Choosing a daycare

Kecusc

I have a list of several daycares we'll be looking into for our 1st baby. I am feeling kind of clueless as to what type of things I should specifically be looking at to choose one over the others! How did you decide? What should a new parent with most heavily? (Baby will have to go to daycare when my mat leave ends after 13 weeks.)

jnnfrrose6

A lot of this depends on you and what is more important.  If this is a daycare the child will likely be in for several years, you need to look at their curriculum long term.  Once you're there for a tour, you'll get a feel of whether it "fits" for you or not.  

Other things to consider:  kid:teacher ratio, daily schedules and flexibility following yours for an infant, meals/snacks provided or bring your own, if you're breastfeeding, familiarity with that.  There's plenty of other things to factor in, but these are a few things that stood out to us.

Kecusc

Thank you! Those all seem like important things to consider and give me a place to start at least!

smynings_bride

For a baby you also want to focus on how clean the place is kept and how much longevity the teachers have at the daycare.  We saw a place where all the teachers had been there less than a year and others where they were at the school 5-10 years.  You can also look at the bright from the start website to look at the ratings/inspection visits.

NewMrs07

If you tell us where you live, we can probably give better rec's on specific places. My son didn't have to go to a full-day daycare but there are couple of decent ones in my area that my son's cousin went to. They run about $900/mo, 6:30am-6:30pm.