Dr. Laura:
Thank you for letting your listeners know about how detrimental daycare is for children and especially infants. I'm a medical doctor and without one-on-one contact with mothers, this can be very damaging in the brain and neurological development.
Every state has different laws about infant to caretaker radios, but even if you took an average of 5 to 1 (meaning 5 infants for every 1 caretaker), that means that every HOUR, your child gets only 12 minutes of attention! One person cannot hold, coo, and give attention to five babies at a time, so they are left in cribs and swings. Caretakers in daycares have a constant day of babies crying - it's not a calm, warm atmosphere, so you have stressed-out workers and stressed-out babies, which isn't great for little nervous systems. Listeners should spend a day in the infant room at a daycare, and they would never leave their child again!
I used to do free health screening fairs and went to a neighborhood day care center to let them know about the upcoming event. Six babies were in a room, with one caretaker who was holding a baby. The others were swinging, in a crib or looking into space. One baby in a swing put his arms up to be picked up, but no one was there for him. He wasn't even crying because he had learned that it was futile. That's when I started crying and the owner wondered why. That scene cured me of ever thinking daycare was a good option for anyone.
Bree
