Moms who chose in-home daycare

[scout]

Just wondering what the ratio of kids to daycare provider is. The provider I had chosen when I go back to work just called and told me she would be watching three infants total (my baby included in that three) plus five toddlers. Her mother is caring for the children as well, so there would be two providers for the eight children.

Can you tell me about your in-home daycare ratios and experiences with this type of daycare?

[Brady]

Hi Tracie... (it's capecod03), I actually met with a woman in a very similar situation to yours, she also had her mother working with her and they had a total of 8 kids.

The provider I ended up going with can have up to 6 kids, but only 2 under the age of 1. She currently has.. my son, who is 4 months, a 10 month old and then a 18 month old and 2(I think) year old. Those are the youngest ones. My son and the 18 month old are the only 2 full-time kids, the others are all part-time, so somedays she'll just have 4 kids, some days all 6 but usually just for a few hours. I've only seen her with 6 kids one time, and 2 of the girls were older 5 year old twins, so they were more her "helpers" as they told me. ;) I know with home based, the ratio here is 6:1 max with the stipulation that only 2 can be under 1 year old.

Anyways, that all said. He's been there since the end of May on a 3 day a week schedule, he'll start full-time on Monday. But, I've been very happy with his provider. He's taking great naps (I've read about your sleep issues with your son, and I'm crossing my fingers that maybe when he starts daycare he may start sleeping better, you never know!), taking his 2-3 bottles and the kids all seem to really get along. I was worried about him being so "little" when he started there, but the plus is that the other kids all love the baby.. so they'll talk to him all day, and he loves to watch them all interact. I'm very happy with the set-up. I know a lot of people are not comfortable with in-home care, I felt the opposite and wasn't comfortable with center based at his age, just my personal feeling.

Let me know if you have any specific questions I can help you with. But, I would say if you are happy with your providers and got a good feeling from them and they had good references, he'll be fine with that ratio, etc.

L.

ETA- I actually just went online because it was bothering me that I couldn't remember the specifics of her ratio, etc. This is the state of MA's regs.

Single provider:
Maximum of 6 children at any time:
• This includes provider’s own children under the age of 10 who are present in the home more than 3 hours a day (even if there is an approved assistant).
• Of the six children, only two children may be under 15 months of age.
• There may also be one additional child between 15 and 24 months , only if the child is walking independently.
• All other children must be over 24 months.

[scout]

Glad to read about your positive experience. I just started crying today thinking about daycare for really no good reason. I think the transition is going to be hard on me.


I know a lot of people are not comfortable with in-home care, I felt the opposite and wasn't comfortable with center based at his age, just my personal feeling. I feel the same way. The center based care seemed impersonal and cold to me when I visited different centers in my area.

I'm PRAYING that Maxwell's sleep issues resolve. I can't see the daycare provider having the time to do all of the things I do to get him to sleep and stay asleep. :(

Thank you for sharing your experience with me!

[Brady]

Glad to read about your positive experience. I just started crying today thinking about daycare for really no good reason. I think the transition is going to be hard on me.


I cried for the month leading up to it! Hang in there. I had to trust everyone that said it did get easier, and it does!

[miel]

For our daycare provider, it is about 4-1 max, sometimes 2-1 and every once in a while our daughter is the only one there.

I love our daycare provider. She speaks Spanish to the kids, has 3 great kids of her own (a sign she is good with kids) and is just a nice person.

It's very flexible-we show up late, that's cool. We decide not to bring her in, that's cool. It's all so easy...and the only thing we can afford--so it had to work out!

When your kid seems OK with it, and you see her run in to play with the other kids, you will know it is fine.

She seems to really love our daughter and is a kind and gentle person.

She is only allowed 6 kids max, and one baby.

We went to the centers and I was really upset that I could not afford it but it was so expensive! I did not like the family daycare places...they seemed kind of cramped, etc....but when I see how my daughter reacts to this and how she is almost always happy when I drop off and pick up (occasionally she seems sorry to see me go) and how much she loves the other kids...then I know it is fine. I'm really glad they have family daycare.

I'm very happy with our choice. Once I saw past my prejudices--i.e., that it wasn't fancy like the daycare centers--I saw that actually family daycare is better in many ways. She forms a bond with one person. There is no turnover. You are helping a woman with her own business. There are a lot of positives to it.

[gf&js]

If the person is licensed with the state - the state should have guidelines for the # of kids within an age range. 2 people to handle that group sounds very reasonable to me.

We are at an in home daycare too and have been very happy. You will certainly find a range of people doing it - those who feel they have to because they need the money, those doing it so they can stay home with their kids, and those who just love to be with the kids (and a whole bunch of options in between).

In our case - we were lucky enough to find a woman who loves kids. She is licensed for up 8 kids, but will only take 6 at a time. In MN - licensed daycare providers are only supposed to have 2 kids under the age of 1 but somehow, we had 3. I'm not quite sure how that got through but we can honestly say that our dd has been very happy. And in our case - it is all girls too so it absolutely hilarious to walk into that house! And the kids are pretty well grouped together in age so they have great playmates near their age and skill levels.

Go with your gut, take a couple of days before you go back to work to have a couple of trial partial days so that your child can get to know the daycare, and the daycare can get to know your child. It can help make your first full day back a tiny bit better knowing that they had a little time together already.

[scout]

Thanks for the input! Very helpful! :)

[pompomgirl]

My baby started at an in-home daycare when he was 4 months old. I'd searched for about a month or so, mostly daycare centers, and had found one I liked, but I still wasn't comfortable w/him being there. I found all of the centers cold and I hated that they all just left the babies alone doing whatever. By luck I found a placement agency, who took me to meet several in-home providers, and to be honest w/you, I liked them all and would have been comfortable leaving him w/any of them. It was such a relief to find this agency and the providers associated w/it.

The provider we chose had 4 children, including my son, when he started w/her back in April (2 infants, 1 toddler, 1 pre-schooler). But now that it's the summer time, only the infants and the toddler are in her care, and they are only there part-time. Rarely do all of our schedules match and they're all there at the same time, so it's great b/c they all get some one-on-one time w/her at some point during the week. When the fall comes, she'll probably take on another child and we'll all go back to having the kids stay w/her FT, but I'm comfortable w/that. She's very experienced, patient, warm, loving, and I have seen her in action w/all 4 at the same time, and she's really good!!

As for your baby's sleep issues, mine had serious issues upon starting w/her. He would only sleep w/us in our bed and for short spurts of time. Right away she and I worked on putting him on a sleep schedule, and I'm not lying, in less than a week he was sleeping on his own!!

Again, I'm so lucky that we stumbled upon this particular agency and provider. I have several friends who love daycare centers, but in-home care is just right for us. Good luck!!

[scout]

Thanks so much for taking the time to post! You have all made me feel more comfortable with my decision.

[cosmic]

bump!

[MrsSki]

I love, love, love our in home caregiver. She has two infants that are part time, three toddlers (14 mths - 2yrs) and a 4 year old that is in pre-school a couple mornings a week. I felt so comfortable the first time I took DD there to interview our caregiver T. I lucked out as all the daycare centers I looked at were mortifying. I understand not all are like that, but I couldn't afford the high prices. My DD loves T and her friends. Because of the age differences, my DD has learned so many good traits like patience and helping. Plus good playing skills and vocalization (think decibel level...not so much words).

The winning factor for me is that T has experience in working with special needs children and also is a registered for foster care. To do that, she and her family had to be fully investigated and everything about her is on file. She has two of her own children (10 & 16). Her daughter (16) sits for us all the time as DD loves her and she is so good with her.

T is also very knowledgeable about all things babies and kids and I love that she is comfortable enough with us to make suggestions regarding DD previous issues with biting/hitting/pushing.

And yes, it does get easier to leave DC. I cried a lot my first day back at work, but by the end of the second week, I was able to leave without crying and felt good about the care DD was getting. It also helped that at that time it was only DD as two of the other childrens' mother is a teacher and she was off for the summer. The other children mentioned about came in the fall.

[jh124]

bump

[aligirl]

When Alex was in an in-home daycare, it was 1 provider for 2 babies. Alex and the other kid are 6 weeks apart in age.

Overall, it was a really good experience.... I like the center he's in now but am so happy he was in a home until he was 1. The one-one time is so much better.

I did have issues with the provider doing things before I wanted her to but I figure in the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal... like offering a food we hadn't offered before - nothing sketchy either - like ham or turkey sandwich meat. ANy time she did something that we or the other parents didn't like, we talked ot her and she corrected the beahvior and apologized profusely. The one thing we were always questioning, since the kids napped at the same time, was whether she napped too. I know she played on the computer and did some household chores while the kids were playing together, as much as under 1's can do that.