Child Care Centers are larger settings where children are cared for in a group away from their homes for all or part of the day. The many different kinds of Center-based care include; preschools, parent cooperatives, profit, non-profit and church based. Some centers care for infants and toddlers while some do not.

What’s the difference between family day care and long day care in a child care centre? The most obvious difference is size. Child care centres are usually much bigger and busier, with children usually grouped according to age.

One of the biggest differences between daycare and preschool are the hours. Daycare centers usually offer longer hours and are open during holidays and school breaks. Many preschool programs are a half-day program at set times, whereas daycare pick up and drop-off times are more flexible around the parents’ schedules.

The difference between center-based daycares and home-based daycares is primarily in the location. Center-based daycares are operated in commercial care spaces—not in the owner’s home; home-based daycares, on the other hand, are run in residential spaces.

The benefits/advantages of a home-based child care program include:

• a home-like environment.
• a closer teacher to child bond since the caregiver often cares for the child the entire day.
• fewer cases of illnesses since the child is exposed to fewer children.
• mixed age groups allowing for more sibling interaction.

IT’S A tough call and one that no working parent will want to hear: child care used “too much, too early, too long” damages babies’ brain chemistry and affects their social and emotional development.

A study published this month in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that daycare children are better behaved and socialized than children who are cared for in at-home settings.

Daycare makes kids smarter. However, there was one encouraging caveat: Children in high-quality daycare had better language and cognitive development during the first four-and-a-half years of life. Even better, the benefits remain at least through the age of 15.

12-months-old

The price of daycare tends to be more affordable than a nanny since you are sharing the cost with other families. An in-home daycare center, also known as family care, is usually less expensive than a traditional daycare (but also offers fewer benefits like resources and multiple teachers..

Regarding cognitive development, studies have found negative effects, no significant links, and positive daycare effects. Research has shown that daycare hinders the quality of parent-child relations, does not hinder it, that the adverse effects are small and transitory, or intermittent.

They found that centre-based child care was linked to: somewhat better cognitive and language development. better pre-academic skills involving letters and numbers. fewer behaviour problems at ages 2 and 3.

The higher the quality of child care (more positive language stimulation and interaction between the child and provider), the greater the child’s lan- guage abilities, the better the child’s cognitive development, and the more school readiness the child demonstrated during the preschool years.

While some parents fear sending their babies to child care too early may cause behavioural and developmental problems, new Australian research turns that theory on its head. A study involving about 1,000 children indicates that entering child care before a first birthday does not impede development.

It’s not entirely clear why having parents around would help babies grow taller or smarter, or live long longer, but the research points to a few potential advantages to kids whose mothers stay home for at least three months.

Babies in our centers only sleep in cribs; if babies fall asleep elsewhere, they are placed promptly in their own designated crib.

According to a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study, kids in daycare get sick more often than kids at home — until age 3. Then infection rates even out.

Young children who are in daycare very often get frequent upper respiratory tract infections, including colds and secondary ear infections. In fact, experts estimate that the average child gets six to eight viral upper respiratory tract infections each year.

Ways to Prevent Illness From Spreading at Child Care and Preschool – Minnesota Dept. of Health….Clean

1. Clean and sanitize toys, objects, and surfaces at least daily and when soiled.
2. Clean and disinfect diapering area and potty chairs after each use and bathroom toilets, sinks, and toys at least daily and when soiled.

How to Keep Your Child From Getting Sick at Daycare

1. Vaccinate. Despite recent controversies, vaccination remains the most effective way to protect against many serious childhood illnesses, including the following:
2. Eat Healthy.
3. Keep Shared Toys Clean.
4. Enforce Regular Hand-Washing.
5. Choose Facilities with Compassionate and Careful Sick Policies.

Henry Ukpeh, a paediatrician in Peterborough, Ont., confirms that it’s normal for toddlers starting group child care to get sick—developing as many as eight to 12 colds in the first 12 months. This is because daycares are “the perfect environment for the transmission of viruses,” he says.

The main reason your child is getting all those infections is that he or she is being exposed to new viruses all the time. The viruses are everywhere no matter how much you sanitize and clean. There are at least 200 different cold viruses and they’re getting tricky, mutating all the time.

Children do not have fully developed immune systems until they are about 7-8 years old.

10 ways to build immunity in children

1. Breastfeed your baby. Colostrum present in the mother’s milk is considered the gold standard in building a baby’s immunity.
2. Stick to the immunisation schedule.
3. Serve up a healthy platter.
4. Maintain a healthy gut.
5. Get enough sleep.
6. Stay active.
7. Make hygiene a habit.
8. Have fun outdoors.

Symptoms

• Frequent and recurrent pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus infections, ear infections, meningitis or skin infections.
• Inflammation and infection of internal organs.
• Blood disorders, such as low platelet counts or anemia.
• Digestive problems, such as cramping, loss of appetite, nausea and diarrhea.
• Delayed growth and development.