- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
October 2012 Moms
Who has started daycare visits?
We are going on our first today.
Are you using a list of questions? If so, where did you get it from?
I think I would prefer in home for an infant, but I want to put down a deposit at a center because the good and affordable ones near me fill fast... like I probably need to decide within the next two weeks fast. I figure I'll look for in home in a few more months.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Who has started daycare visits?
(Raising my hand)
I worked at a daycare in college. What you are looking for is a staff to infant ratio of about 1:4. Legal requirements vary from state to state. You also want a place that is clean and has hours that work with your schedule.
BFP#1 1/31/12, EDD 10/6/12 Harrison Gray born sleeping @ 18w6d. You changed our lives little guy.
BFP#2 EDD 10/29/13, C/P 2/25/13, Bye little Ish, we barely got to know you.
BFP#3 EDD 12/21/13, Baby Boots born 11/23/13 My rainbow baby!
January PAL Siggy Challenge: Good Advice
Thanks. Maybe this is naive of me, but the main things I think I care about are:
Ratios
State licensing / reports
Seem to love babies
Scheduling
I see all these lists and to me they are secondary to the above. I just want a place that seems to know and love babies. When the child is older, then I think I will care a lot more about enrichment, etc. My mom had to put me in daycare at 6 weeks (she was military) and she just put me with an officer's wife who loved babies, and it was a great experience for her.
I'm not having to look because I love the daycare we are using now but I wanted to share my experience. It is in know way meaning to come across as all knowing.
We had an in home daycare lined up and so I did not look in to any other daycare center because I didn't think I needed to. Within two weeks of my daughter going to the in home place I was told that she would no longer be able to watch my child and in fact I was told my child was difficult. Now this was someone who I trusted 100% and had known for a while. She was a teacher and I just knew that this was the next best thing to me staying home with my DD.
After I was told she could no longer watch my DD I had about a week to find a daycare. I was done with the in home daycare because really no matter how long someone has been watching children in their home there are always some variable that can not be controlled. What if the provider gets sick, what if they have a family emergency, vacation? I'm not saying there aren't good ones out there but just make sure you have all of these areas covered.
We ended up at an amazing daycare center. My DD loves it and has such a great time. They have a strong christian based curriculum with a great preschool. They do art projects all the time (she is only 8 months) and she is learning so much there. I visited several different daycares but as soon as I walked in to this one I knew it was the right one. I just had this feeling. I felt like I could leave my DD there and not be worried or stressed about the care she was receiving.
Again, this is my experience so please take it for what it is worth. Ultimately, I think you just know when you have found the right place.
I am an in home child care provider. In our area infant care spots are at a premium, meaning they are hard to come by. I am licensed for 2 children under the age of 2 and up to six 2+ year olds. I currently have an 11 month old, so I only have 1 infant spot available. I get calls on a weekly to bi-weekly basis looking for an under 2 spot. When we have our baby in Oct, I will need both of my infant spots personally. I think it depends on your area and the type of care you are looking for to know when you need to start looking. Definitely looking at the beginning of your pregnancy is not out of the question or realm of necessity.
If you google, you should be able to come with a list of questions. In all the families I've interviewed, I've only ever had one show up with a list of questions with a paper and pencil (turns out they've proven to be my favorite client). You also should look around at a variety of places just to know what is the best fit for you and your newborn. You will know if this is a place you feel comfortable and since they will spend such a large portion of the day in this environment, if it's a good fit.
Good luck!
I think it's a bit early to be looking at DC. I started with DS at about 22 weeks. I really wanted a center, for several reasons, but it's a personal decision, like everything pertaining to your family. All the centers in our area had waiting lists, so I put my name on every single one, and then around 30 weeks started calling in-homes. I met with a few in-homes (never got a good feeling at any of them), but every one of them said they couldn't guarantee me a spot and I should call back about a month before I was scheduled to go back to work to see if they had availabilty. Our #1 choice, the center he attends today, called 3 weeks after he was born, to say they would have a spot when I needed to go back to work.
For us, we like that a center has a lot of oversight. There is a director and other teachers that kind of keep each other accountable for following all the state regulations, with feedings, sleeping arrangements. When a teacher gets sick they can take a sick day, but I don't have to find alternate care. Our center is also open from 6:30am to 7pm, so I dont' have a small window in which we have to pick up and drop off. Also, the learning environment, even at that small age, is amazing. In our state the ration for infants and toddlers (to age 2) is 1:3. So there were two joined infant rooms with 6 kids in each. Even now whenever DS see's one of his teachers from the infant room he runs and gives them a hug. In home does not necessarily mean a more loving/caring environment.
Our story is similar to peanut's. One of my close friends (she was my maid of honor in my wedding and I was in her wedding) decided to be a SAHM when she had her little boy, Gabriel (born July or August 2010). I had DD January 2011. I was planning on going back to work in June and I was really naive about finding daycares and really not looking forward to it. I put it off until about March. I started looking but none seemed good enough where I would be comfortable leaving DD there. So I called my friend to see if she would watch DD. She said she would love too watch her.
DD is high needs and didn't/doesn't nap very well. The total amount of time she was in my friends care was one month. We were paying her of course, not what we would be paying a center because they have insurance and that kind of stuff. She didn't tell us the reason she didn't want to watch DD was because she was hard to handle though - she made up a lie saying she was going back to school. She is not in school now... She said she would give us a few weeks to find a daycare center and on the third day of us looking she said she would not watch her anymore. School starts in mid-late August here and that was the beginning of July.
Also, while DD was staying at her house, she became terrified of her crib at home. She never had a problem with her crib before that and when I would pick her up in the afternoons she always looked solemn and her eyes were a little red and puffy. I think that she would just put her in her little boy's crib when he wasn't napping and leave her there to cry because she was tired of her (there's no way of knowing for sure I guess, but I have HUGE guilt over it - that I subjected my baby to that). - Which is another reason that I trust centers more than in home daycare now, a worker would not be able to get away with that and the ratio is 1 worker for 4 babies. For DD now the ratio is 1:6 because they are a little more independent.
So after we no longer had someone to watch her, we scrambled and DH took a few days off with DD (I had just started work so didn't have any leave) and ended up finding the perfect place. It takes me less than 4 minutes to get there from my work and all the people there are so wonderful. DD loves it.
I learned that it is always good to have backups. If I would have known how things would turn out, I would have started with a daycare and been on at least 4 or 5 waiting lists instead of just putting all of my eggs in one basket at my friends house.
Sorry this has gotten so long..
I found our daycare by going to our state's DHS website. They have a rating system of one to three stars (three stars is best) and they also report what kind of violations, if any, that they had. They do bi-annual checks I think and they will do more if there has been a complaint by a parent. So I made an excel spreadsheet with the daycare names, phone numbers/addresses, violations, cost and a column for my own rating system based on the three star facilities I found on the DHS website.
We toured the 3 or 4 that had openings and when I walked in the door to our daycare I knew it was the one. It smelled clean, was very bright, and DD was so happy there (we brought her along on the tours). She started talking to all of the other babies and even let the workers hold her without a fuss. She did not do that at any of the others. They don't have TV (that was important to me) and had no problem using my breast milk instead of formula for DD.
Again, sorry it got so long, I wanted to share our story though! Hope it helps!
Besides the other criteria mentioned, I also considered proximity of the daycare to my home when choosing a center/in-home. I had a SAHM friend who was more than willing to watch my LO, but it would have meant driving to her house 20 minutes out of the way (40 minutes total per day). This would make our commutes longer and along with the other in-home concerns (needing to find backup if the provider is sick or wants vacation time) we decided a center was a better way to go.
We found a center 2 blocks from our house and are so happy we went with it. We love the convenience and they do fun activities with the babies all day. Another reason to have the daycare close to home: when LO was 3-6 months old she would sometimes be fussy when I picked her up and put her in the car. She would cry all the way home. I can't imagine what that would have been like if we had a 20 minute drive home! So glad it's only 3 minutes.
daycare infant teacher right here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Staff to Student....4-1 needed
Legal place of course!
Most important question I think is how long has everyone worked there! You dont want to send your baby to a place that he or she will have different staff all the time!!! That is a huge huge thing alot of people forget about!
Good luck! And do many drop ins to check on whats up!!
We are so lucky in this regard. My mother, who has worked in a daycare center for 30 years, is retiring the month after our baby is born. She has agreed to take care of our baby when I go back to work. My dad is already retired, so they will do it together. We were terrified about daycare after finding out how much it costs in our area, so we are so grateful to have this option.
From my mother, I can tell you the things you want to know are the ratio of teachers to children, the experience of the teachers, the daily schedule of activities, the hours of operation, licensing and the health department ratings.
My mother raised most of the kids in the town where she lives. Some of their kids now go to her center. You want to find a place like that - where the kids are treated the same way you would treat them if you were staying at home with them. (I went to that daycare too, and I loved it, lol) The good ones like this will have waiting lists, so visiting early will be important.
Also, after your official tour, drop by unexpected - during lunch or play time if possible. This will give you much more information than the tour would!
With DD we looked around 16 weeks, and I was on the early side. I just wanted to make sure I had the best place for her.
In my opinion the biggies to look out for are teacher accountability, continuing education for teachers, first aid certifications/training, sickness policy, snow and holiday closures, curriculums (yes even for infants), do they use bouncy seats or jumparoos (I was very anti), and cleanliness.
I only looked at centers, and am VERY hapy where DD is now, and the baby will go there too.
A lot of places require a deposit for the application and to be put on a waiting list, and it's not refundable.
BFP 12.20.2010 :: missed m/c 1/2011 around 8 weeks
BFP @ 9dpo 5.24.2011 :: missed m/c 6/2011 around 7 weeks
positive for ANAs (1:40) with a speckled pattern
MTHFR c677t mutation (heterozygous)
*folic acid, baby asprin, Prometrium, acupuncture, Lovenox*
BFP @ 9dpo 2.1.2012 || HCG = 8 : Progesterone = 19.2
2nd HCG @ 11dpo = 40 || 3rd HCG @ 21dpo = over 5000!
Stick, little one, stick! EDD October 15, 2012
I already signed my future baby up since spots go FAST! I am a toddler teacher at a Montessori School (my students are 18mo-3yrs), so the baby will be in our infant room. There are only 9 spots for that room and 6 of them had already been taken for January 2013. My baby is #7! CRAZY!
Here are some things that make me proud to work at my school and what you should look for when touring:
Cleanliness
Security Cameras
Low Ratios
Bachelor Degrees required
Continuing Education required
Cleanliness (yes, more of it)
Lots of room for baby's to practice crawling, pulling-up, standing, walking, etc.
I understand your sentiment but for some of us in high demand areas we don't have a choice.