Infants

As a substitute I occasionally worked in the infant room. As a full-time employee I would occasionally work in the infant room as well as I covered my co-workers lunches. The infant room is hard as they are all on their own schedule and at different milestones. It was always hard for me to work in the infant room because you would have a child crying while they waited for a bottle to warm up or while you finished changing the diaper of another infant. I found it hard because these little infants had to wait to be taken care of and it hurt my heart.

 Sure, it taught them that they had to wait and and that their needs weren't always going to be immediately taken care of, but they would be taken care of which is a good lesson, however, for me it was hard. It was hard to hear them cry and know they just had to cry or hold onto my leg until I could help them. In my opinion a child shouldn't be placed in child care until they're at least one, however, sometimes parents have to place their newborns in child care and I understand that. Here is an article by NAEYC to help parents determine what to look for in an infant program. If you're reading this and you're someone who works in child care here is a checklist to make sure your program is up to NAEYC standards.

what to look for in an infant program