Natasha happy at home away from home

Phyllis Folima looks after 4-month-old Natasha Miller at the Bright Sparks Childcare branch close to Auckland Airport in Mangere. Photo / Steven McNichol

Baby Natasha Miller has been in daycare from 7.30am to 4.30pm since two and a half weeks after she was born.

Watching her at four months, lying on her tummy on the mat or in the arms of caregiver Phyllis Folima at Bright Sparks Childcare near Auckland Airport, makes you gulp at how vulnerable such a tiny baby is.

"She's the youngest we've ever had," Ms Folima says.

Centre manager Shellee Hancy says Natasha's parents' trust in giving up their baby so young was "just unimaginable", but the whole centre adopted her from the start.

The centre is licensed for 10 infants under 1 and had eight babies in a total roll of 140 when the Herald visited.

Three staff work in the babies' room at any one time, a higher ratio than the legal minimum of 1:5.

As well, one of the caregivers, Malia Iakopo, had her adult daughter with her as a volunteer on the day we visited.

The third paid worker that day was Ms Folima's mother, Milino Folima, a grandmother now in her third year of study as an early childhood teacher who says she treats the babies "like my own grandchildren".

The spacious room has several sofas where the carers cradle the babies. Sleeping cots are behind in a glassed-off room.

Phyllis Folima says the centre does not designate one primary caregiver for each baby.

"Our children tend to choose one primary caregiver and figure out who they are most comfortable with."

The centre's owner, Early Childhood Council vice-president Lonnie Parker, also owns another Bright Sparks centre in Henderson and a rest home in Mt Albert. But she says the centres are "absolutely not" just a business.

Since buying the former Airport Angels centre, she has doubled its capacity and introduced a Christian framework and an educational philosophy that treats each child "as a powerful explorer of its world".

Natasha's father, Gerry Miller, says the centre staff have been "fantastic" with both her and older brother Aidan, who also started as a month-old baby and stayed until he started school last August.

Mr Miller and his wife, Lorraine, had to place both babies in care because Mrs Miller suffers from bipolar disorder.

"On medication she's fine," Mr Miller says. "Being pregnant, she had to come off all the medication. That's the only time it's a bit difficult."

This time she had to stay in hospital until three months after Natasha was born.

Mr Miller, an operations manager for a logistics company, says his employer and Bright Sparks were "extremely supportive" while he cared for Natasha after work during those first three months.