Friday, November 9, 2007

Daycare.... the wash-up.

It has been a long and difficult week. Our little experiment in independence has fallen flat on its face! I have been advised by the daycare mum that Naomi is not coping in care on the day that she is there - she gets herself worked up into a state, and cannot be calmed. Won't eat, won't drink - milk or water. This is distressing for her, for me, for the other daycare kids and the daycare mum.

The mummy guilt has set in big time - the only reason she has been doing this on Fridays is so that I could have a break, do a few hours of paid work. I would never have thought of doing paid work as a luxury in the days BB ("before baby")!!

So we are finishing up next week.

A few lessons that I have learned from this --

If you are EVER planning to use daycare, think about the following things...

1. Your darling should be learning to drink milk from a bottle, and to take it from other people, long before they start in care. Express your own milk if you don't want to start formula. Our biggest problem is that Naomi won't eat or drink for anyone but me - she eats fine, and drinks from a sipper cup, for me. But not for anyone else.

2. One day a week in care is the hardest - every week they go through the process of getting used to the new environment and people. Think about maybe 2 half-days, so that it is only a few days in between each visit, rather than a whole week.

3. Don't beat yourself up if the experiment doesn't work (I am still trying to follow this one). You never know unless you try, and you are not a bad mummy to want some time off for yourself.

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