Bringing a Child Hungry..

[Heidi]

Ok, so we all know part time infants are a special challenge. The one I have is 7 months old, and she's the first, only child.

Mom is sweet, but terribly disorganzed. This morning, once again, she brings her in the door at 7:20. She hasn't eaten since 5:30 (nursed or bottle, not sure which). "oh, and she slept through the night, wierd, and she never went back to sleep since then". SHe has been bringing her in the door with the words "she's hungry" on and off forever. When she was the only baby, it was tolerable. Now, I have 3 that early, and one is 7 weeks old.

so she's been up since Mom is gone 2 minutes, and baby is screaming.

Now, she tends to cry alot anyway because she gets easily frustrated that she can only scootch backwards. She wants everyone to do things for her...like put her into a sitting position, and give her toys. Nope, not gonna happen here. She just needs to figure it out (and yes, I try to encourage her).

So...now I've got a crying baby at 7:30on Monday morning, 2 more (a 7 wk old and a 3 yo) comming in the door at the same time, and I have to guess WHY she's crabbin. Hungry? Tired? Both?

I put her to bed, and it took her a good 20 minutes of crying to quiet down. Which, I feel terrible about, but I couldn not go to get her because I had to get everything ready for the day (sheets on cribs, boosters on chairs, bottle ready for 7 week old), and the 3 year old decided to be testy, which is not like him. argg..

I think I'm just venting, but I think I need to tell mom that she MUST offer her a bottle before comming, even if she just ate at 5:30. We have breakfast at 8:30. This is on the schedule that mom got. I'm thinking 5:30-8:30 on just formula is not long enough for this little one. SHe's eating cereal, fruits, veggies, and baby "puffs" now. Her self feeding skills aren't real strong yet. Mom has been a bit hesitant to give her a lot of finger-foods or nibblers like crackers.

Do you think she needs something else before she comes?

[Momofmany]

She may not be as hungry as Mom thinks - but more tired. Perhaps getting her on a schedule of coming in - taking a cat nap then eating will smooth things. I have an 8 month old that has a bottle at 5:30 - 6 and doesn't eat till 8:30 or 9 some days depending on him. He comes in - plays for 20 minutes and then I have to put him down for a cat nap. But then again - how much is mom feeding her at 5:30?? Maybe not enough since Mom is trying to get ready herself??

[bunnyslippers]

I do not allow babies to be dropped off hungry. It is far too chaotic and busy at drop-off times to deal with feeding an infant. In the past, I have made it a point to tell parents that I expect the baby to be dropped off recently fed. The few times that they have been dropped off crying and hungry with the "She is really hungry and needs to eat" comment, I have responded, "I can't feed her at drop-off, as I need to get the other children settled, too. You can feed her before you leave, or she will need to wait until everyone is settled." Typically, the baby is not dropped off hungry again.

To clarify, I never would really just let a baby be starving for a long period of time. I just let the parents THINK that it may be a while before I can feed her.

[Unregistered]

I have parents bring children hungry almost every day! It is so frustrating. Esp. went it is infants. I have 7 children in my DC. The little ones come in crying, I'm hungry!

The worst is when they come in late. They know breakfast cut off is 8:00 and they will come in late with their children having nothing to eat yet and want me to get them breakfast.

I always end up getting them something. I don't want to be left here with a bunch of hungry cranky kids, but it is hard. You can't expect everyone to sit in the kitchen waiting to start the day until the late ones eat too!

It's nuts!

[harperluu]

She may not be as hungry as Mom thinks - but more tired. Perhaps getting her on a schedule of coming in - taking a cat nap then eating will smooth things. I have an 8 month old that has a bottle at 5:30 - 6 and doesn't eat till 8:30 or 9 some days depending on him. He comes in - plays for 20 minutes and then I have to put him down for a cat nap. But then again - how much is mom feeding her at 5:30?? Maybe not enough since Mom is trying to get ready herself??

I agree with this. I find it hard to believe a 7 month old is hungry at 7:20 after having eaten at 5:30. I have 2 part time infants that are both 6 months and one full time that is 7 months. All three of them go 3-4 hours without a bottle. They each have a cereal/baby food meal at around 8:30 and 11:30. They are drinking from 5-8 ounces each (they are all a little different). It sounds like she is tired, and is having trouble soothing herself to sleep.

[SilverSabre25]

what about plopping her in a high chair with some puffs and a sippy of water? More self-feeding practice is always good Then you can get a feel for if she's hungry or tired.

[itlw8]

If a baby ate at 5:30 and took 20 minutes to eat, in order for mom to get dressed and get to your house baby would need another bottleless than an hour later so no I would not expect mom to feed her again.

Yes she is likely tired she has been awake since 5:30

At this point all you can do is be ready for her to eat before 8:30 babies do not follow meal times.

Have the cribs and everything ready before the children get there and just take the time feeding her as a quiet time to calm down for the day. It will get better as she starts to eat finger foods.

[youretooloud]

I also require infants to be "topped off" before coming over. Sometimes the baby refuses, and I'll try to deal with that. But, on more than one occasion, I have propped a bottle in the morning because they bring him or her hungry, but I have to be at the door to welcome all the other kids.

I DO tell the parents "I will not feed your infant when he or she gets here...if she wasn't hungry at home, she can wait an hour here". They don't like the idea of baby waiting an hour, so they usually try to get him or her to eat before they leave.

[Heidi]

If a baby ate at 5:30 and took 20 minutes to eat, in order for mom to get dressed and get to your house baby would need another bottleless than an hour later so no I would not expect mom to feed her again.

Yes she is likely tired she has been awake since 5:30

At this point all you can do is be ready for her to eat before 8:30 babies do not follow meal times.

Have the cribs and everything ready before the children get there and just take the time feeding her as a quiet time to calm down for the day. It will get better as she starts to eat finger foods.

Most days, I do have everything ready. It is Monday morning, and this weekend we had houseguests. I don't have a seperate daycare space.

[Heidi]

ok..so she slept about a half hour, then got up to eat breakfast and is much better. Guess she was tired.

Now I hope she can make it until afternoon nap, because she usually takes a nap from 9-10, and that's not happening today.

[Blackcat31]

Heidi~ I sympathize with you ALOT. I just had this very same issue. When I explained to DCM that I could not feed the baby (mine is 9.5 months old) in the morning due to other kids coming in and needing my attention and that she (or DCD) would need to make sure the baby was fed BEFORE arrival the DCM actually said to me "But we have 2 other kids and we just don't have time."

I was like, "Do you hear yourself? You are telling me, with 9 other children in the background, that you don't have the time?" :confused: ::::::

I do not serve anything to eat until AFTER everyone has arrived so I absolutely insisted that the child be dropped off fed. Even a little so they can make it until the next meal time. (For this little one, it was an hour)

I told both parents they would simply need to get up earlier. No exceptions or excuses...they will just need to get up early enough to feed baby.

I don't want to put the baby in a high chair and give them puffs of any type of snack to tide them over because I feel that makes getting into a routine for meals/snacks harder and when a baby is sitting in a high chair eating puffs upon arrival of the other kids....guess who else wants to eat?!? EVERYONE.

I explained to the parents that helping them work TOWARDS getting baby on the same schedule as the other kids was absolutely necessary since I require all children age 12 months and over be on the same meal/snack schedule as everyone else.

I told mom I would be documenting behavior for a week (because it is very obvious when the baby is hungry in the morning) and if I felt she was not making an effort to get the baby on a routine, I would either be forced to term or not allow baby to be dropped off until breakfast time (an hour later than their normal drop off time).

Propping the bottle is not an option here as I would be cited immediatey for doing it so NOT going there.

Basically, it is simple: Parents need to adjust their schedules/lives to fit their child's needs.

So far we are going on week 3 and although I would like to see a bit more improvement, we have seen some progress.

[bunnyslippers]

I once had a family who would drop the baby off to me around 8:15 every morning. This was a BABY - 4 months old. The dad would say things like, "She hasn't eaten since2:00 a.m. when she woke up." It would be 6 hours later! And then he would just leave...to go get his morning coffee and donut and visit with his friends at the coffee shop (I only know this b/c my husband would drive by and see his car there).

It was because of this famliy that I changed my policy on feeding first thing in the morning.

[Heidi]

Heidi~ I sympathize with you ALOT. I just had this very same issue. When I explained to DCM that I could not feed the baby (mine is 9.5 months old) in the morning due to other kids coming in and needing my attention and that she (or DCD) would need to make sure the baby was fed BEFORE arrival the DCM actually said to me "But we have 2 other kids and we just don't have time."

I was like, "Do you hear yourself? You are telling me, with 9 other children in the background, that you don't have the time?" :confused: ::::::

I do not serve anything to eat until AFTER everyone has arrived so I absolutely insisted that the child be dropped off fed. Even a little so they can make it until the next meal time. (For this little one, it was an hour)

I told both parents they would simply need to get up earlier. No exceptions or excuses...they will just need to get up early enough to feed baby.

I don't want to put the baby in a high chair and give them puffs of any type of snack to tide them over because I feel that makes getting into a routine for meals/snacks harder and when a baby is sitting in a high chair eating puffs upon arrival of the other kids....guess who else wants to eat?!? EVERYONE.

I explained to the parents that helping them work TOWARDS getting baby on the same schedule as the other kids was absolutely necessary since I require all children age 12 months and over be on the same meal/snack schedule as everyone else.

I told mom I would be documenting behavior for a week (because it is very obvious when the baby is hungry in the morning) and if I felt she was not making an effort to get the baby on a routine, I would either be forced to term or not allow baby to be dropped off until breakfast time (an hour later than their normal drop off time).

Propping the bottle is not an option here as I would be cited immediatey for doing it so NOT going there.

Basically, it is simple: Parents need to adjust their schedules/lives to fit their child's needs.

So far we are going on week 3 and although I would like to see a bit more improvement, we have seen some progress.

Thanks..

Propping the bottle wouldn't be an issue, since she can hold her own now. I think the issue is more the typical PT infant stuff. I had no idea if she was hungry or tired or both and since she has no routine...yeah...:confused:

When she was bmilk or formula only, she was typically drinking oz every 2- 2 1/2 hours. Before she held her own, she was the finger-puller lygagger. I trained her to hold her bottle as quick as I could because I felt more annoyed than connected holding her. Now, if you give her a bottle, she'll drink 2-4 ounces on her own. I've been giving it to her before meals because I think she needs more formula. Not more calories, though, she's a chunker.

She is quite a sweet baby, but expectations for her at home are pretty low. I thought it was funny that mom was so shocked she is slept through the night...she's 7 1/2 months old, eating solids. She can sit up, but wont on her own. She can roll over, but wont on her own very often.. She won't reach for toys...she fusses for them. My policy as of last week is I only lay her on the floor on her back. If she wants anything-toys, to sit up, to be on her tummy; she's going to have to figure it out. No excercauser, no help, just encouragment.


I was just frustrated this morning because it seemed like everyone was demanding SOMETHING first thing before I even had my coffee. argg

[daycarediva]

I used to get DD up at 6 right after my shower, change her diaper and clothes, breastfeed her, give her some puffs in her high chair in the bathroom while I got ready to leave. Then I would leave at 7 & give dd a sippy of formula in the car on the way to daycare in the morning. At 7 months she was holding the ones with handles well, and atleast she would drink a few ounces and be 'topped off' and not cranky. She would be dropped off at 7:30, not starving & ready for the day but still willing to eat whatever her provider tossed on her tray at breakfast.

LOL @ shocked she slept through the night!

[nanglgrl]

Basically, it is simple: Parents need to adjust their schedules/lives to fit their child's needs.

Crazy talk! ::