Oliver James: Nippers need emotional rescue from daycare

The evidence is overwhelming. Group daycare makes little nippers antisocial, insecure and distressed. The reason is no mystery and has little to do with the quality of the daycare staff or premises (and don't be distracted by claims that it improves educational performance - who in their right mind is worrying about that in under-threes?).

In 2004, while scouring the world for vaccines against the affluenza virus (the condition of putting a high value on money, possessions, appearances and fame), I spent a week observing toddlers in a Copenhagen day nursery that is held up as a global model - it has been visited by politicians from all British political parties. If daycare works anywhere, it should be here.

On the first morning I watched Mike, aged 18 months, howl for an hour after he had been dropped off. During the whole day he never once smiled, wandering aimlessly or engaged in joyless scratching with a spade in the sandpit. He very rarely received any individual attention from an adult all week long - hardly surprising when the ratio is one carer for every four toddlers. I find it tough enough to care for our two-year-old - looking after four would drive me crazy.

One of the causes of Mike's unhappiness was Olga, aged 19 months. During the week, I witnessed her launch two unprovoked assaults on him. She also did the same to other children. Her mother told me that Olga had not been aggressive prior to going there - just as the studies predict, the neglect of group care may have inflamed her.

Another of Olga's victims was Sylvia, aged 21 months. After eight weeks at the nursery she was still inconsolably distressed when her parents left her there in the mornings and remained so all day long. She had a marked preference for the group leader, Martha, pregnant and in her thirties. Since Martha could not have Sylvia on her lap at all times, the little girl sat around in a miserable heap.

Each child has a keyworker who is supposed to be a substitute parent. Martha was Sylvia's and when I asked about the continuing distress at being left there, Martha speculated that it could be because Sylvia was strongly attached to her mother. This did not seem a particularly good recommendation for daycare as a practice - if you have a strong relationship with your mum, it will be distressing, so better to not be attached to her!

Equally disquieting, Martha believed that her special charge had only been with them a month, rather than two. The care she is providing cannot be all that special if she does not even know how long Martha has been there. In short, group care infuriates and distresses toddlers because it is impersonal and depriving.

Most dispiriting of all was when I went back to the children's homes. Sylvia was a different child, pointing things out to her mother, suddenly confident and able to explore her surroundings. In Mike's case, I had attempted a game of peek-a-boo with him at the nursery which had been a complete washout. At home, he adored it, hiding behind his mother's leg with all the playful joy that toddlers usually display.

There is little scientific doubt about what is distressing about group daycare: emotional deprivation. As so many other studies have shown, like last week's report, the amount of damage done is dose-dependent: the longer the time in care (feeling deprived), the worse the outcome.

Interestingly, the nouveau riche (think Blair property-fever, Blunkett toff love, Prescott stetson) Labour élite and their partners seem to know this, without having bothered to read the evidence. They use nannies, not group care, as their substitutes (hardly any have cared for a child up to the age of three). What's all right for children in sink estates is not good enough for Torquils and Samanthas.

Hundreds of millions of pounds should never have been wasted on separating low-income mothers from their babies in the first place. Faced with hard evidence of its consequences, is Gordon Brown now going to reverse his damaging policy and instead, start offering them support at home?

Oliver James is the author of 'Affluenza - How to be Successful and Stay Sane', published by Vermillion, £17.99