Advice On Taking an Infant

[Ariana]

I have never worked with infants before and have zero experience besides my own two children. I couldn't wait for my own kids to get out of the infant stage I loved it so much

One of my daycare families has a baby and the mom asked me today if I could take him part time come April. He will be 12 months. It would only be part-time 2-3 days a week for a full day.

I am considering it because it is part-time and this baby seems so easygoing. His older sibling was a breeze to transition at 18 months. Having said that this is the family that co-sleeps together and I have been having some issues with older brother sleeping a lot here and I am 100% sure he has Aspbergers (he has been referred for evaluation). For this reason I had been considering terming because he is not social for my daughter (which is the reason I do daycare). I see this as a possible easy way out of this relationship BUT at the same time it is easy $$ for me....I feel torn.

Having no real experience with infants other than my own I want a REAL picture of what life is like with a 12 month old that is not my kid! Come summer I will be home with kids aged 2,3,3 and 6 plus possibly this infant. This might make or break my consideration. PLEASE be honest

[laundrymom]

I wouldn't take a part timer. Especially a young toddler. Nope. Too much trouble to acclimate.

[childcaremom]

I wouldn't take a part timer. Especially a young toddler. Nope. Too much trouble to acclimate.

Most of mine start at 12 months. I don't like part time for this age, at all. Esp. knowing that there are possible reasons for sleep issues (co-sleeping).

No thanks!

Other than sleep issues, this age is really quite easy to adapt to a schedule with older kids. When/if they have a morning nap, we do all of our planned activities (that require sitting still or at a table). Other than that, they are usually more than happy to follow along with what we are doing.

And usually, it is a 2-3 month period of a little more hands on but once they hit 15 mos things are usually golden.

[MunchkinWrangler]

Honestly, I made the mistake of cosleeping with my son, he's 2 now, and it never was a problem until he had to be in a daycare setting and he was 14 months his first experience. Luckily, it was a family member but poor kids would not go down. I picked him up and he was sniffling and never slept for her. I understood that because I did that it caused noone else but him stress. I started sleep training after that. Also, that's why I do daycare now, because he's not a good on his own sleeper. He did very good for almost a year on his own, me and my fiance, his father split up, and he's in my bed again.

My point is, the habit is hard to break. Unless Mom changes this, the child isn't going to want to sleep and will really want Mom. My son was very persistent, like he would cry for 3 hours, jump, scream, the whole tantrum, everything, it was very hard to sleep train him, especially on the nerves.

[Ariana]

She still co-sleeps with the older boy as well and I have never had an issue with him sleeping here (they did nothing to prepare him for daycare) but part of me believes it might have to do with his over compliant temperament and Aspbergers. If this new child is not as compliant and has no developmental issues I might be in for a rough time.

I have a lot of experience with sleep training so that might come in handy for sure! I trained my own two kids and a few daycare kids. It is way easier to sleep train someone else's kid thankfully!!

[MunchkinWrangler]

I find myself sleep training every infant I get. They always wonder how I get them to sleep and keep them to sleep. I wonder myself sometimes.

[hope]

That can be a rough age depending on what they are used to. I always prefer to have straight out of maternity care so the baby is trained here. 12 months is when they are most accident prone because they have just become mobile on only two legs verses all fours. PP's are right about them wanting to tag along with the older kids though so it can be easy. I think if you do decide to take the child you should get a better idea of the situation by maybe a trial day sometime soon.

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

I just started a ten month old this week, with her older sister. She's the youngest I've had yet, and honestly, I feel like she requires so much more time and attention than the others. If her older sister or another older child is trying to do something she can't do (such as playing with something with smaller pieces), I have them sit at the table so she can't get into their stuff, but then she stands or sits there crying and fussing trying to climb up with big sis, no matter what I have available for her, or how much I try to distract her. If I try to block off an area so she doesn't get into something they're playing on the floor, she cries and gets all upset at being separated. I'm sure it's partly because she's new. Oh, and this transitioning for nap... she sleeps 2-3 hours at home, and only an hour here if I'm lucky. And it takes so long to get her to sleep to begin with. I've never had trouble with nap time, but trying to get a ten month old used to our routine when she's only part time is not easy. I really hope it gets easier as she gets more used to it, but right now, I'm worn out! I think it's more difficult because all the others are older than her (2 & older).
Going off of right now, though, unless you need that extra income, I'm not sure I can say it's worth it. It really throws everything off the routine I had with the older ones, and I feel like they're getting the short end of the stick.

[Ariana]

Thanks for the input everyone. I told mom today that I am willing to give it a try. At 2 days a week how bad can it be right? My main concern is that she needs care 5 days a week but cannot pay for more than 2 so dad is going to take his weekend during the week and then a relative will do the other day or so. Seems like a LOT to put on a kid, let alone an infant. He will basically have to get used to 3 different routines. Again I am wondering what parents are thinking before they have their babies...or are they thinking?