West Chester Mom-to-be Seeking Resources/approx. Prices for Daycare

Life Discovery is excellent for infants. It is on Springfield Road in Springfield, Delaware County.

Hi H.:

My son, now 14 months, has been in 2 daycares. I stayed home with him until he was 6 months. When I went back to work I enrolled him at a church daycare and that was $175 a week for infant care. But you get what you pay for. I thought the women who took care of him were nice, but I, like the other mom that wrote, had a bad feeling in my gut. Some of the problems I had were...

Ask if your child will be in their assigned classroom all day. I found that many centers will say they're open 6:30a - 6:30p, but the majority of the teachers don't show up until 9 and work until 5. At the church daycare, it seemed like everyday I'd go in to drop off and they'd have my 6mo. old in a "combined" classroom with older kids. Thay meant that the "early teachers - usually only 2" would watch preschoolers, toddlers and infants until the other teachers came in and took their kids to their classrooms. I asked when my son's teacher gets in and tried to work my schedule around that.. at first they said 8:30 so I went at 8:30 and he was still in a combined room, then they said 9am and I came at 9.. Basically I've discovered that they have to be IN THEIR ASSIGNED room without a bunch of hoping around to other rooms so they feel secure and comfortable -yes, even babbies need that too. And the caregiver should be a consistent teacher every day (within some reason).

I pulled my son out roughly 6 weeks after he started there and we enrolled him at Kindercare in East Norriton. Again, I'm not speaking for all Kindercare's here, but I love the East Norriton Center. It is brand new and the Director and teachers are great. Now I had checked out other Kindercares and didn't like them as much, but this center is great. When I first enrolled him as an infant the cost was $240 a week (full time), they had a part time option for $180/wk. Another point for you to ask....
When does tuition go up and is there an annual fee.. yes, most daycares do this. My son's rate increased to $253/wk in September for infant classroom and there is a $50 annual registration fee.
When my son turned 1 and was walking (and off of bottles), he moved to the toddler classroom and I pay $241/wk.
Again, most centers do annual registration in January or in September - Kindercare does September to correspond with the school year. This is also when they evaluate the kids to "move up" to the next classroom - just like a school year.
Hope all this helps you... You can email if you like ____@____.com

Hi. Im a first time mom (my little girl is 14 months now) and I went through the same thing as you did. I went back to work PT after 3 months and trying to find a daycare was difficult for me. My husband and I tossed the idea around about someone watching her out of their house vs. day care. When you say "daycare" to people you get that horrified look. Well, let me tell you, if you find the right place, its GREAT! I began by going to places that I saw near my home when I drove around. I also went through the phone book and looked on line. A lot of places will not quote prices over the phone but then some will. We actually had a woman lined up to watch our little girl (along w/ 3 other kids) and thought it was going to be great.I met her twice and my gut was telling me it wasnt the right move for us. I visited a few day cares and finally found one my husband and I thought we liked. Being first time parents, we really dint know what to ask and what to look for. We thought a lot of swings and exersaucers was great! The first day care we sent her to, she went 3x and I pulled her out. There is nothing like having this feeling in the bottom of your stomach telling you something isnt right. Listen to your gut, I have found mine to be right! I HATED to drop her off there. I worried all day at work. Just something wasnt right!!!!!
Then I found my saving Grace, Bright Horizons in King of Prussia. After seeing what I saw at the other place (Malvern School), it was like night and day. Malvern school had ONE room for all infants. It was chaotic all the time. AWFUL! Bright Horizons and some others too, have 3 infants rooms of 8 children each. So peaceful (as peaceful as peacful can be w/ infants) but SOOOO much better. They have NO swings, NO exersaucers which is a GOOD thing cause my baby was ALWAYS in the swing and no interaction at malvern School. Bright Horizons, thats ALL they do, interaction and eductaional things with them. And it is SUPER clean. When I used to put my little girl in the swing at malvern School, I would wipe it down first!
I could go on and on about my experience with Malvern School (maybe other Malvern Schools are good but this one was not) but bottom line is that daycare is NOT cheap.
For 2 days a week I pay almost $650 a month. For 5 days a week I beleive its close to $1300 a month! The woman who was going to watch her from her home would have been MUCH, MUCH cheaper, less than 1/2 the cost but I just didnt feel she would be able to interact as much, have her learn as much and again, wondered if she would be in a swing all day.
My little girl is thriving in daycare. They do SO much with her and the interaction with the other children is WONDERFUL! She is not shy and as far as being sick, we really have been lucky.
Go in and get a feeling of the place. Meet the Director and some of the teachers. Let me tell you, the Director at the Malvern School was awful. The one at Bright Horizons is professional, very friendly and on top of things. If you go to a few places, you will know which ones are better than others. But go with your gut. And while your baby is in there, call and check on him/her through out the day or even drop in. I did that a lot. THIS day care is working out wonderfully for is. Like I said, its a lot of $ but I really feel it is worth it since I cant be at home. Best of luck to you and feel free to email me with any questions.
K.

H.,

We have had two nannies and two day cares so I can tell you my experiences with those at least. My daughter was at home with hubby for six months and then went into the infant room at Bring Em Young in Paoli. The head teacher there was awesome and great about letting me come in and nurse over lunch. Then we decided to do a nanny as we both travel and were nervous about the possibility we would both travel at the same time (we have no family in the area). The nanny idea was fine, but I think better for the younger kids than older. When we found we were better at scheduling than we thought, we took her back to day care and the crawler/walker room. That teacher was awesome too and they accommodated my stubborn daughter (who would not nap in the crib but would nap sitting at the table). Then she moved out of that room and they were switching teachers all the time - she was getting sick a lot and the environment wasn't as clean as I would have liked. So when we had a job switch, we moved her to Goddard here in West Chester in April. Lucky we did too as Bring Em Young just closed a few weeks ago.

Goddard is great for her age and for the socialization and structure that she's getting (she just turned 3). They have over 20 kids and three teachers on some days so it can be overwhelming sometimes (but is good for her to learn as school will be the same way - and the teachers have all been great there!). I don't know what the infant room is like but I think the most important thing for an infant teacher is to be willing to hold the babies a LOT and give them a lot of loving. So be sure to visit the infant rooms of any place that you go and if you decide to try a sitter, I would definitely recommend you get references and talk to them prior to committing. I am charged $1029 per month for my daughter, but typically infant rates are higher as there is a better ratio.

Good luck - it's always a rough search and you need to be sure to go with your gut as you determine what's right for you.

S.