Daycare starving out 12 month old?

[Brock~Tahlia~Mummy]

OH Gosh sweetie!
What a spot you are in! Honestly i think you really need to look at another daycare.
I know it's easier said than done but honestly I'm appalled! this is just shocking!!!
You pay them to do a job, their job is to look after DD! Which includes feeding her!
All i can suggest is look at what she would normally be eating, spoon fed mashed foods, snacks, milk BF and Bottle, basically add it all up and compare it to what she is eating from your list.
What concerns me from this list is the only protein she is getting is from the dairy.
Gosh she is just too little for them to do this!!!
DS is 10 1/2 mos old and he eats the same amount as you described on his own, i feed him the rest of his mashed and puree meals.


Ohhhhh...That is like a story you hear about on the news!!! So mad for you!
Sorry you and DD need to go through this!

xxxxxxx

[First Time Mom]

She's not getting enough liquids- how much of a "sip" of milk is she taking during the first 2 meals? I know she's getting yogurt so that's more calcium, but what is she doing for liquids? At 12 months my daughter was eating frozen meals that I made, so she was eating 3 cubes per meal if that helps. If I compare quantity, then it might be similar, but she also bf well at that age so was getting more liquid.

[lilalley]

Well we made it through the week.  I had DCP write down everything she ate including quantities.  She ate only a few bites at breakfast and a little better at lunch the first couple of days.  Today they said she didn't eat anything but fruit at lunch (they served chili) but she did eat banana bread at snack with help from them.  Next to no liquid each day.

Is there somewhere on this site that gives average amounts of food and liquid per age?

[~*Nicole*~]

She should definitely be getting more liquid than what she is getting. Do you have time to give her a morning bottle as well as the nighttime bottle? I'd be most concerned that she was getting enough milk if she is still working on eating finger foods well. I'd also make sure that your dinner is pretty hearty or that you bring her to the daycare center with snacks she likes to eat and CAN eat herself in her carseat perhaps. Something to add in a bit extra each day while she adjusts....

or again like all pps said. FIND A NEW DAYCARE. as this one seems like they really don't "care" enough to be the daytime carers of your precious child.

[Brock~Tahlia~Mummy]

I'm not sure, look back on the solids board?
Google '12month old daily calorie, food intake'.

Her diet is very minimal and she's obviously not ready to self feed.

Obviously you can't change this situation, but if i were in your shoes i would look into family daycare or another daycare centre, if that's not an option could you:
-Give her milk and breakfast at home?
-Drop in to the centre on your break to offer a bottle of milk?
-Giver her an extra nutritious dinner at home? Plus milk at bedtime?
-Keep practising self feeding at home on w/ends but offer additional spoon feeding from you?
-Pack her own lunch? i.e finger food she will actually eat?

I know you are trying to establish DD to fully self feed so she will eat more, but obviously over a weeks gone by and she hasn't picked it up - yet. So I would continue to shove as many nutritious meals and milk as possible when you have her.

Sorry i don't know much about daycare but hearing your story has really put me off, I'm so shocked at the fact child 'carers' are saying this is OK? Would they allow their own babies to eat this little? I think not!
 

[Aly Mac]

I just want to give you some hugs.  I think it's appaling that they are making you do this at the 1yr mark.  It's a gradual process, not like this.

It is easier said than doen to find a new DC, but you have some great advice in pp. 

xxx

[~ Vik ~]

Dropping off more (((hugs)))

What a tough spot you're in.  I agree with pps that it really doesn't sound like enough food, and the fact that she's drinking next to nothing through the day is worrisome   I think that Brocks~Mummy had some excellent suggestions to help while she stays at this daycare.  It is so hard to find a daycare (I got myself on the waiting list at our DC when I was pregnant as there are only 3 centres that are licensed for infants in our town), but I really do agree with all pps that it would be worthwhile to look for one.

this one seems like they really don't "care" enough to be the daytime carers of your precious child.

I agree completely 

[lilalley]

I feel like I'm losing my mind.  I have had such a hard time adjusting to LO being away from me at daycare.  To start off I had to go back to work when LO was 10 weeks old.  She was so colicky I was scared to give her to someone else for fear of what would happen (honestly she cried ALL day for the first 3.5 months.)  The DCP ended up driving to my work to bring her to me saying "She was so sorry but she was done, LO stressed her out too much")  I had to take her to my bosses nanny until I found another DCP. 

She would scream bloody murder for her all day too.  The nanny said she couldn't even look at LO without her bursting into scared cries.  The nanny couldn't get her to nap very well either so I had to put her to bed as soon as we got home at 5:30pm. 

Now I have found a DCP that is so great, she will nap for her and she seems content and happy but this new "feeding schedule" is so stressful.  I am really running out of stress coping skills.

I just want want to climb into the crib with LO and cry.

[deb]

If you're not able to find another DCP, can you let them know that the option might be on the table since your DD is picking things up according to HER schedule, NOT theirs, thankyouverymuch, and you would like them to take care of the child they're being paid to care for, not some statistic in a book. They don't have to know that you really would rather not pull her, but on the other hand, they're really not THAT "so great." Napping is good, but so is eating, KWIM? It's not fair on your or your DD. 

Maybe you can negotiate for them to take it week by week, or better yet, month by month. If she's not having enough wet diapers, for example, and they have her that much of the day, the onus goes on THEM to make sure she's getting it. If that means that THEY work with her on the cup while she's there but then use the bottle to ensure she's getting enough FOR HER HEALTH, then that's what they do. That's what you're paying them for. But one month at a time seems reasonable enough for a start, yes?  And if coming from you isn't enough, can you get a doctor's note stating that she needs more fluid intake and if they have to use a bottle to get it to her, then so be it? They can hardly ignore a doctor's note - and then you aren't the bad guy.

Sorry, so annoyed on your behalf.

[We Three]

And can I get an "Amen" to every word of that, Deb!!!

I texted a nutritionist friend of mine...she says that your lo should be getting around 40 calories per day for very inch of her height. So if she is 30 inches, then that is roughly 1200 calories.  She did say that if you were around 1000, that wouldn't be so far off that you'd need to stress.

I googled also, and this seems to be right.

She also said that anything less than 16 ounces of fluids per day is not ok, with 24 oz being what you want to shoot for ideally.  So if you could get your dd to have an 8 oz bottle in the morn, then another before bed, then whatever she drank during the day with dcp would be even better. 

Don't ask, just TELL them that dd is not getting enough fluids.  If you want to deal with it by doing the morn and night bottle at home, then great....but really, they are not the boss here. YOU ARE THE BOSS.  THEY WORK FOR YOU.  That is so hard to remember isn't it? I used to be so intimidated by my OB/Gyn, then one day my dh was like "We can fire her, you know! She WORKS for US!!"   I hadn't thought of it like that.

Don't cry, sweetie. Or if you do, make it a quickie, then let us know what we can do to help you have a chat with this lady.  I'll write you a script, even!  You don't have to be nasty/mean/confrontational in order to TELL her what you need to happen.