Priceless doesn't seem to do justice to how it absolutely changes everything to have good daycare. As I mentioned in a previous post, I went through three daycares in three months with mounting anxiety and frequent panic attacks everytime i dropped DLO off. I wanted to try a new one but didn't know if it was worse to try a new one and go through a big change or stay with sub-par. So first off, I only had 3 weeks maternity leave. Luckily for all of us, DH was also able to get 3 weeks paternity leave. So with me fudging a few days of "working from home" and DH spreading out his leave we made it to 8 weeks with her at home with mom and dad. Then, we were so thrilled and extremely grateful when both sets of grandparents stepped up and watched her a few days a week, so DH and I each took a day a week and the grandparents filled the rest. That got us to the new year and 4 months old. Grandparents could no longer help and it was time to go out into the real world with DLO :(.
Daycare #1: a small in-home daycare that seemed cozy and sweet. Put the cons started surfacing VERY quickly. First, (minor issue but issue nonetheless), the lady wore a noxious perfume that caused us to strip and scrub DLO and all her accessories everynight. Second, anytime DLO cried, she fed her. Not even kidding. She would try milk first for every cry. DLO is exclusively breastfed and this lady would go through 16+ oz in under 8 hours. Even if I would drop her off late or pick her up early, we never got below 16oz in a day. And the lady had the nerve to tell me that if my supply couldn't keep up, we should just accept I hard put in my best effort and move on to formula. Daggers. She also kept the babies in front of the TV. And a couple times we came unannouced 30+ minutes early to find DLO already strapped into her carseat waiting for pick-up. Two VERY long weeks and I was done.
Daycare #2: a large group daycare. Highly ranked and rated, I had avoided it knowing it was so many kids in one room with lots of stimulation and less nurture time for babies. They didn't watch TV and the ladies really did do an awesome job but they were definitely teetering on the edge of illegal ratio with 7-9 babies and only 3 caregivers. And the other half of the room was the 1-3 year olds so it was very noisy all the time. DLO, a light sleeper, never slept and came home completely wrecked. Since she was one of the youngest, again she was often just moved from chair to swing to crib and back so the more mobile babies didn't trample her. There was often much more crying before attention was given as well just because of the pure numbers. It wasn't terrible but everyday I stayed with her as long as I could and raced out of work early to pick her up from baby prison. The final straw really came when I walked in and one lady was rocking and feeding a baby with one arm and was holding a bottle over DLO who was in a bouncy chair falling asleep with her little neck and face strained up as high as she could go to latch and suck on the bottle. To watch her sit alone and suck from a bottle like a little baby cow was too much for me to handle. But again, pull her out and put her through the stress of a new daycare? One that might be just as bed?
Then all good things in life intervened and I got a text from a lady I had called about in-home daycare. When we first met her, I could tell she was a little nervous about starting in-home care but we hit it off immediately. She just radiated warmth, kindness, and peace. She's kinda a hippy which is exactly the values I have for my children. Lydia started with her just a few days a week and for the first time, despite missing her like crazy, I could focus on my day and not be continually panicking that DLO was getting poor care. Now the reverse is true, when I am home with her, I wonder if she secretly wishes I was at work! :) There is NOTHING, NOTHING as priceless as feeling comfortable with the person taking care of your child. Awkwardly (for her at least), I've already asked her if she'd be up for caring for a DLO #2 if we started trying...cause if I have to go through all of that panic again, I might just wait a bit longer!
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