I have a 3 month old and I feel like he takes up a good chunk of my day with feeding, changing, entertaining, tummy time supervision and managing any fussiness. How do home daycare providers who watch 5-6 babies, toddlers and/or preschoolers of varying age at the same time still give them at least a decent amount of attention and love?
I worked in a daycare which cared for children from 3 weeks old up to 3 years. The ratio for infants up to a year old is 3:1 (in Canada). In my experience it always ended up that at least one or two children would nap while we cared for the others. We also made sure to have 4-5 different play centres with different mobiles/things to look at so that they weren't bored doing the same thing while the caregivers were feeding/changing/calming other children. Also with multiple children once they start interacting they would often entertain each other when laying near each other or doing tummy time. So while there definitely are some stressful times when everyone is fussing or needs something at the same time we have lots of strategies to keep everyone entertained and happy.
Re: Curious how daycare providers care for so many children