Next year I'll be in the 6-18 months room and it's an age group I don't have a lot of experience with. I'll have plenty of experienced staff with me but what are your experiences with the age group? How do you make the day run smoothly when each baby has their own routine (as opposed to one routine being followed in the older rooms as I'm used to)? How do you manage a roomful of babies? What worked and what didn't for you?
I'm in a rather large centre, so this room will have 24 babies... I want to be somewhat prepared for the chaos!
Experiences While Working In The Babies Room
Re: Working with babies 6-18 months
Well let me start off by saying working in the babies room is never a dull moment! From when you begin your shift to the end you will always be busy doing and your day will seem to go quite fast! Working in the babies room is full on, especially when you have 24 babies to look after.
For the younger babies, parents would have advised room leader of their individual routines so basically you just need to follow it. Although, sometimes it doesn't always go as planned so you need to be flexible as well. Meaning during play a baby may become over stimulated with all the happenings going around them so they may get tired sooner rather than later than advised by the parent. You will begin to pick up on their cues such as rubbing eyes, yawning, become cranky etc.
For the babies under 1 most of the time you follow their routine. Regarding play for this age group, they enjoy putting things in their mouth! Everything actually... You need to be watchful of any small items that are around. So if you notice a baby putting something in their mouth once they finished with it you will need to put in a bucket for washing at the end of the day. They enjoy playing with balls, rattles, kitchen stuff, boxes, sensory experiences (water & ice) as well as work on their development. Some babies will begin sitting up, crawling, learning to walk etc so when this begins you need to support them and provide them with opportunities to develop these skills. Sometimes this is all they want to do other than play. For example: my 7 month old has started crawling and taking steps to walk so she spends the day doing this. Nothing else interests her at the moment.
Overall it's an enjoyable experience which keeps you on your toes!
Good Luck!
,
L.A
For the younger babies, parents would have advised room leader of their individual routines so basically you just need to follow it. Although, sometimes it doesn't always go as planned so you need to be flexible as well. Meaning during play a baby may become over stimulated with all the happenings going around them so they may get tired sooner rather than later than advised by the parent. You will begin to pick up on their cues such as rubbing eyes, yawning, become cranky etc.
For the babies under 1 most of the time you follow their routine. Regarding play for this age group, they enjoy putting things in their mouth! Everything actually... You need to be watchful of any small items that are around. So if you notice a baby putting something in their mouth once they finished with it you will need to put in a bucket for washing at the end of the day. They enjoy playing with balls, rattles, kitchen stuff, boxes, sensory experiences (water & ice) as well as work on their development. Some babies will begin sitting up, crawling, learning to walk etc so when this begins you need to support them and provide them with opportunities to develop these skills. Sometimes this is all they want to do other than play. For example: my 7 month old has started crawling and taking steps to walk so she spends the day doing this. Nothing else interests her at the moment.
Overall it's an enjoyable experience which keeps you on your toes!
Good Luck!
,L.A
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Re: Working with babies 6-18 months
Hi i was in your position this time last year having never worked in babies and am the last one standing there as this year comes to a close. ( we went through 3 room leaders and several assistants left)
My body is very sore and sorry from it and am ready to go back to toddlers next year but am glad ive had the experience in there and think its something every childcare worker should experience so that they are more well rounded. Could probably even be called an expert if you've done all rooms including babies!
Be prepared for:
- High maintanance parents who are often first timers and will ride you to high heaven and back
- Lots of biting incidents
Time does go faster in the baby room i found as you are kept so busy following the run sheet as to who needs bottles when and who needs sleep but i found it took over my life too much as i was too exhausted to do anything after work since working in this room.
Often it will be chaotic with everyone just crying and in times of bedlam such as this i found just sitting on the floor and singing would stop the madness and most would toddle over to me to listen to the songs. Bubbles also helped, make sure they're always on hand. Rusk sticks have also been a life saver with many screaming the entire day due to teething.
Hope i haven't scared you too much - keep in mind i work at a very big centre where we often have 13-14 babies with only 3 of us
My body is very sore and sorry from it and am ready to go back to toddlers next year but am glad ive had the experience in there and think its something every childcare worker should experience so that they are more well rounded. Could probably even be called an expert if you've done all rooms including babies!
Be prepared for:
- High maintanance parents who are often first timers and will ride you to high heaven and back
- Lots of biting incidents
Time does go faster in the baby room i found as you are kept so busy following the run sheet as to who needs bottles when and who needs sleep but i found it took over my life too much as i was too exhausted to do anything after work since working in this room.
Often it will be chaotic with everyone just crying and in times of bedlam such as this i found just sitting on the floor and singing would stop the madness and most would toddle over to me to listen to the songs. Bubbles also helped, make sure they're always on hand. Rusk sticks have also been a life saver with many screaming the entire day due to teething.
Hope i haven't scared you too much - keep in mind i work at a very big centre where we often have 13-14 babies with only 3 of us
