Chilcare for Infants

From my experience, they charge more because there is more of a liability to watch infants. Lets say for example someone is feeding the baby and they choke and have to end up going to the emergency room, that would cause a lot of problems for any organization that is watching that infant and I think that is why they charge more or why most of them don't want to take infants that small. The kindercare I was taking my daughter to did accept infants as young as 6 weeks but with all the illnesses that goes around at those centers, I'd much rather prefer to use a private babysitter. I hope that helps.

When I was looking for a place to take my 10 week old son, I went to the municipality website and they had a list of licensed home daycare providers. If they don't have the list on their website, they probably do have a list, but you might have to call them. I don't know what county you are in, but alot of counties have a referral type system to help you find a place. Just do some searches on the internet.

and, the previous poster is right...and infant takes alot more time and care. They can't feed themselves and they have to eat a lot more often. They have to be changed alot and often held alot more often than older kids. Older kids have one maybe two naps, 1 meal and maybe 2-3 diaper changes and the rest of the time they just play with the other kids and kind of take care of themselves (unless your provider does alot of activities with them). My old sitter was in Schaumburg and I found her through the website. I agree with not taking an infant to a center. They need a more nurturing environment than that, I think.

I have a licensed child care in Lake Villa. Michelle J. made a good point of how many infants a licensed child care home can take care of at one time. It is very hard to take care of several infants because they are all on different schedules, and you still have to have activities planned for the older ones.

Your friend can call the YWCA in Waukegan or the Lake County Home Day Care network for free referrals. They would be a good place for your friend to start.

YWCA: ###-###-####
Lake County Home Day Care Network: ###-###-####

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

M. B.
Hug A Baby Home Child Care
Lake Villa, IL
hugababyhcc.com

I am a childcare provider and I'll try to answer this question for you as best I can. Being licensed by the state we are only allowed to take care of 5 children under 5 of which only 3 may be under 30 months old, unless the person is a group daycare and they can take more infants. Infants cost more because they do take up a lot of time, need more nurturing and holding than a child that can walk, and do things for themselves. I had a family last yr with a newborn that told me all he did was sleep, WRONG, he only slept 30 mins out of the day and then I had to hold him. It is extremely hard to do anything else during the day, for example, make lunch, read, take care of another childs needs, hold another child, ect if you are constantly holding and tending to a newborn. Some people think it's easy to take care of a baby, but not so when you have several other children to entertain and give hugs to and make sure they have your attention during the day too. I hope this didn't sound rude, but being in that situation I can try and explain why we providers would rather take older children. Hope this helps a little.

M.--childcare provider and mom to 15yr old girl and 12 yr old boy.

Actually, I'm in the same situation, trying to find day care for both my kids (6 months & 3 years) part-time while I take a class. They'll take my older son, but my daughter is hard to find someone for. But, actually, the baby is more work for them. I just had one lady turn me down because she's going to have one other baby in a couple weeks and doesn't think she could fairly handle two at once. Babies don't just sleep all the time - I'd get a lot more done if that was the case. My little girl will sometimes play on her play gym by herself, but a lot of the time she wants to snuggle with me - especially because I'm breastfeeding. She'll fall asleep in my arms and then often wake up if I try and transfer her to the bassinet or carrier. She rarely falls asleep if I just put her down. Babies also need changing more often than toddlers or pre-schoolers, who are learning bowel and bladder control and becoming potty-trained. Also, babies can't tell you what's wrong, so sometimes it's guesswork. And, I can explain to my three-year-old to wait for a minute while I do something else, but the baby won't understand. I totally understand the cost being slightly higher for babies. While my son is no less important to look after, he's going to amuse himself for quite a bit of the time if there are appropriate toys and activities for him. The attention he requires is often going to be more cognitive than physical.