Childcare Infant Room Ratio

[DeniseW]

Hi! I am new to this forum. I would like to start a discussion on how/why is the ratio of an infant room 1 adult to 4"!" infants in the state of WA. Oregon is 1 adult to 2 infants. Does anyone have an explanation of why WA has this ridiculous ratio? Who has happily, and successfully taken care of 4 infants by themselves? I find that I am basically caring for them ie. diapering/feeding/moving them around all day, and do not get the opportunity to interact with them for the educational goals that I have set individually for them. Anyone else have opinions on this? I'd also like to know who set this ratio, and have they been in an infant room by them self with 4 babies?

[Lovisa]

Ca is the same as long as the 4 infants are the ONLY children in care.

[jenboo]

Idaho has a 1:5 infant ratio. I had no problems having 5 infants myself. It was busy but I still had time to interact with everyone.

[springv]

Alabama has a 1 to 5 infant ratio, we have our ratio lower than the state required

[Ariana]

What educational goals do you have for an infant?

[Lux]

I did it a long time ago in a center, it was fine, and fun, for me personally. (Wash. state.)

[Cat Herder]

I happily and successfully take care of 4 infants. Have for over 24 years. It comes very easily to me. I have time to read, study and do preschool with the oldest during morning nap. I currently have 5 kids 1 year and under and a preschooler. Just another day at the office.

I think 6 total is a silly low ratio.

Lowering ratios will only make childcare even more expensive and elusive.

[gumdrops]

I have been tossing around the idea of opening a center for a year now. Ohio's ratio for infants is 1:5 or 2:12. I have wondered if that's realistic.

I guess 2-4 month olds still sleep a lot and 9-12 months can usually hold their own bottle and can play independently. I think if you have them in a good routine, or as close to one as possible for that age, it would be doable.

[Pestle]

TN has one adult to four infants PLUS three kids over 24 months in licensed family daycare. In centers, it's 1:4 for infants; 12 mos. to 30 mos. is 1:6.

I agree that you'll spend most of your time with basic care, and that's too bad, but I can't imagine how a center could pay their employees and keep their facility running with a 1:2 ratio. You simply couldn't charge enough to do that, unless you had a ton of older kids with a higher ratio and only a few infants enrolled. Constant one-on-one care is available to the wealthy who can hire a nanny. That's the sad truth. But a program with several kids per teacher can still be excellent if the resources and training and parental support are there.

[Bluemoon5]

It's 1 to 4 in my state as well. I find it's not that bad. I'm currently in the older infant room (12-18ish mo.) of my center, but I've helped out in the younger infant room. Sometimes a baby has to wait for a bottle for a minute if someone else has a poopsplosion, but generally it's pretty doable.
Lower ratios mean higher rates and I can't imagine parents paying more for infant care than they currently do. Here it's already equivalent to a mortgage payment (not that I see any of that but that's a whole different topic).

[mommyneedsadayoff]

1:4 here as well...I wish it was 1:5, because 5 is my sweet spot in terms of ability to provide care and financial motivation for me. The way I interact with infants is mostly during basic care opportunities. For example, I'm singing to them while I change their diaper. I'm making eye contact and speaking with them as I feed them their bottle. I will do tummy time and lay in front of all of them so I'm their focus and they're looking up at me and we talk and manipulate toys. Educational goals for a baby need to be realistic. My biggest goals for them are full bellies, clean bottoms, and really good sleep.

[Blackcat31]

1:4 here as well...I wish it was 1:5, because 5 is my sweet spot in terms of ability to provide care and financial motivation for me. The way I interact with infants is mostly during basic care opportunities. For example, I'm singing to them while I change their diaper. I'm making eye contact and speaking with them as I feed them their bottle. I will do tummy time and lay in front of all of them so I'm their focus and they're looking up at me and we talk and manipulate toys. Educational goals for a baby need to be realistic. My biggest goals for them are full bellies, clean bottoms, and really good sleep.

The QRIS program in my state requires written lesson plans and individual goals in all developmental domains/areas of development to be completed.

This is above and beyond tracking developmental milestones.

It can be time consuming and cumbersome but is part of the QRIS program for ALL ages. Goals and how we meet them are also required to be discussed with parents twice yearly.

[Cat Herder]

The QRIS program in my state requires written lesson plans and individual goals in all developmental domains/areas of development to be completed.

This is above and beyond tracking developmental milestones.

It can be time consuming and cumbersome but is part of the QRIS program for ALL ages. Goals and how we meet them are also required to be discussed with parents twice yearly.

Mine consists of a box of colored flashcards. Pick one for each domain per day, do the activity and we are done. 15 minutes per child per day, tops, to complete.

Example: "When parents or friends arrive in the classroom, encourage infants to wave to them. Wave your hand and repeat, "Bye Bye" several times. You could also gently hold the infants hand and make waving motions." One daily goal met in 10 seconds, 7 to go.

[Blackcat31]

Mine consists of a box of colored flashcards. Pick one for each domain per day, do the activity and we are done. 15 minutes per child per day, tops, to complete.

Example: "When parents or friends arrive in the classroom, encourage infants to wave to them. Wave your hand and repeat, "Bye Bye" several times. You could also gently hold the infants hand and make waving motions." One daily goal met in 10 seconds, 7 to go.

Its definitely not the hardest thing I've had to do but it can be the most time consuming but for me that might just be because I have 12 kids in care and I have to do this for everyone of them.

Otherwise, having to write down exactly what an infant is gaining by looking in the mirror is easy. Silly but pretty easy overall.

Sometimes I think the hardest part is dealing with the headache from rolling my eyes at the whole "idea" ::

[Cat Herder]

Its definitely not the hardest thing I've had to do but it can be the most time consuming but for me that might just be because I have 12 kids in care and I have to do this for everyone of them.

Otherwise, having to write down exactly what an infant is gaining by looking in the mirror is easy. Silly but pretty easy overall.

Sometimes I think the hardest part is dealing with the headache from rolling my eyes at the whole "idea" ::

:::::: I could not agree more. I narrate my day to the kids for language development so having to also document it for people I don't work for is super annoying. It can be done effectively with planning though.

I guess the post irritated me in the "I can't do it so you should not be allowed to either" way. To limit my income because someone else finds it difficult rubs me the wrong way. This field is hard enough to earn a living in with the "daycare is too expensive" mindset. Adding this one in too makes it near impossible. I don't want socialized daycare to become the norm.