I just dropped off my registration check at the daycare I plan to use for my LO when I return to work in July. After I handed my check over I asked to see the infant room again to check out the temperature since it's a hot one here today and that room isn't very well insulated. The temperature was fine and the babies were all happy but there were 5 babies and 1 employee in the room. The CA state ratio for the age is 4 to 1. Ack!

The employee that was showing me the room was on lunch. I saw two of the three other rooms of kids and they had 4 babies and one employee. When I asked why there were 5 babies in one room they said there's another teacher but they didn't specifically say it was the one on lunch. The director is typically there until 3 but had told me in advance she wouldn't be there today.

The center is small (12 kids) and homey and the kids have always seemed happy. Two other mothers from my mothers club playgroup are enrolling their babies too. It's close to our house and the most affordable center we've found. Am I nuts not to go ballistic for seeing 5 babies in a room when there was another employee there taking a lunch break? Is that allowed or expected? Honestly I'm not getting a big red flag from my mother's intuition but I haven't been a mom very long.