5 a.m Baby in December

[Liliya]

I have a few questions for those who take yearly babies,
Baby is not here yet, due in November,wants to start when baby is 8 weeks old.
Hours 5-2:45.
I agreed on hours, they want to meet,what do you do at this point?
Do you meet and if they want enroll for sure, do you wait until baby is here,to sign contract and take a deposit to hold a spot? Or wait until December and see if I still have opening? Or you do not meet until baby is born?
I have no idea what to do.
Also what do you do with baby at 5 a.m ? do you go back to sleep, off course if baby is sleeping? Or you start your day at 5? I need to have some sort of schedule, before I meet with this family.
Thanks.

[mismatchedsocks]

If wanting to start at 8 weeks that would be more like January, unless they want to start earlier. If I am willing to meet them and have a few openings I meet now, get the paperwork signed, and deposit to hold spot. OR if you have one opening, and you have other families, tell them to call back when baby is born to see if you have opening. Then meet with family and baby!

I cannot sleep when kids are here, so I am up and ready.

[laundrymom]

I meet them pregnant, visit in the hospital, and start between 4-6 weeks.

[momma2girls]

I have them sign the contract right away with my one week per month deposit to hold the spot only.

[nannyde]

Also what do you do with baby at 5 a.m ? do you go back to sleep, off course if baby is sleeping? Or you start your day at 5? I need to have some sort of schedule,before I meet with this family.
Thanks.

If I were to take a five a.m. baby I would discuss in depth that the baby MUST eat right before coming to care so that he can go back to bed to finish his night.

The problem you are going to likely face is that they will pull him out of bed, put him in the car, and bring him over to your house. By the time that happens he will be up and ready to eat a bottle. Then you are going to have the burping and poo cycle. You will end up having him up during most of that time.

Its REALLY hard to get parents that come that early to FEED the baby before they come. They will do it for a couple of days but then they will tell you the baby wouldn't eat or that he ate at X time which will mean he will need to eat again within a half hour of coming to your house.

When they start saying those words it most often means they aren't even attempting to feed the baby at all and you have a kid that hasn't eaten since the night before... or midnight...

So my policy to them is that even if the kid has eaten two hours ago that they need to "top them off" right before coming here so he can go right back to bed as soon as they arrive.

I have to do this because I want the baby to eventually be on the other kids schedule and I don't want to do the one to one care at that time in the morning when I just got up.

The only way it works for me to do that early of a drop off is if the kid is fed, changed and ready to go right back to bed. It's trickier when they are newborns because they need to eat every two hours but if you set the precedent that they must eat RIGHT before coming then when they can make it longer the parent will be used to feeding before coming.

It's VERY VERY VERY hard to find a parent who will do the first feeding of the day when they come that early so be prepared to receive a kid who hasn't had anything since the night before.

Ask them every morning at drop off "what time did he eat and how many ounces". If they say he just had one ounce and that's all he would take then ask when the feeding was BEFORE that one and how much. Be THAT specific. If you see them start trying to avoid the questions and coming up with answers that do not match the way the kid is acting then you have to have the convo again that the baby MUST be fed before coming.

Don't let up on it because as the baby gets older the time before the last feeding can quickly turn into the night before at eight pm or nine p.m.. You can end up really quickly having a starving screaming baby in your house at five a.m.

Also... DON'T let them bring in the jammies. Make sure the kid is fully dressed for the day. If you allow the jammy deal you will only add to the ease of crib to carseat to your house. You want crib... to changing table... to feeding... burping../changing again if necessary... and THEN to your house.

Just remember that the people who work these hours have the same 24 hours in a day that people who work 9-5. Don't make concessions based on how early they arrive. There's never an issue that they don't have time. They have the same amount of time.

[momofsix]

I've done quite a few early newborns. They usually come to me just nursed, w/ a dry diaper and their jammies on-usually sleeping in their carseat. I would just move them straight to a bed. I didn't mind the jammies, especially on cold winter mornings I'd just change them later after they woke up.
I wouldn't be allowed to sleep w/ dc kids here.
I think it's wise for them to be looking for care now, infant spots can be tough to find. I would meet with them soon. I would offer them the option of signing the contract now and paying a deposit to hold the spot, or calling you back after the baby is born and taking the chance you may have filled the spot.

[MommyMuffin]

I watch my cousin sometimes at 5am and he comes in PJ's and he goes right to sleep in his crib. I sometimes go back to sleep but I feel comfortable doing so because he is my family. With a dck I wouldnt be able to.

Also if your other dcks stay well past 2:45 then think of how long you will be working.

As for the schedule I wake my cousin up at 8:00 and change him and put his clothes on him. Then I feed him with the other dcks. He goes down for am nap at 9:15. Works great!

One more thing, I would charge more for the early hours, simply because around my area there arent many daycares open earlier than 7.

[cheerfuldom]

I would never take a child at 5am. I really think 90% of providers would regret that scenario JMO

[Crazy8]

I would never take a 5am infant - not when I have other clients that come until 5pm. 12 hour days will kill you. Our regulations state we CAN NOT sleep when dck's are here and I wouldn't be comfortable answering the door in my PJ's anyway so I'd have to be up and dressed by 5am - no way, jose!

But that aside, I do meet with people when pregnant but I don't like to take deposits before the baby is born. I usually have them call me once the baby is born and then will take a deposit plus extra to hold the spot till they start but I don't think I've ever taken one under 3-4 months old.