Baby Starting Daycare

It's such a hard time.
The first days are tough - I cried going to work after drop off every day.
But it seemed to feel a little better after a week or so.

I interviewed several daycares and I ended up using a commercial place rather than a home day care.
My reasoning - there are parents coming and going all day long at a commercial place and they have a staff where a worker can take a break if they get stressed.
Also - at a commercial daycare they are there to watch the kids - not run their errands, do their laundry or do stuff around their house.

Right around the time I was looking for a daycare there were two 6 month olds who died in a home daycare because they were put down to nap on an adult bed and they pulled a pillow over their faces and suffocated - the mom who was watching was planning a birthday party for her own kids.

The daycare I chose had a fire station (with paramedics) right across the street from them.
While no day care is perfect - I figured their main job is to keep my kid alive till I can pick them up after work.

They could look after 8 infants at one time.
I asked them how they could get 8 babies out of the building if they had to.
2 of their cribs were on wheels and they fit through the doors.
What they did was to quickly place 4 babies per crib and then wheel them all out of the building.
It's nice to know they have emergencies well thought out - they have procedures.

We were with that place till our son was 3 1/2 years old and ready for pre-school.

I work at a military child development center in the infant room. There are some things that parents can do that can make the transition to a daycare center easier. The first is making sure they will take a bottle, this is one of the biggest reasons we end up having to call a parent in because the baby just gets so hungry but will not take the bottle. Another is making sure they can sleep in their crib on their own during nap times without being swaddled or having other items in the crib with them, in most centers cribs must be free of blankets etc so we can not swaddle and babies who are used to being wrapped up or who cosleep during nap time so are used to having someone right there often have difficulty napping at the center. At 6 wks you obviously can't leave a baby to cry, but as the time gets closer he/she also has to get used to not being picked up at the first hint of crying, infant ratios usually run 4 to 1 so if you are changing a diaper or feeding another baby an infant might have to cry or self sooth for a time until a caregiver is available (of course if there is a safety concern or anything like that the feeding will be stopped so those immediate concerns can be dealt with).

I know it is scary and no one will ever love that baby as much as you do, but I know that at my center the people who work there do so because we love kids. We form a real bond with your children, we celebrate their milestones and miss them when we don't see them for a while or they transition to a new class as they age. We truly do care about them and their happiness and always try our best to protect them and provide them with the same top notch care they get at home (at least as close as we can!) <3

Blessed be.

Although my kids are 22 and 18, I feel like it was yesterday that I was dropping them off at daycare. It was hard, lots of tears. But the prep really came in choosing the daycare more than anything else. Once we started, it was just figuring out the packing of items needed, etc. The daycare staff really knew what they were doing, and made it as easy as possible for us. Good luck! It will be hard at first, but it will get easier.

I agree that this can be a really challenging time. I also cried the first time I left our son. I somehow made it all the way to work, but the second I pulled into the parking lot the tears started flowing! It get's easier! I promise!!!

If you have not chosen a child care yet, don't worry too much. I was convinced I needed a list of questions to ask them. Not really. Every place I went to was prepared to really show off their place. Just by having a conversation with the person showing me around, I was able to really get a feel for the place and whether or not I was going to be ok with the situation. I talked to moms who provided in-home care and visited larger daycare centers.

I chose to use a daycare center for many of the same reasons as B. They had rooms for each age group with age appropriate toys and activities and at least 2 and sometimes 3 teachers for each room. They take turns going to lunch, and the director and assistant director fill in when needed. I knew that if someone had to call in sick they would have a sub take their place and would never call me and say, "Sorry, can't watch your son today!"

Our daycare center provides after school care for school age kids and even staffs the center for the school age kids whenever there is no school - even if it's a snow day!!!

I'm getting ahead of you by several years ... Just know that it's ok to ask lots of questions. It's ok to talk to the teachers and get their advice. And it's ok to cry for a few days. Leaving your baby for the first time is h*** o* all of us! But it will get easier.

It's harder on you than it is on the baby, that's for sure. When mine were infants, I took my time at drop off. I was nursing, and every day I would take the baby in, sit in the rocking chair in the infant room at the daycare and feed my baby one last time before I went to work. This helped me in a few ways. It meant I could go longer before I had to pump at work. It cut down on the number of bottles the daycare had to give him (important when you are trying to pump and don't always get lots of milk). It let me have some last minute cuddle time. And, perhaps most importantly, it let me get to know the women in the room and I saw, first-hand, how they interacted with the babies. They were really good with them, and it gave me the comfort of knowing that my baby was in good hands while I was gone.

You will hear people (including me) talk about how quick efficient drop-offs are a good thing and this is true for toddlers, but not for infants. When my babies made the transition to the toddler room (ages 1-2 at my daycare), I changed the dropoff routine and stopped lingering. But for an infant, even if you are not breastfeeding, build time into your morning to linger all you want to.

Other than that, get to know your daycare. Best practices for daycares (NAEYC accreditation rules) say no swings and no bouncy seats, so hopefully your baby is not dependent on one of those to nap. If she is, start transitioning her to naps in a crib (if your daycare doesn't follow best practice guidelines, they might have these things; it's up to you whether or not you think this is ok - I assume you checked out this stuff when choosing the daycare).

Try not to worry about it too much. Their routines will be different from yours, but babies are very adaptable.

oh, i remember this feeling so well! i had to go back to work when my boys were 5 weeks, and it was hard hard hard.

does your baby take a bottle? that was something i didn't think about with boy #1 although it seems like a big duh.

this will be WAY harder on you than baby. remember that as you start to visualize how much baby is missing you.

send in a t-shirt that you've worn and haven't yet washed. baby will love to snuggle with something that smells like mommy. (and it will make YOU feel better too.)

there weren't options to send videos or photos back in Ye Olden Thymes when i was dealing with babies. take full advantage of technology and have your daycare provider send you pics during the day.

don't be h*** o* yourself if it takes some time for you to adjust. this is one of the biggest challenges of parenting, i swear!

khairete
S.

Do you have the daycare picked out yet? If so see if there will let you go up there and spend some time in the infant room with the teachers and let them interact with the baby so you can see how she does with them. Also start leaving the baby with someone like your husband, mom, dad or friend for short amount of time. And gradually work up to a few hours. That way you get used to being away as well.

This is what I did. I paid for daycare the week before I went back to work. I considered it to be worth the cost for my sanity. I spent at least 2 hours there watching them take care of my baby, still holding or being near him, and helping myself know that he was going to be fine. I took time to run errands, get ready for going back to work and mentally preparing myself. Or take an afternoon nap (I think I did that at least twice...)

It really helped me when I went back to work. I'm so glad I did it. I hope you can do it.

The week before we started daycare they allowed me to come in for part of the day a few times. I was able to watch their routines and get a feel for how the day went. After the first day, I would leave for an hour or two. It really helped me with the transition. Our daughter seemed to settle in better than I did. I still cried after I dropped our daughter off the first day, but seven year later when I dropped our son off for his last day at the same daycare I bawled. It was so hard to leave everyone at the center. Like someone else said, one of the most important things is knowing that you have chosen the best place to start with.