Babysitter vs. Daycare

For the past few months, T has been getting major diaper rash while at daycare. Sometimes it is so bad that her little bum is raw and chafed and she is in serious pain during diaper changes. The catch? She seems to only break out with it at her babysitter's. The babysitter swears up and down that she changes T more than the other children, she is constantly and consistently "on top of it" and she can't figure out why T would have this issue at her house. We send in the diapers and wipes so its not that. When the first serious bout began, we switched to no juice (water and milk only) and we began to bring in her food. Even then I caught the babysitter offering her donuts, cookies, even gummy bears. We had a serious talk about the amount of sugar T was ingesting and I told her that absolutely everything that T consumed would need to come from me. So absolutely, positively no snacks, treats, rewards, ANYTHING. I kept a healthy stock of healthy treats at her house so T wouldn't be deprived if they other children got a treat or celebrated a birthday. I needed to get this under control for my child. But still, the rash continued. Less frequently but not gone. I called the pediatrician. She said that it had to be something that T was ingesting but for the heck of it to take away wipes all together (use damp B.ounty type paper towels), keep a layer of vaseline on her bum, and continue limiting sweets. This worked for a few weeks.

A few weeks ago I went to the sitter's Christmas party with the kids. It was me, the 3 sitters, 2 other moms and about 15 kids under the age of 5. I sat at a table with T and 3 of her friends and helped them decorate cookies. I was appalled at the other children's runny noses and grabbing of each other's food off of each other's plates. The sitters didn't seem to notice or care that they were germ swapping by reaching for each others food. Long story short (too late!) I believe that T is not only eating all of the food that I provide but also eating other children's food and nobody is even noticing. She very well could have a food allergy and we don't know it because we don't know what she has eaten.

After that incident, I kept her home with me since it was the holidays and she would've been home with me anyway since school is not in session during those weeks. She started antibiotics for a serious double ear infection and the ped. told me that she would likely break out in a diaper rash from the havock that the meds reak on children's systems. She went through 3 anti biotics (those dang ear infections were stubborn!) and not a single mark on her bum! One day I had to send her to day care. FJ picked her up, brought her home, changed her diaper, and her bum was literally bleeding from being so chafed. WTF!

Okay, so I know I am going on and on but I am so pissed!

Anyhow, FJ finally agreed that there is a problem Before he thought I was being overly dramatic about T getting diaper rash M-F and how she'd likely get it if she was home with me and blah blah blah. I guess this finally proved it. FJ and I decided to look into day care centers instead of at home care so that there are standards for cleanliness, diaper changes, etc and a director that we could complain to instead of talking to the sitter who seemed deaf to our concerns.

I told the sitter that we were looking into other options. I was more nice than I should've been considering but need T to have a place to go for the interim time until we find a center that can take both an infant and a toddler on short notice. Not to mention that we want the place to feel like the "right fit" and not go simply for the opening. Anyhow, the sitter was pissed, defensive, and told me that she would consider that day (last Tues) as our 2 weeks notice. I simply had hoped to get the conversation rolling so that we didn't up and leave her the day before and hopefully she could see our point of view. She didn't/ doesn't.

So we are (gladly) making a quick decision on day care. We have found 1 place that I love and 1 place that I like. FJ visited the place I like yesterday and he said he felt that he could see the kids go there. I am hoping he loves the place I do as much as I do today. The catch? The expense. It is a whopping $240 a week per kid (they consider T an infant until June). I looked at our budget and if we go with it, there is no wiggle room. We have a fairly hefty savings for emergencies but still... I am willing to stretch us but not sure FJ is.

I go back to work a week from Monday. Not only am I stressed about that, but I am seriously stressing about not having care for my kids! Yikes! Please say a prayer that this all goes smoothly. Hopefully my next post will read that we are happy with our new care for the kids, they are thriving, and sticking to a strict budget is not as bad as I had originally thought. Oh- and if we happen to win the lottery in the mean time I will tell you that too!