Preparing for day care
On Wednesday, I stopped by the day care to fill out Ian's name and age now that he has them and get details on what all I need to provide for him on his first day. He needs a new crib sheet and blanket each Monday (along with his "tuition" check) as well as a change of clothes. I also have to provide all his milk and diapers for the day. I was surprised that they told me I had to portion the breast milk out into bottles ahead of time because they wouldn't handle "bodily fluids". I'm not sure if they understand that Ian himself produces a fair amount of bodily fluids on his own. They'll clean up the spit up if it comes out of him but won't touch the milk that made it before it goes in him. After doing a lot of homework on how many ounces to put in each bottle and how many to send, I felt less annoyed about all that. The best advice I saw was one ounce for each hour he is away from me, so we're going to start out with three bottles of 3oz each. I just would hate to waste milk or have him go hungry. They want the milk thawed versus frozen so whatever he doesn't use I'm going to have to dump. Good thing I can produce a lot of milk! I'm not giving them any formula as backup but am just going to keep some frozen at the office since I'm only across the street. My co-workers will love me! No more complaining if we run out of half-and-half.
As we were standing there, I reminded them that we use cloth diapers and the reaction was blank stares. Despite telling me they didn't think it would be a problem earlier, the woman in charge now said she didn't think they could use them because it would be a health violation to have soiled diapers around. I asked what they do with their disposable diapers and she acknowledged that they just throw them in a trash can but they take them to the dumpster occasionally. I assured her my wet bag contains the smell and they can just store them in that for me. She was not convinced.
I showed her a sample diaper (since most people assume they're the flat ones from decades ago) and she seemed put out by the whole thing, snapping and unsnapping it as if it were designed by Mr. Rubik himself. She just kept saying, "I just don't think we can do it." She also said that he would be around other children and the cloth diapers would leak. I gently reminded her that I've had more leaks with the disposables and no leaks with the cloth diapers.
I left there feeling really discouraged about the whole experience. This is where I'm supposed to leave my child in just a few weeks and I just wanted him to get the same quality of food and care he's getting now. I was feeling stuck.
Research saved the day, though. I went home and looked up Virginia's state regulations on child care and it says that you can use cloth diapers as long as you provide a sealed container for the dirty diapers and take it home each day. After chatting with the woman at the cloth diaper store, I also found out it's illegal for the day care to refuse to use cloth diapers on my child.
I'm not going to go in waving legal papers at them next week. I'll try the gentler route and will bring a sample wet bag to show them how well it works. And if they still gripe about it, then I'll remind them about their obligations to me and my child.
I swear, I don't try to make these things complicated. I just always seem to be doing something they've never dealt with before.