I'm not a fan overall but I think most people know that after my annoying posts about the topic through the years I do think they are probably fine for most kids (kids without a risk of delay) in moderation (20-30 mins max per day). However, I personally would be hesitant to have *daycare* use one. When I was working as a PT in EI, far too often I went into daycares where infants were in them for an hour straight. The room was too busy for anyone to notice a child getting fatigued and starting to slump, etc. If the baby is happy in there, IMO it can be all too easy for a parent, let alone a daycare where there are often quite a few kids to watch, to have the child in there for too long. It is just too convenient, IMO.
Obviously all caregivers are different and all daycares are different, but if I were going to use one, I would want it to be at home vs. daycare. I just saw it all too often in the centers I visited...I'm sure there are daycares that are great about limiting their use, but I saw the flip side too often.
I'd at least maybe discuss it from that angle...that you really want the overall use limited to X mins per day if you feel that way.
eta: please don't construe this as me picking on daycares. I'm not I think at home they can be an all too convenient place to put a baby throughout the day and that the minutes add up more quickly than people realize. My point is that if this happens to parents, I think it might be possible for it to happen at daycare...and maybe more likely since they get busy tending to other kids' needs, etc. If the baby is happy, they might leave them in longer than ideal too often, or miss cues that the baby needs out sooner rather than later.
Last edited by brittone2; 04-30-2010 at 08:10 PM.
Mama to DS-2004
DD-2006
and a new addition-ds born march 2010