Questions to Ask for Infant Care

I'm due in Spring and started looking around for infant care options. (I hope to be able to stay with the baby for the first four-five months but will need part-time to full-time care sometime after that.) Places around here fill up fast so I started looking around. I think my preferred solution would be someone who provides care out of their home -- seems more personalized and also is more affordable.

That said, what should I ask her? I'm going to visit one place this week. It's right around the corner from my house and would be great if it worked out. The ad emphasized "we let children be children and let them play" which sounds good -- but of course is more applicable to 3-5 year olds not infants.

I know I will ask how many infants she has at any one point but what else can I ask? I mean, "will you take good care of my baby" seems superfluous. What's she going to say, "no"? What specific questions can I ask her?

* What are your operating hours? You might also ask about what happens if you are late, and how is care provided for your child.

* Are there key holidays or dates that the facility closes? Is this schedule firm or might there be adjustments as needed from time to time?

* What do you charge and are there additional fees or supplies I will be required to pay?

* How are children organized? Find out the ages of the other children, ratio of adults to children, and any special arrangements.

* Do you offer part-time or flexible care? Part-time jobs may only need part-time care.

* What is your turnover rate? While a new provider shouldn't necessarily deter you from picking a provider, excessive turnover of staff/children might.

* What backup care is provided in case of provider illness? Larger facilities often have backup plans in case, but if it is a home provider, a backup plan may be more difficult.

* Are you certified and/or accredited? Why or why not? What training do you have? Parents should know whether a provider has basic First Aid and CPR or behavior management training, for example.

* Are background checks conducted on all staff members? Ask whether they are state or national checks and how often they are run on employees. Make sure you are comfortable with the response.

* What is the daily schedule? Most caregivers should be able to provide parents with details about planned activities, thematic units, or a schedule by hour.

Ask your self:
1) Is the center conveniently located?

2) Is the center affordable?

3) Do I feel comfortable with the caregivers?

4) Do I feel good watching my child play and interact here?

5) Do I feel the center is right for my child and family?

Drop in one day unannounced to see if things are still good when they don't expect you!

Good luck and I hope that helps!

Hi,
Go in have a look around and ask for a parent handbook. The hand book will answer all your questions and if you want to know more just ring them and ask. When you go in their have a look at what the other children are doing. Look and see if the experiences set up are stimulating the children. if the children are happy.

Ta Cathie

thanks all! i did meet one lady today who takes care of children out of her home. it is very conveniently located and accepts part time infants. however, it's hard to know how to evaluate a home rather than a center. her daily rate, when translated into full-time figures, wasn't the cheapest either. this is really hard with an infant; the baby won't be able to tell me how the day went.

When i looked at home based care ....it actually ended up more expenisive as I would not get as much ccb or ccr back for what i paid.

my ds went to home based care (FDC) from about 7 months... i'd ask the following:
- how many babies do you have at any time, what ages etc?
- how do you manage routines of different babies at the same time
- how do you put baby to sleep (if you have a preference, i wanted my son rocked and def not just left in a c ot)
- what training they have
- who else is in the household
- who else visits the house
- pets
- any smokers in the house
- where would baby sleep
- where woudl baby play
- what 'activities' do they do
- do they go out - how
- what back up they provide
- flexibility with hours
- what cooling/heating they have
- why they went into this career
- ask to see some references or meet some parents
spend some time there and see how you feel
good luck!

This is a tricky one as both ccc's and FDC have pros and cons. I'm on maternity leave but work in a centre however have also worked with 2 different FDCers when I was studying so here is my perspective.
FDC can sometimes be more difficult because carers look after 5 children under 6 usually and they can be in a huge range of stages + they also have children after school (I think it's 3 6-12yrs). Also if a child has special needs the carer may need to spend extra time with them and doesn't have the support from other team members to cope with difficult situations. Due to the rising costs of running a CCC many don't take babies anymore so often FDCers have lots of babies. FDC is probably more personalised but I would also look at things like
*Where is the nappy change area? What are the other children doing while the carer changes nappies, toilets other children or cleans up accidents or goes to the loo herself?
*As mentioned in regards to sleep, will controlled crying be used? The answer is probably at some stage, how can you settle possibly 5 under 1's at the same time.
*What level of accreditation was achieved? Does the person have qualifications?
*Learning through play is great but does the carer follow the children's interests or is it just a free for all? Does she have a program?
Not sure where you are located but there are small centre's which would also offer personalised care and better ratios/qualifications in most instances. It all depends on whether you get a good feeling/first impression from the person/people looking after your child. Chances are if you aren't sure then keep looking until you find somewhere you like. If there wasn't a small centre close with a good reputation by then I would probably use FDC but have lots of visits first to make sure it was right. I have definatly heard less horror stories from FDCers then the big centres but then from being in the industry I know all the good one's in my area. When you have bubs make sure you do lots of asking around at mothers groups, word of mouth is the best indicator of a good service.
HTH

This is a tricky one as both ccc's and FDC have pros and cons. I'm on maternity leave but work in a centre however have also worked with 2 different FDCers when I was studying so here is my perspective.
FDC can sometimes be more difficult because carers look after 5 children under 6 usually and they can be in a huge range of stages + they also have children after school (I think it's 3 6-12yrs). Also if a child has special needs the carer may need to spend extra time with them and doesn't have the support from other team members to cope with difficult situations. Due to the rising costs of running a CCC many don't take babies anymore so often FDCers have lots of babies. FDC is probably more personalised but I would also look at things like
*Where is the nappy change area? What are the other children doing while the carer changes nappies, toilets other children or cleans up accidents or goes to the loo herself?
*As mentioned in regards to sleep, will controlled crying be used? The answer is probably at some stage, how can you settle possibly 5 under 1's at the same time.
*What level of accreditation was achieved? Does the person have qualifications?
*Learning through play is great but does the carer follow the children's interests or is it just a free for all? Does she have a program?
Not sure where you are located but there are small centre's which would also offer personalised care and better ratios/qualifications in most instances. It all depends on whether you get a good feeling/first impression from the person/people looking after your child. Chances are if you aren't sure then keep looking until you find somewhere you like. If there wasn't a small centre close with a good reputation by then I would probably use FDC but have lots of visits first to make sure it was right. I have definatly heard less horror stories from FDCers then the big centres but then from being in the industry I know all the good one's in my area. When you have bubs make sure you do lots of asking around at mothers groups, word of mouth is the best indicator of a good service.
HTH