We put our 6 month old baby here in Jan 2019, but after less than a week, we realized this wasn't the daycare for us. My husband and I conducted separate tours, and our first impression was good. We liked the bright room that the kids are in inside, and the outside play space was a decent size and there were plenty of toys. Chris Kanbergs (the owner) sold the daycare as being very well established, and I liked that she fed organic food and that children were taught by example. It just so happened that she would have an opening for an infant right when we needed it, and thus we locked down a spot with a 2 week deposit. In spite of her website saying that her hours were 8am-6pm, she assured us that she would be able to take our child at 7am (our needed start time) and that she often accommodates parents who need an earlier start time.
Fast forward to the day before our daughter was about to start daycare, and I get a text from Chris asking us what our intended schedule would be, saying that if we need a 7am start time, she may not always be there as she'd be driving back from Santa Rosa. Her staff don't start til 7:30am either, but she said that wasn't a problem, as we could just drop our daughter off in the crib to sleep if she was a "sleeper". At this point, my husband and I are like "WHAT"? Who is there to look after our child then? We texted her back to get clarification but did not receive a response that day. We decided to go there the next day, thinking there must have been some misunderstanding. Apparently, the set-up is that her partner "Grandpa Scott", who lives out at the back of the property, oversees drop-offs at the earlier hour. This was not workable for us, but Chris assuaged our concerns that day, and we decided to only drop our daughter off after 7:30am, after her first staff arrived.
Things seemed to go fine that first day. We requested that Chris note down the volume of our babies feeds and her naps initially so that we'd know if our baby was adjusting okay. She agreed, but this fell by the wayside pretty much instantly. Our baby is fed formula that should be discarded after being out for an hour, but it would seem that if a bottle is not finished, it's re-fed to the child at a later point.
Chris outright refused to apply sunscreen (which we provided) to our baby, in spite of our willingness to comply with state regulations and complete all the relevant documentation necessary to facilitate such a request. She cited a personal lack of belief in the effectiveness of sunscreen application coupled with it being too much of an administrative burden to conduct such a request.
I picked up my baby early one day and she was napping upstairs on her own, not within earshot or eyesight of another adult. Monitors are not used in this daycare either. The staff member (who was looking after the children downstairs) told me that Chris was out running an errand.
Chris stated that she doesn't believe in the flu vaccine. Since our daughter had not yet received the flu vaccine (she'd be getting one at her next doctors visit), this was very concerning to us.
It was my baby's first full day there (we had been adjusting her day by day, increasing her hours spent there), when I get a text from Chris saying that she was no longer going to feed my baby solids since she had vomited up her lunch for the past two days. This was the first I heard of it! In fact, Chris had commented what a great eater she was and how she took big bites. Our baby had never vomited after a solid feed at home and was indeed a great eater for us. When I pushed back and said that given our daughter was there from 8am til 5:30pm, it was our expectation that she be fed at least one solid feed there (i told her i would do breakfast and dinner solid feeds), she said that she was too young and they usually only do solid feeds with 8 month old babies. This was after she had originally confirmed to me (in writing) that there would be no problem with feeding solids. She cited USDA guidelines, saying the baby should be primarily bottle fed. I fully understand that the babies primary nutrition still comes from her bottle. She would still need a bottle along with her solid feed, as I outlined in her feeding schedule. However, it's critical that children also learn the motor functions for eating at this age. She actually started to back down when I met with her in person. At this point, she was given a very clear indication of my frustration, and I'm sure she knew that we were at our breaking point. She took the usual tack of "i have 14 kids here, and so many parents who would love to have a spot". When I picked my daughter up that day, she looked so exhausted. I took her home and she was so hungry, taking a 5oz bottle right away, falling asleep immediately afterward. I made the decision that evening not to take our daughter back to this daycare. read more