my baby won't eat in day care

[Roach]

We just started putting my 4 month old girl in day care and she only eats half or less of what she would usually eat when she's there. On her first day, she did eat every hour as soon as we got home but the rest of the days, she just fell asleep the whole night because she was too tired since she's also not getting enough nap time in the day care. She normally naps 1 hr or 2 in the morning, noon and afternoon, now, the most she gets is 30 mins and the rest were 10 to 15 mins of naps. I am really concerned that she's not getting enough calories and sleep time. We started waking hep up every 2 to 3 hrs at night to feed her to make sure she gets something in her body because we're sure she's not going to eat during the day. I am really concerned for her.

When do babies get fully adjusted to day care? Do they learn to ignore the noise later on and will they get back to taking naps?

[Anonymous]

It really varies with each kid (surprise, surprise, what doesn't?) -- I'd talk to the day care and see how they thing she is adjusting and whether she seems to be improving. What kind of conditions do they have for the infants for napping? At our day care, the cribs are in a separate room that is kept darkened and has various types of white noise, lullabies playing throughout the day to keep some of the noise from the other kids down. Do they do anything like that?

[Roach]

Thanks for your reply. Now that you mentioned it, the cribs and the play area are all in one room. I do need to talk to them about their napping sched/policy.

[Anonymous]

My DD also sleeps much less in daycare (they have cribs in same room too). She is a light sleeper in general through. She gets 2X 40 mins in daycare, while on weekend at home she sleeps 2x 2 hrs. I think when they are bigger and have only 1 nap, it will be easier on her. I just resigned to this for now, and she goes to sleep early. SHe loves it there otehrwise so I dont feel too bad about this.

Not sure about the food, I hope she gets adjusted soon!

PS: Some daycares have separate sleep rooms but it is not too common. Our previous daycare in Bethesda did.

[Anonymous]

How long has it been? I wouldn't worry too much if it's only been a week or so, but if the non-eating goes on longer, you might need to call your doctor and go for weight checks. I'm sure she'll adjust eventually, but you need to be careful with calorie intake around that age since there is so much development going on. Good luck, I'm sure it will work out!

[Roach]

Thanks so much. This is her second week and we're thinking maybe of hiring a babysitter at home for her. How long do babies normally get adjusted to day care?

[Anonymous]

She may always have a different schedule on daycare days. Our child wouldn't sleep as much at daycare, but would take long naps on weekends. As long as she is healthy and happy, I think you just have to adapt your own expectations and know that she's ok on a schedule that you didn't set.

[Anonymous]

Yesterday when we picked her up, I asked the care taker if I can feed her before we leave since she just warmed up the bottle and was going to try if my baby wanted some. She did take some but stopeed once the other kids started crying and fighting. Her eyes too were red from crying so I don't think she's happy there although that may be temporary. We're going to see the doctor for a weigh in and see what he says. We're just trying to figure out what's going to make her eat while we're gone so she can be as healthy as she can be.

[Anonymous]

There are two issues.

Daycare is different from home, they'll eat and sleep differently. For instance, after his 2nd week of daycare, my DS was on a bottle strike for a long time, and only drank 2oz a day, but made it up by BFing all night. 2 years later, he eats more in daycare than at home, but sleeps less. I wouldn't worry about that.

The other issue is whether you're happy with the daycare. It's hard to separate your feelings about being separated from the baby from your feelings about that particular daycare. The cribs being in the same room is usually fine with infants, because they often like the noise. But how are the teachers in general? Do they pay attention to each kid? What do they tell you about your child's personality/habits? What do they think about the short naps? For instance, our daycare attached blankets to the outside of the cribs for those kids who were more distractable.
BTW, it can take 2-4 weeks to adapt to a change in daycare or even to a change in room for the same daycare.