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[quote=Anonymous]You might be realizing that infant care in a center is not for you. I got on many day care waitlists but after my daughter was born and we enrolled her in a very coveted center, I realized I hated it and she was miserable. It's very very hard for infant daycare providers to do anything beyond meeting the basic needs of infants for feeding and diapering at ratios of 1:3 or 1:4. All of the extra love, stimulation, cuddling, singing, reading, talking, and interaction you want your infant to have they simply do not have time for when they are taking care of 3 or 4 infants all day long. It's unfortunate but it is reality. Infant rooms in centers, even good ones, are just tough, and while nothing is technically wrong with them they often just feel sad with many crying babies, smell of poopy diapers, tired and underpaid teachers, etc. You will probably not get same feeling in a room of toddlers or preschoolers in a good center because by then children are older and benefit from the social interaction and can play independently, with each other, and really benefit more from what high quality a teacher and peers can offer them, etc. But the reality is that young infants in particular don't really benefit from being in a large institutional  settings with many babies and multiple caregivers. Developmentally young infants need consistent routines, a calm environment, to develop primary attachment to one caregiver, etc. hard things for centers to provide.

I ended up putting my daughter in a lovely family day care home with a 1:2 ratio and she is far happier, gets a lot more individual attention, and there's only a few other children. Lesson learned for me. I would not put an infant in a large center again if I have a choice for a better ratio for her--i.e. Home daycare or a nanny or nanny share. I have nothing against centers and will certainly enroll her in a toddler or preschool class when she is bigger, but for me infant care in a center just was not working and did not feel right to me. It's okay if you feel the same way and does not mean something is wrong with you. [/quote]

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