A little problem with daycare

Actually it's a BIG problem...

I know I over react.
That said, I'm in tears just rehashing this in my brain. I had Katen on my mind all day yesterday. When I left her at daycare she was cranky so I told both ladies to call me if it continued. She's teeting and having a REALLY bad allergy day so I told them I'd rather deal with her than have her be cranky away from home. There were no calls, but I still thought about her and went to pick her up early.


When I got there I about fainted. I could hear her wailing the second I stepped out of my car. When I got into her room both daycare ladies were talking with other parents like nothing was going on. I went and picked her up out of her crib. Her lovey was soaked. She had blood on her face because she'd scratched herself in a few places and it was mixed with snot all over her chin, cheeks, nose, forehead and in her hair. She was a mess! I wiped her off and got her calmed down to just sobs and hiccups and then asked what was going on.


The lady said Pickle had been in her crib all afternoon because she just didn't know what she wanted. She didn't want to be held and she didn't want to play so they didn't know what to do with her. I asked why they didn't call me. Hadn't they remembered? She said "we don't really do that unless they're sick." Not even when I specifically asked them to? C'mon! Then I looked at her shedule and she hadn't been fed since 10:30am. It was 3:30! So not only was my kid hysterical for no good reason but she was starving.



This is not the first offense. I've spoken to them on two other occasions about leaving her in her crib to cry. I've also spoken to them on one other occasion and thought we'd agreed that they would not ever let her go longer than 4 hours without being fed. Previously there were two days where she'd gone 6 hours witout a bottle. At home, she's starving every three hours. Poor kid!


I feel trapped because I can't just quit my job to stay home with her. I also can't just transfer her to another daycare b/c it doesn't work like that. There are waiting lists everywhere. We're at the top of the waiting list at Daddy's office daycare and a child just has to move up or leave. However, we don't know how long that will take. They guessed it would be around the end of the year. That's too long for me to wait.



I spoke with the director this morning and she told me that "with 3 other children to deal with, Katen can't always be the top priority and if she's causing a "disturbance" sometimes the ladies have to make the call to let them cool off in their cribs." So... I guess they condone this kind of thing. That's. Just. Great. :(

I'm hunting around today for a new center and staying home with her. I don't know what else to do.





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