Impact of staff masking on littlest kids?

[Anonymous]

My infant was supposed to start day care in March. Now we're looking at starting him in the next 6 weeks or so, when we expect to be called back to our offices. It's just occurred to me that if he goes back, and teachers and staff are all in masks, that could impact his transition, emotional bonding, language learning, etc. Is this a concern for anyone, in addition to the general health concerns around being in a group setting? Should we be more strongly considering a nanny, even though we'd have to draw on savings and don't have a lot of space?

[Anonymous]

I don’t think anybody knows the impact. Although there is a recommendation for staff to wear masks it is not a requirement and therefore a lot of people are not wearing masks.

[Anonymous]

Only in America.......

[Anonymous]

It’s a concern, but it’s also necessary right now and it’s temporary. Also consider the fact that the masks will only protect the children from the workers and the workers are taking a huge risk by caring for all of these children who won’t show symptoms if sick and can’t wear masks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only in America.......

You’ll have to elaborate.

Jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a concern, but it’s also necessary right now and it’s temporary. Also consider the fact that the masks will only protect the children from the workers and the workers are taking a huge risk by caring for all of these children who won’t show symptoms if sick and can’t wear masks.

Is it temporary? If it is a only a year, that's a pretty big year in the life of an infant.

I understand the rationale and am not posting in opposition to masks. I am also not sure what the risk to workers of interacting with the children has to do with my specific question, unless you're saying it is unethical to send kids to day care at all due to risks to workers? I am asking about what considerations I should be weighing for sending my kid.

[Anonymous]

Welp.... when your baby was born, the first thing he saw was doctors and nurses in MASKS!

Didn't do much damage.

If you ever take your baby out of the house again, guess what your baby will see... people wearing a mask. Let these poor teachers keep safe.

[Anonymous]

We know that babies need language rich environments in their first three years of life. We also know that babies cannot learn to speak from screens - they need to see the mouth movements clearly.

I don’t think anyone knows the answer to your question but it is not ridiculous. If you are in DMV, though, I doubt you are going back in six weeks. My federal office is talking August at the earliest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welp.... when your baby was born, the first thing he saw was doctors and nurses in MASKS!

Didn't do much damage.

If you ever take your baby out of the house again, guess what your baby will see... people wearing a mask. Let these poor teachers keep safe.

That’s different than daily caretakers and you know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My infant was supposed to start day care in March. Now we're looking at starting him in the next 6 weeks or so, when we expect to be called back to our offices. It's just occurred to me that if he goes back, and teachers and staff are all in masks, that could impact his transition, emotional bonding, language learning, etc. Is this a concern for anyone, in addition to the general health concerns around being in a group setting? Should we be more strongly considering a nanny, even though we'd have to draw on savings and don't have a lot of space?

I asked this same question in a other forum. My child is older, but it concerns me if masks are worn what will her development be like -not to mention bonding. I understand the need to wear a mask, but it is also something to consider and depending on what day care says, I may just go the nanny route.

I want her seeing smiles and facial expressions. I want her to learn speech. I get the safety concerns, but also worried about the other stuff.

[Anonymous]

I'm not worried about bonding - that's just not something that concerns me. I do understand your concern about language development and it's why I would consider a nanny if I could afford one.

[Anonymous]

Assuming you do not have the option to quit your job, you will just have to hope for the best. No kid has the perfect situation all the time. If she got sick that would be more concerning imo.

[Anonymous]

Masks aren’t required for daycares and, especially in the infant room, I don’t know how effective they are, considering the teachers are doing diaper changes.

[Anonymous]

As long as the infant is having plenty of interaction with unmasked adults at home, it should be fine. If it concerns you, use the bare minimum of hours necessary, but you can’t expect them to work in such close quarters and with constant contact with bodily fluids without masks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As long as the infant is having plenty of interaction with unmasked adults at home, it should be fine. If it concerns you, use the bare minimum of hours necessary, but you can’t expect them to work in such close quarters and with constant contact with bodily fluids without masks.

I'm NOT. The alternative under consideration is spending savings on a nanny instead of using group care, not making demands on the day care workers, and I don't get why people are reading that into this post. But thanks.