Getting baby ready for day care

jessica_gail2 · May 2013

It breaks my heart that LO will be 3 weeks old tomorrow because time is flying and it means my maternity leave is halfway over. Cue tears.

I've been probably spoiling her...I'll rock or hold her until she goes to sleep. We tried last night putting her in her crib while she was calm but still awake to see if she could put herself to sleep but she ended up screaming and DH and I couldn't handle it!

My question is how did you all transition your baby to not be so dependent on you for sleep? What types of things did you do to prep them for daycare, where they likely won't be in someone's arms all the time?

I've read Babywise and planned on following but I'm a total pushover at the moment.

Just wondering what advice you lovely ladies might have!!

PennyLane26 · May 2013

No advice but wanted to say hi and send (((hugs)))! I hope that transition isn't too difficult!

TJ1979 · May 2013

In my opinion, 3 weeks is too young to try any sleep training or anything like that. I think 6 weeks is too. This may sound awful, but I didn't do anything to prepare E for sleeping without me at daycare. She was 12 weeks when she started. But we just sort of let it be day care's problem. And she did just fine. To this day, she sleeps by herself with no issues at DC, and nurses to sleep at home. If I were you, I would spend every minute you can cuddling your baby before you go back to work. Then if there are any issues later, deal with it then. Newborns change so much so quickly, you can't expect to prepare in advance.

JBDamonM · May 2013

TJ1979:
In my opinion, 3 weeks is too young to try any sleep training or anything like that. I think 6 weeks is too. This may sound awful, but I didn't do anything to prepare E for sleeping without me at daycare. She was 12 weeks when she started. But we just sort of let it be day care's problem. And she did just fine. To this day, she sleeps by herself with no issues at DC, and nurses to sleep at home. If I were you, I would spend every minute you can cuddling your baby before you go back to work. Then if there are any issues later, deal with it then. Newborns change so much so quickly, you can't expect to prepare in advance.

thanks for this! I've been having the same thoughts on what I should be doing to prep DD for daycare (she will start in July)..... Te other night I gave her a bath right before bed, kept all the lights off once I put her down.....basically started trying to begin a nighttime routine. Yeah- she wound up awake every two hours. Total fail. Clearly her way of telling me I'm too little for this nonsense!

kaf7 · May 2013

My LC warned me that at about three weeks as they get more alert babies want to be held even more. This was certainly true for my LO. We are now at 8 weeks and I can count on one hand the number of times he has fallen asleep when not being held. My pedi recommends sleep training between 46months.

mdiblasi10 · May 2013

TJ1979:
In my opinion, 3 weeks is too young to try any sleep training or anything like that. I think 6 weeks is too. This may sound awful, but I didn't do anything to prepare E for sleeping without me at daycare. She was 12 weeks when she started. But we just sort of let it be day care's problem. And she did just fine. To this day, she sleeps by herself with no issues at DC, and nurses to sleep at home. If I were you, I would spend every minute you can cuddling your baby before you go back to work. Then if there are any issues later, deal with it then. Newborns change so much so quickly, you can't expect to prepare in advance.

I completely agree with TJ! Grayson went to daycare at 5 months old and I still didn't do much to prepare. I did try and put him down for naps in his crib and sometimes it worked. Our daycare even propped him up in a car seat type of thing when he didn't want to nap laying flat. They would rock him to sleep for naps if that's what he needed. I just let them know what our routine was and they figured it out. Enjoy these last 3 weeks!!

jessica_gail2 · May 2013

Thanks so much for the feedback! I agree. She feels too young to do CIO with. I do want to get her on a good schedule because I feel like it'll make things easier on her, us, and daycare, but I don't want her to ever feel abandoned or anything.

candyreesecup · May 2013

I just went back to work this Monday from my 6 weeks maternity leave (short leave...same as you ) and I had mixed emotion about it. I was so sad to be apart from her so soon, but she needs so much attention now, so I thought it will be a bit of relief.

I don't have any advice since she just started going to a daycare, but so far she is doing well. Nothing has changed too much and I still have to rock her to sleep, but she is very tired after coming home from daycare! She is getting tons of stimulation from the daycare, so she is pretty melow when I pick her up and that gives me sometime to get changed, put away stuff, cooking, etc.

I wish we could somehow balance work and baby well!

jessica_gail2 · May 2013

Candy I'll try to remember to bug you in a few weeks when I'm going back to work to see how things are going. I'm glad it seems to be going well so far!

Short mat leave sucks...I have a vacation week I've thought about using but I feel like I should save it. Who knows. I'm sure it will be nice to go back to work but it's also sad to have to stop spending so much time with LO!

Thanks for your input!

candyreesecup · May 2013

jessica_gail2:
Candy I'll try to remember to bug you in a few weeks when I'm going back to work to see how things are going. I'm glad it seems to be going well so far! Short mat leave sucks...I have a vacation week I've thought about using but I feel like I should save it. Who knows. I'm sure it will be nice to go back to work but it's also sad to have to stop spending so much time with LO! Thanks for your input!

Enjoy your time with your LO and feel free to ask me any questions!

BTW, you can create custom labels for bottles, clothes, etc from this website when your baby goes to a daycare. I made picture bottle labels and teachers there love them. I am adding some fun to the daycare situation, so check the website if you are interested in

https://www.inchbug.com/

KaliChick · May 2013

3 weeks is WAY too young to even consider CIO or really to think she'll put herself to sleep. It's pretty young for a schedule too. Daycares are used to 6 week olds coming in and still needing to be held/rocked to sleep and no real schedule. Don't worry, they won't expect anything else and if they do, it's not a good daycare. Try not to worry and just enjoy your time with her. They will work on getting her on a schedule that works for them anyway (what if you put her on one that totally doesn't work there??) and should keep you up to date with it. You'll notice that she'll start to fall into a natural routine there. My pedi didn't recommend CIO until 6 months.

I put my son in an in home daycare at 6 months old when he was still held to go to sleep. I told my daycare I would start working on him going down on his own and she said absolutely not, that one of her favorite parts of the day was holding the babies as they fell to sleep. One day she laid him down awake because one of the other kids was screaming and he went to sleep on his own. Now she just lays him down and pats his back a few times and he goes right out (doesn't do that at home for naps! LOL He does at night though). He wasn't on any real routine when I took him to her and she was totally fine with it and said she kind of lets them set their own routine. Within a couple of months he had and she knows him so well now that she recognizes all his cues and he's on a pretty good schedule.

Enjoy your snuggle time and don't worry, it will all work out!

Cwhitaker27 · May 2013

In the beginning I was stressed, trying to get baby on a sleep schedule eat, play, nap. In that order every time... NOT! I came to a quick realization that wasn't really realistic. Especially when I went back to work at 6 weeks and my MIL had her own ideas.

Eventually DS became less dependent. We swaddled him until about 10 months because it was the only way he could sleep. Some nights I'd rock him to sleep. One day I decided to put him down Un swaddled without rocking for a nap and he did well. That was a slow transition but just do what works. Don't worry, your baby won't still be swaddled and requiring rocking at 5 yrs old. I'm a firm believer that sleep training just comes with time. Do what feels right and works for u and your baby. That would be my best advice.

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