Working in daycare with DS- any experience?

[holz]

I've just accepted a part-time position in an infant room, and they've been generous enough to allow me to bring my 3 month old with me. The ratio is 4:1, and for most of the time it'll just be me with my son and 3 other kiddos- all closer to ages 1 and 2. I was wondering if anyone has any experience taking care of their own child and several others at once- I guess this could apply to in-home providers, nannies, etc. My biggest concern isn't really with the job itself, but with DS's schedule... But is there anything I should consider? Any advice from moms who've BTDT? Was it easier or more difficult than you thought? I'm obviously not worried about jealousy at this age, but will it become a problem in a few months?

Thanks!

[liberal_chick]

I kind of have a similar situation.

When my ds1 was 3, I accepted a job teaching the 3 year old room at a MDO program (6 hours a day, 4 days a week).

The next year, I had a baby and ds1 turned 4 and moved into the preschool room while I moved down into the infant room.  It was a really wonderful experience for all of us, I think.  I just let all the babies (we are on a 1:4 ratio too) kind of set their own schedules until they start eating lunch, then I'd do all the lunches at 11:00.  But it was awesome b/c I could just nurse him in the room so I didn't have to worry about pumping or anything.  Eventually all the babies schedules kind of meshed together so they were napping at the same time and eating at the same time (although all my babies were within about 3 months of each other in age with the exception of 1).

Jealousy never became an issue with him.  I took 16 weeks of maternity leave, so ds2 was 4 months old when he started coming with me and he never seemed to care that I was holding other babies.

The only draw back was that, b/c I was with ds2 all.the.time, he was absolutely beside himself if I ever went away (once he hit about 7 months old).  Like if our director came in so that I could go to the restroom or anything of that nature, he just lost it.  I think a lot of that is just his personality, but I'm sure never ever being away from me had some affect.  When he turned 18 months he had to go to the toddler room and it was a really rough transition.  That happened in September and almost 3 months later we are just getting to the point where I can drop him off tear free (it is about 80% tear free at this point).

I'm still in the infant room and ds3 is in there with me now.  I still love it!

ETA: even though it was a rough transition with drop off, I can hear ds2 laughing and having a blast in the toddler room next door, so I know he's ok.  :)