Tired eyes. Rubbing eyes. Pulling on ears. Fussiness. These are Leo's "tired signs". Rumbly tummy. Fussiness. These are Leo's "hungry signs". And, starting today, these signs will no longer be the impetus for sleep or food. Leo is starting daycare and the daycare has a schedule for napping and eating. Of course, there are several potentially lovely things about daycare - socialization, new and fun caretakers, apparently ALL THE MILK HE WANTS ALL DAY LONG. I'm just not sure how this new schedule shebang is going to play out. Dropping him off this morning and leaving him under the care of people who were perfectly nice but were definitely NOT me was the hardest thing I've ever done.
But, let me start at the beginning. When Eric and I discovered I was pregnant, we knew that we would need full time care for our child. While we could probably stretch ourselves financially in order to have me stay home, we like being able to eat things other than Ramen and I also love being a teacher. When we considered our options, we knew that paying a nanny would effectively erase whatever earnings I make at school and so we knew that daycare was the choice for us. Eric and I both spent time in daycare as babies and we both turned out fine (mostly).
We looked around our neighborhood and toured several options. One didn't seem to cover their outlets(maybe those outlets were painted over?). One seemed a little dirty. One was farther away. One was a block away, was colorful and clean, and was 100% safer for a baby than our own home. This was the one we decided to go with. We didn't really know what questions to ask or what would be important as I was only about 5 months along. We talked about activities and cost and where to hang the stroller. We didn't talk about sleep or food. Would I have even thought twice about a daycare that has its babies all on the same schedule? Probably not. I probably would have thought, Awesome! That makes total sense! Maybe I would have even said, my third graders are all on the same schedule - works for them!
Unfortunately, I failed to consider that Leo would have his own schedule. Why is this a problem? Well, let's talk it through. The main component of Leo's current schedule is that he doesn't really like to be awake for longer than 2 hours. Fine, no big, the daycare doesn't keep them up for longer than that anyway, right? Sort of. This morning, Leo was wide awake at 5:40. He ate at 6:10, and probably would have gone down for a nap between 7 and 7:30. HOWEVER. We had to drop him off at daycare at 8 and we knew that their schedule has nap time at 8:30 What did this mean for us? A fussy baby that we had to keep awake for an extra 1 - 1.5 hours. Possibly a not great nap. In my mind, THE END OF THE WORLD. What if he woke up early from this nap at 9? That would mean he would be awake for 3.5 hours before the next scheduled naptime at 12:30. So now, I'm worried that he's going to forget about me and that he's going to be miserable all day long and that his naps are going to be crap which means his nighttime sleep will be crap which APOCALYPSE.
On top of this, his feeding schedule is also different. They feed him when he wakes up from his 8:30 nap which could be earlier or later than the 10 o'clock time we've been feeding him for the past 3 months. Then, they feed him again at around 12, which is definitely before he's going to be actually hungry. Isn't there some of link to obesity when you feed babies when they're not hungry? ANYWAY. Then, they feed him again when he wakes up from his 12:30 nap, so between 2 and 2:30ish, which is a more reasonable time gap. These frequent feedings would probably not bother me as much if I weren't nursing, but since I am, it means that I need to pump roughly every time that he eats to maintain my supply. I had been thinking I would only be pumping twice a day at 10 and 1, but this new schedule means I get to spend an extra 20 minutes in the pump room(i.e. nurse's closet) at school. Oh joy of joys.
Look, is there a chance that this new schedule will be the best thing ever and he will nap longer and stronger than ever before? Of course. I would love for that to happen. I'm giving it two weeks. Then, I'm strapping him to me and teaching fractions with a baby on my back.
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| No sleep for this tired baby...unless it's 8:30 am or 12:30 pm or 4:00 pm. |
But, let me start at the beginning. When Eric and I discovered I was pregnant, we knew that we would need full time care for our child. While we could probably stretch ourselves financially in order to have me stay home, we like being able to eat things other than Ramen and I also love being a teacher. When we considered our options, we knew that paying a nanny would effectively erase whatever earnings I make at school and so we knew that daycare was the choice for us. Eric and I both spent time in daycare as babies and we both turned out fine (mostly).
We looked around our neighborhood and toured several options. One didn't seem to cover their outlets(maybe those outlets were painted over?). One seemed a little dirty. One was farther away. One was a block away, was colorful and clean, and was 100% safer for a baby than our own home. This was the one we decided to go with. We didn't really know what questions to ask or what would be important as I was only about 5 months along. We talked about activities and cost and where to hang the stroller. We didn't talk about sleep or food. Would I have even thought twice about a daycare that has its babies all on the same schedule? Probably not. I probably would have thought, Awesome! That makes total sense! Maybe I would have even said, my third graders are all on the same schedule - works for them!
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| I can totally handle a schedule...right...? |
On top of this, his feeding schedule is also different. They feed him when he wakes up from his 8:30 nap which could be earlier or later than the 10 o'clock time we've been feeding him for the past 3 months. Then, they feed him again at around 12, which is definitely before he's going to be actually hungry. Isn't there some of link to obesity when you feed babies when they're not hungry? ANYWAY. Then, they feed him again when he wakes up from his 12:30 nap, so between 2 and 2:30ish, which is a more reasonable time gap. These frequent feedings would probably not bother me as much if I weren't nursing, but since I am, it means that I need to pump roughly every time that he eats to maintain my supply. I had been thinking I would only be pumping twice a day at 10 and 1, but this new schedule means I get to spend an extra 20 minutes in the pump room(i.e. nurse's closet) at school. Oh joy of joys.
Look, is there a chance that this new schedule will be the best thing ever and he will nap longer and stronger than ever before? Of course. I would love for that to happen. I'm giving it two weeks. Then, I'm strapping him to me and teaching fractions with a baby on my back.
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| Leo, post daycare. Jeez Mom, what were you so worried about? |
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