Searching for child care, round 4: Noob

I've blogged before about our various searches for child care for Littles. We recently went through yet another search -- this time, for Noob.

We knew from the start that Noob would not require outside child care for quite a while. Between my maternity leave (20 weeks), Hubby's paternity leave (12 weeks), and some assistance from my mother and mother-in-law over the summer in between our two leaves, we were able to keep Noob at home until just before his first birthday.

This meant that we weren't in any particular rush to line up child care for him. Still, while I was on maternity leave, I started visiting daycare centers in our area. I figured that I would pick my favorite and put money down to hold Noob's place. Then, as his start date drew closer, we could look at in-home daycares, nannies, and other options that could not be reserved well in advance. (Sending him to Littles' preschool was not an option, as it does not start till age 2.)

I was already familiar with virtually all of the daycare centers in our area from visiting them during previous daycare searches. I already knew that my top choice would probably be the same Bright Horizons franchise that we had almost picked on two separate occasions for Littles. In fact, I had visited Bright Horizons so many times without sending Littles there that I was a little embarrassed to go back again.

But none of the other daycare centers appealed to me. I finally realized the fundamental problem: Hubby and I have a certain parenting "style," and I couldn't find a center that fit that style. Sometimes, it was obvious, such as at the center that served Frito pie (Fritos corn chips, "mystery meat" looking ground beef, beans, and bright orange cheese) as a lunch, when we try to minimize fried foods and provide at least one fruit/veggie at every meal. Or the one that had an hour of TV time listed daily in the infant room, when we try to avoid screen time for our kids until age 2 and limit it past that point.

Sometimes, it was just a feeling. Many places felt very "institutional." I felt like Noob's basic needs would be met at all of them, but I didn't feel like he would be loved on and nurtured like I want.

I want to be clear that I am not anti-daycare center. I consider Littles' preschool to be a daycare center, and it doesn't feel "institutional" at all. I'm sure there are similarly non-"institutional" daycare centers out there that accept infants. I just didn't find any of them close to my home.

Anyway, after visiting all the places except Bright Horizons, I had only found one other that I would consider, a Children's Courtyard franchise. As luck would have it, both places are on the list of daycares available for backup care through my company. We had two stretches during Noob's time at home where we needed backup care, so I was able to get him in to both centers for a few days each. This was an excellent way to "test drive" both places.

The Children's Courtyard was one of the places that felt very institutional when I visited, and my test drive confirmed this. I peeked in to both infant rooms each day when I dropped off and picked up, and not once did I see a caregiver on the floor just playing with a child. They were always feeding a bottle, or feeding solids, or changing a diaper, or filling out a daily sheet. Not surprising, as they keep a 2:10 caregiver:child ratio in the infant rooms -- the maximum allowed by the state. Infants have a lot of needs, and from what I observed, the caregivers were busy meeting those needs, with very little time left over for anything else.

As for Bright Horizons, I was glad to have the opportunity to visit without actually having to visit :) and I was truly impressed by the care Noob received. He cried a little at drop-off each day, and the teachers were great about holding him while I left; at Children's Courtyard, they had plopped him in an Exersaucer. One day, when I came to pick him up, I was surprised and pleased to find the director of the facility lying on the floor with Noob and two other babies, just playing with them as their regular teacher prepared a bottle.

I knew that Bright Horizons was the only daycare center I was willing to consider. But again, I was embarrassed to put down money knowing that I might back out again. So the weeks went by, and we still had no confirmed child care lined up for Noob.

In my next post, I'll talk about how I looked at in-home daycares as an alternative to Bright Horizons.

Where I pumped today

My team here in Seattle moved to a new office building, so I've spent the last few days wandering around feeling like the new kid in school. It also gave me the chance to check out a new pump room.

It's interesting seeing the contrasts between different pump rooms, even within my company. Since I work in a male-dominated field, many of the pump rooms seem to be very lightly used. One sign of the light use? The receptionists at those offices have to look up the pump room location when I ask.

But my team's new office houses my company's sales and support arms, which tend to have more women. So when I asked the receptionist where the pump room is, she didn't have to look it up... she pulled out a stack of cards that had the pump room numbers and combination written on it, and told me, "Use the one on the fifth floor. It's nicer than the one on the second floor."

She was right! It's pretty darn nice...

I love the comfy couch (in the bottom right corner of this picture), and the artwork on the wall :) It also has a mini fridge for storing milk.

Oh, and if you're curious about what three days' worth of breastmilk looks like...

That's probably around 60 oz worth, all in freezer bags. The cooler bag is the little one that came with my Medela Pump in Style Advanced. For my flight home tonight, I'll put some of this milk in another cooler bag, so that I can fit ice packs in there to keep the milk cold.

Pumping changes

Business trips give me a good opportunity to see where my milk supply is at. I've had trips in July (Noob was 5 months old), October (8 months old), and November (9 months old). On these trips, I've generally pumped first thing in the morning, twice during the work day (around 11 AM and 3 PM), and once at night back in the hotel. I usually got about 12 oz at the morning session and 6 oz at each of the other sessions, for a total of around 30 oz. Meanwhile, back home, Noob was eating 4-5 six ounce bottles each day, so I was able to keep up with him fairly easily.

Over the last two months, Noob has dropped down to just 3 nursing sessions each day, as his solids intake has increased. So on my current business trip, I'm pumping 3 times a day as well: first thing in the morning, once during the work day, and once at night. Today, I got 8.5 oz in the morning, a a little over 3 oz during the work day (this was a short session), and 9 oz at night, for a total of just under 21 oz -- a definite decrease compared to my last business trip. Back home, Noob ate 17 ounces, so I'm still keeping up with him.