Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/caring-for-the-little-ones-its-a-long-day-baby!/5010523/
In our May/June issue, Judy Taylor, director of Creative Beginnings at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Rockledge, Pennsylvania, asked for information about how infants are affected when they consistently spend very long days in child care. Her concern reflects a worry many of us share. We see the tired, cranky, stressed babies at the end of long days, often being picked up by tired, cranky parents as well. Our hearts go out to both of them. And, while our primary concern is for the child, we also realize that children who spend long days also affect the staffing budget in child care center settings.It seems that there has not been a lot of research on this question. We can only speculate. There are some things we just know even without formal research. One of those things is that a long day in group child care can be rough on some babies. We see them getting tense and irritable. And we worry - is this harmful to their development?
Mother/child attachment is the biggest concern.
Peter Barglo, Brian Vaughn, and Nancy Molitor reported research findings about the effects of routine mother/infant separations in an article ...