All Babies

[Unregistered]

Hello!
I am planning on starting my dacare out of my home in a couple of months. My original plan was just limit myself to just one infant, as I already have a 6 week old son and didn't think I could handle much more than 2 infants.
However, all of the parents needing daycare so far have infants (3 families total). Now, I do see a couple of major benefits of taking on this challenge. One is that all of the moms of the infants are teachers! SO that means I would essentially have a teacher's schedule: off around 3 or 3:30p.m., and fall, Christmas and summer vacations! That would be pretty sweet.
PLUS, if all of the infants remained in my care, I would eventually have all 2 year olds, then all 3years olds, etc..and I would be able to work towards having a preschool, which is my ultimate goal.

My question is... am I crazy to try and take on 4 infants at once, all around the same age? They would all be 3-6 months old starting out. Has anyone else watched this many babies at once by themselves? Is it even feasible?
I LOVE babies, but wonder how I would handle it if all 4 were crying at once and wanting to be held?

[misol]

Whew! That will definitely be challenging! However, I think that it will work to your benefit that all of the kids are the same age. I am still fairly new to daycare but I am quickly learning that I prefer the same age group (even if all are infants) over a mixed age group. Unfortunately, that's not an option for me since my own children are 2 years apart.

I say purchase a quad stroller and GO FOR IT! I would suggest that you stagger your enrollement if that's possible so that you don't have all of them start on the same day/week. This will give you time to get used to each child's temperament and adjust to their schedule.

[TGT09]

I personally could never do it but that's just me. All babies have such different personalities and one baby could ruin the whole experience. And, it almost did for me. I second guessed even wanting to become a parent over one baby that came into my care as soon as I opened. Granted, that is a bit of an extreme but I still questioned myself daily.

It also depends on what state you are in and what the licensing requirements are. In the state of Ohio we don't have to be licensed but we can't have more than 3 under the age of 2 at one time.

In theory this would sound awesome but I would definitely have a trial period to where you can say "NOPE, too much". I also agree with Misol, do not have them all start the same week so you can get to know each baby.

[pigletsmommy]

I agree, check with your state before you make any plans. In TN we can only have 4 infants at one time.

I don't think its necessarily a bad idea. It would be very nice to have a teacher's schedule.

I had 4 babies at one time and it did get a little stressful during feeding times. However, their ages were slightly staggered. Last October I had my daughter and another little girl, both 11 months. A boy, 8 months. And then a 3 month old girl start. My daughter and the new baby both demanded to be rocked to sleep. The new baby was not a "happy" baby until she could crawl. I later found out that family members constantly carried this child...so thats why she screamed constantly at my house.

As long as the babies all have easy going personalities and you work out a feeding schedule, it should be doable.

[Golden Rule]

I currently care for three infants under the age of 9 weeks...along with 2 exiting four year olds (off to pre-school in the fall). Once the newborns are crawling/able to hold own bottles, I will fill the exiting childrens slots. Once again, it will be approximately 3 years before I have another slot.

I have been doing this cycle since 2004. I prefer similar aged groups and for everyone to have at least one same aged playmate. I admit I have the luxury of selecting whom I accept and even the option of leaving a few slots unfilled if I so choose. I promise I worked very hard for many years for that

I also have many parents whom work as teachers, so I have to warn you I almost choked laughing when I read you would have a teachers schedule....:: That will hold true for the first few months, then slowly they come earlier and stay later... By age 5 months they are all here for the full day...Since 1994 I have not had one exception to this rule You may get lucky, though

[nannyde]

I currently care for three infants under the age of 9 weeks...along with 2 exiting four year olds (off to pre-school in the fall). Once the newborns are crawling/able to hold own bottles, I will fill the exiting childrens slots. Once again, it will be approximately 3 years before I have another slot.

I have been doing this cycle since 2004. I prefer similar aged groups and for everyone to have at least one same aged playmate. I admit I have the luxury of selecting whom I accept and even the option of leaving a few slots unfilled if I so choose. I promise I worked very hard for many years for that

I also have many parents whom work as teachers, so I have to warn you I almost choked laughing when I read you would have a teachers schedule....:: That will hold true for the first few months, then slowly they come earlier and stay later... By age 5 months they are all here for the full day...Since 1994 I have not had one exception to this rule You may get lucky, though

The way you solve that is that you only contract them for the hours they actually have to work plus transport time. If you allow parents to come during your "open" hours then yes... by the time they are four/five months old and the newness of parenting wears off .. they start using more and more hours.

You don't have to allow them the extra time. You get them to agree to that when they first enroll and they don't think they can stand to not be with their baby. It's not a problem for them in the begining so that's when you get the signed contract with the SET hours that they can't change.

In my district the teachers are not expected to work after their contracted hours. The Teacher's union is VERY strong about ANY time to the minute. I know better than to have a teacher tell me they have to stay late on ANY routine basis. They may WANT to "stay late" (meaning usually run errands after work) but they don't HAVE to.

One thing I've learned over the years is to get the agreement of time and money from the go and to not allow any open hours of care. Don't agree to a schedule with a "might have to use more hours" now and then. You will find that "now and then" WILL become the contracted hours very quickly. It's a very rare parent who will not use all the day care hours they can use as long as it doesn't cost more money. Now and then you will have one that won't have their kid in day care unless they HAVE to but it is rare.

Nan

[Golden Rule]

The way you solve that is that you only contract them for the hours they actually have to work plus transport time. If you allow parents to come during your "open" hours then yes... by the time they are four/five months old and the newness of parenting wears off .. they start using more and more hours.

You don't have to allow them the extra time. You get them to agree to that when they first enroll and they don't think they can stand to not be with their baby. It's not a problem for them in the begining so that's when you get the signed contract with the SET hours that they can't change.

In my district the teachers are not expected to work after their contracted hours. The Teacher's union is VERY strong about ANY time to the minute. I know better than to have a teacher tell me they have to stay late on ANY routine basis. They may WANT to "stay late" (meaning usually run errands after work) but they don't HAVE to.

One thing I've learned over the years is to get the agreement of time and money from the go and to not allow any open hours of care. Don't agree to a schedule with a "might have to use more hours" now and then. You will find that "now and then" WILL become the contracted hours very quickly. It's a very rare parent who will not use all the day care hours they can use as long as it doesn't cost more money. Now and then you will have one that won't have their kid in day care unless they HAVE to but it is rare.

Nan

So smart!!! I am open from 8a-6p and have never come up with a good enough rationale that does not make me feel guilty for asking them to pick up based on their schedule. I always just let them come anytime during my open for business hours. Not one of my parents works past 4pm, right now. (I would actually be able to take my kids to karate myself!!!) How can I explain this to them without sounding like I am being unreasonable in the future?? 10 hours is a long time for a child to be here any given day, especially since most are showing up around 7:45, with a casual "sorry, got an early start". (Some even bring me a latte from starbucks as an in-trade. I admit I do love that!! They are not evil, just like their "me time", too)
(I do have a strict no drop off after 10am except for Dr. Apt with notice. Reason being that they would have missed breakfast, snack and art, making for one grumpy little)

Sorry to the OP for the thread hijack, but this was awesome info!!!

[Childminder]

I'd love only infants but being licensed in MI I am only allowed 2 under 18mo at one time.

[originalkat]

If it is within your ratios then I would do it. My goal was also to have a home preschool. But when I first started out everyone had babies. So I took them. I had a 3 month old, 5 month old, 3 17-month olds, and a three year old. Two years have passed. Some of the kids have changed but now I have what I wanted... all preschoolers! And now I will only take 2-5 year olds.
The teacher thing sells me...great hours and breaks. Just be sure you define what breaks they have to pay for so there isnt any confusion. This could lead to many referrals from more teachers in the future which would be great! When I lose my 3-3 year olds to KG in a few years I am going to try to get teachers kids so I can have the breaks. It would be SOOOOO worth it!

[QualiTcare]

you could do it - at the daycare i worked at before, the ratio was 4 infants to one adult.

i liked working with older kids, but when i did work in the infant room, it was pretty easy really. you just have to have a routine of feeding/changing diapers and stick to it.

plus, they sleep a lot so it's not likely that you'll have many needing to be fed or changed at the same time IMO.

[hawkfan428]

Infant ratios in many states is 1:4. I've done it many times in a center. Just be prepared to have moments in the day that are very peaceful and other moments where you just have to stop and count to 10 because it seems they are all crying for something at the same time.

I would do it if I were you though. Sounds like an ideal schedule!