack.

jenn43 · July 2014

Thank you all for the advice! We toured the center yesterday- it is sparkling clean, and the kids and employees all seem very happy to be there. And my LO loved seeing the other babies! I think he will enjoy a more stimulating environment then he does at home.

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