Hi all,
I have a rather unique situation. I'm an infant teacher in a brand new teen parenting program. The mothers (and some fathers) attend high school while their children are cared for in a separate wing of the building housing a licensed early learning center. We currently have three infant rooms, two toddler rooms, and one preschool room. I and my assistant will be responsible for 8 infants ranging from 2.5 months to 9 months, with parents as young as 14. This week was our inaugural week, and we had teens show up who hadn't yet registered themselves and/or their child. As a result, we are overflowing with infants until another class room can be opened and more teachers hired. For the past three days I've had 10 infants on my roster, which is the absolute maximum allowed by licensing.
About half of the moms breast feed their child every few hours (moms are issued restaurant-type "pagers" which we use to signal to them that their child is ready). Parents pick up their child during high school lunch break and take them along to the cafeteria to eat together (well the toddlers and up eat). The intent is to maximize parent-child contact and interaction. After lunch they bring their child back to us and return to their high school classes.
Part of the required high school curriculum is parenting education. The teens will study different topics in parenting and then spend several periods a week in their child's classroom. I will be modeling and coaching the teens on their interactions with their child.
Sorry for the lengthy explanation, but this is just to show the pieces I can't change in regard to frequent interruptions throughout the day.
Here is where I need help. None of the infants in my room are on any kind of a daily sleep schedule. Most of them are nursed to sleep and either held to nap or put to bed with a bottle. All of the breast fed babies sleep with mom. During the day they all seem to have been cat napping in car seats, bouncy seats, swings, and the like. My classroom is "container free" so they are really struggling right now! I have been trying to put them down sleepy but awake, and they scream intensely. It's no doubt worse that they're all affecting one another in a negative cycle. Out of desperation I've been holding, rocking, and walking them to sleep, but they wake up as soon as they're put down. Needless to say they're cranky and very, very tired. I've used white noise, soft music, and dim lighting with very limited success.
I need to do whatever I can to help these infants settle into a sleep schedule during the day. Any and all comments, thoughts, and suggestions would be graciously received and welcomed.
I have a rather unique situation. I'm an infant teacher in a brand new teen parenting program. The mothers (and some fathers) attend high school while their children are cared for in a separate wing of the building housing a licensed early learning center. We currently have three infant rooms, two toddler rooms, and one preschool room. I and my assistant will be responsible for 8 infants ranging from 2.5 months to 9 months, with parents as young as 14. This week was our inaugural week, and we had teens show up who hadn't yet registered themselves and/or their child. As a result, we are overflowing with infants until another class room can be opened and more teachers hired. For the past three days I've had 10 infants on my roster, which is the absolute maximum allowed by licensing.
About half of the moms breast feed their child every few hours (moms are issued restaurant-type "pagers" which we use to signal to them that their child is ready). Parents pick up their child during high school lunch break and take them along to the cafeteria to eat together (well the toddlers and up eat). The intent is to maximize parent-child contact and interaction. After lunch they bring their child back to us and return to their high school classes.
Part of the required high school curriculum is parenting education. The teens will study different topics in parenting and then spend several periods a week in their child's classroom. I will be modeling and coaching the teens on their interactions with their child.
Sorry for the lengthy explanation, but this is just to show the pieces I can't change in regard to frequent interruptions throughout the day.
Here is where I need help. None of the infants in my room are on any kind of a daily sleep schedule. Most of them are nursed to sleep and either held to nap or put to bed with a bottle. All of the breast fed babies sleep with mom. During the day they all seem to have been cat napping in car seats, bouncy seats, swings, and the like. My classroom is "container free" so they are really struggling right now! I have been trying to put them down sleepy but awake, and they scream intensely. It's no doubt worse that they're all affecting one another in a negative cycle. Out of desperation I've been holding, rocking, and walking them to sleep, but they wake up as soon as they're put down. Needless to say they're cranky and very, very tired. I've used white noise, soft music, and dim lighting with very limited success.
I need to do whatever I can to help these infants settle into a sleep schedule during the day. Any and all comments, thoughts, and suggestions would be graciously received and welcomed.
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