Daycare says Cloth Diapers Uncomfortable

[sarahdosher]

@trevorkian That's annoying. How do they know your baby is uncomfortable anyway? (I mean there are reasons you could tell, but you'd see them at home.) I think the teachers just don't want to deal with cloth. I'd be curious what they said to the other kid's parent. If you get a chance, ask the other parent if they comment on it.

It's anecdotal, but both of my kids were fairly early crawlers in cloth. Some of it is just my kids, but I think part of it is that we did a lot of tummy/floor time consistently. I saw your comment about the boppies. I've worked in day cares and my degree is in child development. That would be a deal breaker for me in terms of day cares if I had any other options.

 

[tinbongda247]

@trevorkian My first kid, 100% cloth diapered, and not even the stay dry or pocket kind, was full on proficiently crawling by 5.5 months old. Never even army crawled. Crawled, crawled, then started cruising, all before he could sit up.

It’s not the diapers. Your little dude isn’t crawling because he’s not ready. He’s busy working on something else. That’s all. (My sooner to move kids were also my later to talk kids.)

 

[relliott28]

@trevorkian Oh, please. Disposable nappies have been around for what, 50 years? What do these people think everybody did before then? Do they think every baby was just incredibly delayed? The misinformation is ridiculous, and them being passive aggressive about it is so unprofessional

 

[ellen45]

@trevorkian My baby has been super fussy when I put her cloth diaper on too tight by mistake. Could it be they don’t know where to snap it and your babe gets fussy as a result? and instead of troubleshooting, they just make a blanket assumption about cloth?

 

[kingdomkings]

@ellen45 Yes. Maybe they’re just ignorant, bless them.

 

[trevorkian]

@ellen45 That’s a good point, I should ask about that! I’ve offered demos before but they said they knew what to do so they were good. But every brand is a bit diff so maybe it’s just a learning curve.

 

[xthemessengerx]

@trevorkian I've marked the poppers with Sharpie so they know which poppers to do up

 

[katrina2017]

@trevorkian Don't refill the emergency stash or provide any more disposables going forward and hopefully that will stop. That's so frustrating and it does feel passive aggressive!

 

[trevorkian]

@katrina2017 I know! I told them I won’t bring any diapers in and they said they are fine using the centers. I think their director may not know bc I’m sure she wouldn’t be thrilled about them using the centers personal backup stash almost full time on my kiddo lol

 

[katrina2017]

@trevorkian Oh man! What the heck! That's really frustrating, I'm so sorry!

 

[katrina2017]

@trevorkian As someone who worked in childcare for a decade before having my own baby, no you are not hindering your child’s development. Obviously make sure they are fitting your LO in a way that prevents leaks and is comfortable for him, but cloth diapers shouldn’t hinder crawling. It’s also totally normal for your LO to not be crawling consistently at 9 months. Personally, I would have a conversation with the center director and your child’s primary teacher.
Can they tell you what he is doing/not doing that indicates he is uncomfortable?
Can they tell you what experiences they provide that would encourage crawling.
Does him not crawling consistently bother/worry you? If yes, have a conversation with them about ways to encourage him to crawl. If no, again a conversation about why you aren’t worried. I want you to know that it is okay that he isn’t crawling all the time yet. I’m also curious if his classroom has a lot of “containers” for the babies. I find that often there are too many littles in a classroom and in order to maintain the room, staff find ways to contain the children instead of allowing them free reign of their classroom.
I would also bring up the comments of changing to disposables “for his comfort.” It sounds totally passive aggressive to me. Maybe they don’t mean it that way, but that’s how it is being received and they need to know that.

 

[trevorkian]

@katrina2017 Yeah they are very nice and I’m sure well-meaning. I should see what they mean about “uncomfortable.” I think I just defensive and don’t wanna bring it up!

And yes all the babies have their own little “boppy”-type pillow/chair thing and they spend most of the day just reclined in it. I get it since they are only a few people and literally surrounded by babies, but I think that is a bigger contributor to his crawling situation than cloth diapers are.

 

[sleeplesswhite]

@trevorkian Don't let them use that as an excuse. I work in childcare and infants should only spend 10-15 minutes in a baby "container" before being moved to the floor or another toy. It is literally their job to play with and teach your baby, not leave them in a chair all day. It's chaotic but that's half the fun of an infant room.

 

[katrina2017]

@trevorkian I totally get it, it can be an awkward conversation but well worth it in the end! I would be a bit defensive too haha

It definitely sounds more like a lack of opportunity than the diapers. I also wonder (total speculation) if him “seeming uncomfortable” is really him trying to get attention because he is being contained and he wants adult attention or the ability to do what he wants

How many babies are in one room? 3 adults and 12 babies? 2 and 8? I’m just curious. We only ever had 1 adult and 4 babies per room for the littlest, 2 adults and 8 toddlers at most in the older rooms. I think it creates more of a “yes” environment and more opportunities for the adults to really get to know their children and families.

 

[billthecableman]

@trevorkian I'd bring that up to them as well, ask why they think cloth nappies are contributing more than being in a container all day

 

[cday1210]

@trevorkian Tell them to stop it. The disposable diapers are unnecessary and baby is not uncomfortable in cloth. You saw that for yourself when you were off for 3 weeks. Tell them the only reason they should be pulling from the “emergency stash” is if they run out of clean cloth diapers and you don’t want to hear about it again. If they continue to leave you snarky notes about baby being uncomfortable then go to whoever runs the daycare.

 

[sunshine1987]

@trevorkian Cloth nappies do not cause delay in crawling, walking, or rolling.