Moms of 2 - Daycare Question

kujess1 · September 2013

I have a 4-year-old and am pregnant now, due Oct. 30th. Currently, and since he was 3 months old, my mom has watched DS. However, after baby is born, it will not work out for my mom to watch them anymore. I have been wanting to put DS in a preschool for the social/learning aspect. For those of you with 2+ children (that are working), what type of daycare do you use? I want to find a situation that meets both of their needs and so far that seems like a daycare center, where DS can be in a learning, structured, preschool-like environment. However, I'm finding a limited number of centers that take preschoolers as well as infants, and some have a long waiting list for infants. Also, HOLY CRAP are they expensive! I am kind of freaking out here about going from never having had kids in daycare before, to having to start 2 in daycare at the same time. Any advice on how you chose a daycare to meet the needs of children of different ages would be helpful!

MrsWindyCity · September 2013

Our kids go to two separate places, which is not ideal in terms of pick up/drop off, but we like both places.

DS1 goes to a Montessori school. He started there at 2 when he aged out of his center. I LOVE it. It's expensive, but we just love it so much. He has learned a ton, and I really like the approach they take, which is very much child-led learning.

DS2 is at your standard center. It's the same one DS1 was at, so we knew we liked it. It's hard to leave a tiny baby in a center, to be honest, but as long as you're comfortable with the place it's fine. I firmly believe DS1 met a lot of his milestones early because he was around other babies a bit older than him who were doing those things. It's also nice that they are segmented by age so you know they are doing age-appropriate activities (vs. an in home with different age ranges).

We are looking into moving soon and the suburb we're considering has a Montessori that starts for infants. Not sure how much Montessori stuff you can do with an infant, lol, but we would probably do it because it would just be one drop off/pick up.

Christmasbaby18 · September 2013

I have mine in an in home daycare. Dd just started preschool this year and our daycare provider takes her and picks her up.

honeybee111 · September 2013

DD goes to a Montessori preschool full time. DS will be at home with a nanny.

ASmallWonder · September 2013

We luckily have a daycare that is both a daycare and a pre-school so they're both able to be at the same one. One thing to keep in mind is that if you enroll your older child now, your infant may get prioritized in the infant room. That's not for sure but it's worth asking them about. If you enroll your older child in pre-school now, could your mom watch the baby until a spot opens up?

SCBride2007 · September 2013

elmoali said:

We luckily have a daycare that is both a daycare and a pre-school so they're both able to be at the same one. One thing to keep in mind is that if you enroll your older child now, your infant may get prioritized in the infant room. That's not for sure but it's worth asking them about. If you enroll your older child in pre-school now, could your mom watch the baby until a spot opens up?

This exactly. Our daycare center is a preschool and also has Kindergarten, too. It makes it really easy for drop off and pick up. I agree with @elmoali . If you enroll your DS, then your infant should get bumped to the front of the waiting list.

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