10 Babies Too Much?

[BrynleeJean]

I'm sure, I've done this before. I'm closed now and will reopen in august or so but here its from birth. I've never seen that happen but yea.

[happymom]

Wonderful, I was going to suggest taking newborns at least.

It sounds like it could be a wonderful program, perhaps even continue with the kids until they are 2 so it's not such a short relationship.

The daycare my kids go to has an "infant" room and a "ones" room, they are combined when ratios are low enough, but the ratios are the same for both groups per licensing.

They required kids to be napping on a 1 nap per day schedule, walking, and off bottles to move to the "ones" class (for some kids this was 14-15 months), and rates went down by about $5 per week when they moved.

A few times I was in there I could see that the providers were extremely overwhelmed even under the 1:4 radio. One staff member was taking care of 3 crying babies at one time, but that was definitely not the norm.

[happymom]

I'm sure, I've done this before. I'm closed now and will reopen in august or so but here its from birth. I've never seen that happen but yea.

Our daycare advertises 6 weeks, but they can take kids from birth, they just have to let the licensing know (my son came at 5 weeks).

[LostMyMarbles]

I would say yes too many babies. There is no way that you could give the much-needed attention to all of those babies when there's just going to be two of you. I personally would not leave my baby in a daycare they had that many infants.

[CityGarden]

I personally feel the 4 to 1 ratio my state allows with a max of 4 under two is ideal for that age so yes I think what you are presenting in the first post is too many.

Most providers I know who do infant only charge significantly more to make up for the low ratios. That said what it seems like you want to do - 10 kids with an assistant would be better suited as a mixed age 0-5 home day care or a toddler/preschool program.

I run a home based preschool and I love it!!! I do not charge less than preschools in my area but I do take them at 2 and do not require they be potty trained. I also offer better parent communication and tons of documentation of what their child does in their days here. It does take longer to fill spots...... where if I did an infant program I would already be full with a wait list.

Does your state allow you to have that many children under 2 years old?

How many children do you need to have enrolled in order to afford the assistant?

How many children can you have on site alone IF the assistant is sick, etc.? I worry about being out of licensing ratios with assistants based on past threads on here.... what would your back up be?

Can you really handle 8 infants all crying at the same time? (Even with an assistant that would drive me crazy)

What sort of care can you offer 5 infants at once? Will you be baby wearing, allowing them to eat/sleep/diaper on the babies schedule or on your schedule? etc.

My child started walking confidently at 9 months but you say you don't want children walking, wwyd with an early walker, kick them out?

I am not looking for answers to these questions they are just questions I would ask yourself while you are in the planning stages. In my area people want very low ratios for infants and I like one of one care for infants so I would certainly not enroll my child somewhere with more than 4 infants present.

[BrynleeJean]

Exactly! exactly why i was asking. every center around here is 2:10. the last center i worked at just 5 milked from my house has 2 rooms for infants under one year of age with 2:10 ratios in each because infants in such high demand, a lot of babies were PT though, like two days a week or whatever.
i thought of all these questions and know that the ratio is normal for the area but it just kinda occurred to me that like the issue i had with people thinking that i must be different because I'm a home and not a center, underestimating my learning program and thinking I'm more of a "babysitter"
i thought this may be another stereotype i guess :confused: that parents expect more of a 1:1 wit infants in a home daycare and wanted to find out before i opened this time full speed with the expectations of running looking for clientele that centers get i guess? if I'm making sense?

[daycarediva]

What if you split the ages up with your assistant?

0-18 months in an 'infant' room (1:4 ratio) and toddlers 2-4 in the 'preschool area' with a 1:6 ratio.

Not sure of your state regs, but that would be ideal for me as a parent. Long term, but lower ratio.

If infant care is in THAT high of a demand, you can always charge more for under 18/2years. I charge a premium for 12-24 months.

[Country Kids]

Also when you have an assistant you have to make sure you do all the deductions required and follow the laws of having employees.

Do you want one full time assistant because you might end up having to pay over time. Would two part time assistants work better.

How will ratio's work if your assistant is off the clock for breaks and lunch.

Also, what would you do in the instance your assistant can't come in for some reason?

[ColorfulSunburst]

Here in NY we MUST HAVE 1 caregiver for each 2 infants (kids under 2yo). So if I want to have 10 infants I must have FIVE caregivers.
What state are you from?

I have 5 infants now (1 - 5mo, 1-7mo, 3- 18mo), 7 toddlers, and 3 assistants.

[ColorfulSunburst]

Exactly! exactly why i was asking. every center around here is 2:10. the last center i worked at just 5 milked from my house has 2 rooms for infants under one year of age with 2:10 ratios in each...

by your state regulation the ratio in centers and ratio in home day cares can be different.

[Annalee]

Wow, even if it was legal here (and it's not), I would NOT want to be responsible for that many babies.

[Country Kids]

Have you checked to see if you can have that many infants in a home childcare.

I'm thinking you would have to have so much space per infant. With cribs, high chairs, tummy time area, toys, you may not be able to have so many at one time.

Will you have just a room to have for sleeping where all the cribs will be? Will you have room for multiple high chairs? Will there be a designated space for tummy time area? How will you handle outside time with so many little's? Might look at investing in one of those huge strollers!

Just trying to ask questions that you may not have thought of. Sometimes what others have asked, I have never thought of!

[ColorfulSunburst]

oh, yes!
Ten infants it means ten cribs, 10 rocking chairs (http://www.sears.com/fisher-price-in...FZCYyAodOYEJLg )

when kids get bigger you will need walkers ...
all of this take A LOT of space.

[Cat Herder]

I see it is legal at 2 providers to 10 infants (under 18 months) with a minimum of 30 square feet of indoor useable activity space (minus furnishings) and 80 square feet of outdoor activity space (minus equipment) for each child using the outdoor area at one time.

My personal opinion, which was asked for here, is that 10/2 infants defeats the purpose of family childcare. I also would not choose a provider who is caring for their own child during daycare hours. Professionally I see this arrangement as a high risk for burnout and parental conflict.

Luckily everyone has different viewpoints and will choose care that works for them. If you have already done this before then you know your limitations, your staff and your market.

[BrynleeJean]

Yes. I know my ratios. when I ran my home daycare it did it well, no write ups, licensor loved me, I just got lonely and post partum stuff.
So the two PT employees I’ll be hiring to safeguard myself this time will cost 3 infants a week or 4 over 18 months. Though I’d probably charge less at potty trained and potty train in the home like I did last time round. I have one room that has the 30 sqft per child for 13 kids not including cribs but they don’t need a crib when they walk. And I have 90 sqft per in the back and don’t have a bunch of play toys, just balls and stuff my licensor always discouraged it.
I liked the idea of maybe doing one person with hood Ren under 18 months and one with those over.
The infants don’t burn me out it was the loneliness but I can see now where others (like parents) would be overwhelmed walking in to it with only babies
There’s pros and cons of the split age. The olders will disturb the peace of the youngers, I can’t “specialize” and will have to invest more in a wider variety of toys and activities and curriculums, pros are of have a client longer, cons they the olders need to be fed and nobody gets attention when I’m in the kitchen 4 times a day making meals and doing food program and doing dishes and wiping tables and sweeping floors. Pros I DO love that preschool age, the teaching part of it, seeing them absorb information like sponges lovethis cons the parents may be just as unwilling being that their infant is in a home with germy sniffly sickly two-three year olds screaming, throwing fits doing the toddler thing.
Y’all are still giving me a lot to think about I appreciate it!!