Daycare

[bonhamx4]

Question for everyone with a Type 1 toddler. How do you guys handle daycare? My wife is returning to the workforce and we are going to be needing daycare part tme for our 3 year old. Do you have a nanny or do you use regular daycare? It is only going to be for a couple hours a couple days a week. Thanks,

Rich

[Emma'sDad]

Emma was DXed when she was already in daycare. They offered to help as much as they could. It was a bumpy ride to get where we are. Now when they check her finger, they call us with the number and get approval to the amount of carbs to give her. DW goes there at lunch for injection. And they keep an overall good eye on her at all times. Did I mention bumpy? What we did is that we created a big binder with all scenarios, laminated Quick Reference sheets posted next to the door of her room. Diabetic nurse came over to educate the staff on what to do. Is there a daycare that you have in mind that are willing to take a 3 year old diabetic and work with you?

[payam7777777]

It is only going to be for a couple hours a couple days a week.
I wouldnt risk leaving a 3 y/o with a nanny, no matter how good the nanny is. A 3 y/o would need extremely careful care to prevent hypos and whatnot. I would think of a way to allow the mother stay with the kid and read as much as she could about D.

[Momof4gr8kids]

We are looking at daycares too. We found one that is run by an EMT trainer, so we feel confident that she will follow saftey protical, and that she will understand a bit more. There are also a few nursing students who are excited to get some expirience, and have some basic working knowledge. Since you are probably not in Idaho, I would suggest getting ahold of the local college, and seeing if there are any nursing students who would be up to being trained, and doing it. If you want the other kids around though, maybe you could just interview, interview, interview, that is what we had to do to find the one we found. Good luck, I know it is hard.

[georgia]

We have our three year old in preschool 2 mornings a week for about 3.5 hours each day. Like a previous poster said, we met with them and I wrote up everything. Fortunately, she is home by lunch time so they do not give her insulin. They do however check her sugar before morning snack (it is always high because it is about 1.5 hours after her morning insulin) but better safe than sorry. Amalia is really great having her sugar tested by her teachers and we are fortunate that they are willing to learn how to take care of her. Her preschool is through a church and was very open to her attending, I hear not all schools are.
It is very important to me that Amalia has a normal childhood. and that means going to preschool a few days a week (like we planned on before diagnosis) and ya know she (and her twin brother) love it, they've made friends and they always tell me how much they love their teachers.
Yes it is stressful on me, and I do worry about her, but I feel she'll be okay!
It takes some planning but you can do it!

[Amy C.]

When our son was dx'd in 1997 at 3, he was back in daycare the Monday after he got out of the hospital.

Yipes, what were we thinking! Looking back, I can't believe we did that.

He was in daycare in the mornings, up through lunch and the center was close to our house. At the time, he was on NPH and Regular -- about the only insulins available.

The teachers were trained by a CDE on what to look for and how to treat. My husband worked out of the home and could go up there quickly to help out. All they needed to do was to test him at lunch and give a juice if he was low. I recall only a couple of lows during that time. Once the first day he was back and another about a year later when he didn't get a snack.

What is needed is a center willing to work with you. As long as you are clear with the expectations and write down in a clear list what to look for and how to deal with out of range sugars, it can work.

[sammysmom]

I wouldnt risk leaving a 3 y/o with a nanny, no matter how good the nanny is. A 3 y/o would need extremely careful care to prevent hypos and whatnot. I would think of a way to allow the mother stay with the kid and read as much as she could about D.



My son was dx when he was 15 mo old and we left him with properly trained caregivers.. there is no reason not to leave the child if the caregiver is properly trained. My son is now 5 and he did just fine. I am now the caregiver for a 18mo old diabetic, i am making some money doing it and i am helping the mother at the same time. Parents have to work sometimes and there is nothing we can do about it so sometimes having a caregiver is our only option. we were trained in diabetic care and so can a caregiver.

[wendyc]

Originally Posted by payam7777777
I would think of a way to allow the mother stay with the kid and read as much as she could about D.

Unfortunately, many of us don't have the luxury of staying home and reading up. So, daycare or a nanny may be our only option. If it's a nanny, I would hook up with a local college or Home Hospice Care and see if there is a nursing student or a retired nurse who would be interested in learning to care for a child with D. Just be very specific of the requirements needed for caring for your child, and send them to training with a CDE.

We were already established at a daycare when Abby was diagnosed. They really worked with us to make it a safe enviorment for Abby. We went to the Goddard School which has many locations throughout the states. The actually requested that we use a 504 plan so they had all bases covered, requested a CDE come in and train ands that I have a very detailed binder in her class. In addition, they had an emergency kit on hand at all times. In the beginning, it was a little bumpy, but we all worked together and became comfortable with the situation. Only once did we have a bad experience with a teacher missing a low. Luckily, she was no worse for the wear but we did have to sit back down with this teacher and go over things. As for shots, Abby was allowed to have 15g of snack with out a shot, so I got VERY creative in that dept. I also didn't mind if she ran a bit high for that short period of time. As for lunch, I would come in and give the shot. Not because I didn't trust the school, but because Abby wasn't comfortable with anyone there giving it to her. The did administer though when I had to attend a funeral.
I think the key is finding a daycare that will work with you. It may take sometime finding one. And if you think, oh they are private (such as a church run) they won't take us, check into it. YOu might be surprised. Our pre-d daycare was actually run by a group of former nurses who got tired of the hoopla of the hospital but still wanted the interaction of babies and toddlers, so they took many kids with special needs.

Once you find a place that is willing to work with you, just be very specific about what your childs needs are and what you expect of the school and what they expect of you.

Our experience was a positive one, but I know from previous posts some people have had much difficulty.

Good luck.

[melissabeth]

We only needed about 10-15 hours a week so we hired a babysitter. We found her through the local diabetes association and we got incredibly lucky. She's a 28 year old woman who is in college now studying educational administration so her schedule is pretty flexible. We interviewed a few other non-diabetic babysitters who were nice and willing to be trained, but in the end I think we did the right thing by hiring someone who is diabetic because even though we had to train her on the pump there is so much that she just knows- counting carbs, watching for lows and highs, keeping in mind how much he's exercised, etc., that it's really a load off of our minds. It's also great too because we can use her for sitting on occasional Friday nights if we want some time off to play. If you don't need full-time care it may be worth asking the local diabetes groups around you if there are any college or med students who want some part-time work.

[hrermgr]

I will echo what the others have said--you have to find someone who will work as a partner with you. Teagan was already at an in-home daycare when she was dxd. We were concerned about needing to find another daycare option for Teagan but our provider totally accepted the responsibility and challenge. When I thanked her, she said, she never thought about not taking care of Teagan...just what she needed to learn to continue caring for her.

To date, she has been star. Because my DH works at home and has type 1 himself, he is almost always available and makes adjustments at the drop of a hat. I truly believe we have been blessed with our provider.

Sammysmom-good for you, taking on the care of another D kid! :) How awesome.

[wendyc]

If you don't need full-time care it may be worth asking the local diabetes groups around you if there are any college or med students who want some part-time work.

This is a good route to go, many need some type of field work for class credit, and it's a win-win situation for both if you can find a responsible person!

We had a T1 pumping babysitter and are counting the days until she comes home at Christmas. She was wonderful in handling Abby's care.

[KellyH]

Hello,

We have just spent 2 months researching daycares and nannies for our 17 month old baby girl. Did a newspaper and online advertisement, and asked everyone in our acquantaince circle (admittedly a small one since we just moved this summer!) Called every daycare in the telephone directory and the local hospitals etc. Every daycare did not want to take her and the in home daycares I was just not comfortable with - they did not match the home daycare we had in NY and that was when she was healthy. The one nanny I really liked makes as much as I do so it would be a wash. We are truly against the rock and a hard place, or in our case lack of daycare and a job! We didn't plan on me staying home so we are going to really need to juggle our finances around. It is truly hard...I wish you luck with your hunt. There really needs to be a special daycare around.

[Sari]

Ross was already in daycare also when he was diagnosed. And we couldnt imagine him not being there - he loves it!

We sent a trainer in with us to teach the daycare teachers how to care for Ross. We would go in at snack times and lunch times to supervise them on doinghis finger and doing his pump until they were comfortable with it.

The way it works for us is they check his finger before eating and when he is done, they call me with the blood sugar number and what he has eaten. We then together confirm the amount of carbs eaten. They put me on hold and go do his pump. When they come back on the phone they tell me how much the pump gave him and that is it.

We are VERY comfortable with the teachers he has now and the system we have going. They measure all his food out for him when he eats and keep track of how much of it he has eaten.

I think as long as you ave an open communication with your daycare, you should be fine.