My daughter was only at Step by Step II in Yulee, FL for four days, but this was more than enough time to see obvious issues regarding the child care in the infant room. One day our daughter was fighting her bottles and we were not once notified. It was not until I called that afternoon to check on her that I even knew they were having issues. Therefore, she had gone 9 hours without food that day and nobody thought to call myself or my husband. Two of the other four days, our daughter was not offered a bottle for over 4.5 hours.
In addition to the issues regarding feedings, it is concerning that our daughter's diaper was not changed that frequently. There was one day, for example, where she went 5 hours without a diaper change.
Also, after visiting another daycare and reading laws and requirements enforced by the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) governing child care facilities, we realized that Step by Step was not abiding by all of the laws and requirements. Step by Step II told us to keep our daughter's pacifier on a pacifier holder which has a string, and Step by Step did not attempt to get our daughter to sleep in her crib to our knowledge. However, per DCF, cords such as the pacifier holder which can encircle a child's neck should not be accessible to children. In addition, children up to one year of age must be in a crib or playpen for napping. My husband asked one of the days if they had tried to get our daughter to sleep in her bed at all, and he was told no. While these were not huge issues to us personally, it is concerning that Step by Step II would disregard these requirements.
In addition, not once were we asked for immunization records or a physical. I am not sure if the daycare even cared whether or not our child had her shots, which is also concerning.
Overall, we had a really unfortunate experience with Step by Step II. If we had known about these issues before enrolling her, we would not have sent her there. However, it all worked out in the end because our daughter is now going to a daycare we are really happy with. read more