XP: First day of in-home daycare

whse13kittens

Hi ladies, I'm hoping you can help!  My son will be 8 weeks old on Friday, and next Monday is his first day of an in-home daycare while my husband and I are working.  I want to send an "information paper" for our lovely provider with all of his things, just to let her know about approximately how many bottles he's taking per day and how long he has been sleeping.  What other information would you put in this paper?  She's a mom to two kids already so I'm sure she's got everything under control, I'd just like to give her a sense of his "normal routine" (as much as an 8 week old can have a routine).

Any help you can offer would be great...I am XPing this to my BMB!

whse13kittens

We don't even really have a set routine at home...I'm too lazy to even try and make that work with an 8 week old.  I was trying to think of things I'd want to know, like "usually takes approx 3 bottles of 4 oz each between 10am and 6pm".  Is that a good idea or should I let it go?

Thanks for the insight

BabyHope2013

I'm sure they have some type of schedule there that your little one will be put on for naps. It might take a few weeks for that transition. When we started our home daycare I just gave our provider a sheet of paper with his feeding times and how much he was eating. Then she took it from there. I figure she had way more experience than me. And she found things that he really liked, like being in the swing or being held Facing out so he could watch what was going on.

When you drop off ask if you can call half way through the day just to see how he's doing. I called for the first two days then I realized that he was perfectly fine and content.

jlaOK

I did this for DS when he started daycare.  I put a rough schedule - amount and time of bottles, likes and dislikes (swaddling, pacifier, rocking, holding position, etc.), tips for sleeping, and tips for how he ate (messy, loud, slow, etc.).

I don't know if it helped out daycare provider but it gave me peace of mind knowing I was giving them all the information I could about him.

jtmomma13

We also do home daycare. I made a list of important numbers- mine, H's, grandmas- in case of an emergency and a list of my work holidays so she would know when LO wouldn't be there in advance. 

For a schedule we just talked about it. I work down a bunch of stupid things, that I don't even remember now lol. But they were good for her because she did reference them the first few days he was there.

If I was going to have her make his bottles I would have left instructions because you never know- even as a mom sometimes you forget when your kids are a lot older and I had a bad experience with this with H's aunt. 

I also labeled all of his bottles and containers for food with namebubbles.com labels.They are great. 

mlee116

jlaOK said:

I did this for DS when he started daycare.  I put a rough schedule - amount and time of bottles, likes and dislikes (swaddling, pacifier, rocking, holding position, etc.), tips for sleeping, and tips for how he ate (messy, loud, slow, etc.).

I don't know if it helped out daycare provider but it gave me peace of mind knowing I was giving them all the information I could about him.

This is what I did too.  In those first couple of weeks, I think it helps to give as much info as possible to make the transition a little easier until they get to know one another and she learns your baby's habits/quirks/schedule.  Plus if it gives you peace of mind, it can't hurt like PP said.

73jewels

Like PPs said, I think it helps to write out something.  My DC asked for a "manual", and 1 day that I was home all day with him, I just made notes (ie, when he's fighting sleep he likes the swing, etc.). I breastfeed and was pumping for DC, and 1 thing they asked me that I thought was interesting was what position he likes to BF in, so they can mimic that for bottle feeding.  Also I feed on demand so I put no longer than X hours between feed, so that if he was sleeping at that point they'd wake him to feed.

Overall I think it just helps to have a bit of a guide since every baby is different...

whse13kittens

Thanks ladies!  I just wrote everything down, like how many oz/bottle and about how many diapers and such....if it helps, great,if not, at least I tried!  She's got two kids of her own and she seems like a great mom, so I'm sure she'll have him figured out in a few hours

Mustardseed2007

Some things I wrote down on the instruction sheet our DC center has us fill out that I never would have thought to mention myself but I specified b/c of posts I've seen on this board:

1) I asked that they hold my DD when they feed her.

2) I asked that they not discard breast milk after each feed but instead refrigerate left overs and reoffer it at the next feeding

3) I asked that she be held upright after each feed or be placed in a bouncy seat or something where she will be sitting upright (she has reflux)

4) I asked them to call if they had issues with her taking milk or if they ran out of milk

Also, my DC allows us to send frozen milk, so I usually send one thing of frozen and the rest refrigerated. Whenever I do that I ask them to use the frozen milk first (so it gets used up early in the day)

SLGILL1978

My babysitter had her own schedule for the kids. I just fed her 1/2 a bottle in the morning so she wasn't starving but my babysitter preferred to do all the feedings starting with breakfast. She even prepared all the bottles. When my daughter did attend a center, they just fed on demand. They didn't have a schedule for the babies. They just followed their cues.