Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Caring for the Bud

Daycare interviews have been interesting so far.

It’s amazing that despite how many places say they take in babies from 6wks on, that they seem to have no concept on how to care for infants and even less for the toddler/pre-toddler set.

Place 1 was not at all babyproofed. Did not have the 2:1 ratio they advertised (more like 8 or 10 to 1 adult). And she only seemed to have 2 ideas on how to take care of children:

1. they lay nicely swaddled in a bassinet all day and occasionally need a bottle or diaper change

2. they be little preschoolers with lessons and follow a code of conduct. Discipline includes sitting in time-out, naps are taken as a group on the floor, and that they comprehend a program that includes delayed rewards.

I even asked her if she had cribs, planned on childproofing at any point, and what did she plan to do to keep control of a not-quite-toddler.

She didn’t seem to understand the purpose of the first two or why she couldn’t just tell him to sit on the stairs and expect him to comply. Ugh!

Place 2 wasn’t much better. Plus it was dirty and they said they didn’t take food to feed the children, they supplied their own.

Apparently cookies and such are a preferable diet to our milk, fruits and veggies.Again, ugh.

I have a better feeling about the place today. Because the friend who has Beanie? She uses it and has had wonderful experience. They have different programs for the infants from the pre-school set that caters to the individual baby. They move them to the bigger kid group when they are ready. The floor is that fabulous rubbery foam. There are baby gates. It’s baby proofed. And every baby has their own crib…no bassinet for them to climb out of.

Much better.

As for nursing, I think I’m done. Sasha isn’t, but I dunno if I can take the biting anymore. Luckily, none of it has gotten infected yet, but it doesn’t heal the fastest and nursing him has become stressful for me because I *KNOW* that at some point he’s going to chomp down and bite right thru again. Because now he does every single time.

Of course, it’s not just the nursing. Any time you come near him he bites to break skin. Not to mention the holes he’s making in the furniture. Thank God our leather sofas have a warranty that includes chewing damage.

The solid food introduction is not going well. I just wonder if maybe he isn’t ready. About the only food on his tray he did manage without problem was baked sweet potato. And that’s goosh. Otherwise there is so much gagging it can’t be good.

I’m thinking maybe I’ll just make everything into thick goosh and put it on his tray (the consistency of the sweet potato). He can learn to feed himself with that and we’ll try making it firmer later. He's only 9 months as of today. I know somebabies take longer. And he's fine motor skills are pretty non-existant. Gross is good. So I think maybe he's just not interested in that part right now and is focusing elsewhere.

1 comment:

caramama said...

Ugh about the daycares! I hope that third one is as good as it sounds!

The biting really sucks, and I'm sorry you are going through it. I know ImpostorMom went through it really bad, but came out the other end okay (after a complete breakdown though).

Good luck with the food. I know some babies just aren't that interested until a year or even later. One thing that worked great for the Pumpkin was baked apple slices (which I sliced and then microwaved). They were soft, but a slightly different consistency than the sweet potato to give them different exposure to other consistency and textures. Just an idea.