To all the mothers: Day Care Advice (long)

I have a four month old son and I know how terrifying daycare can be... just the thought of it makes me nervous... luckily I have my mom watching my son while I am at work for now. but even that is not good enough sometimes... I will be quitting my job soon to stay home with him and will go back to school to try out for a nursing degree while I do that. I will be watching him during the day and go to school and working part time at night when my husband is home. But once I get into Nursing School, I'll definitely need to look into daycare, since all the classes are during the day. He will be almost two by then so not too bad... good luck to you and your new journey! New baby, New city, New school, New career path... it all sounds overwhelming, but I'm sure you can pull through. You sound like a smart person, doing all the right things and determined enough to make it work!

I told myself that if my son misses me a little while I go through nursing school, it will be worth it for all the times I will get to spend with him after I become a nurse. good thing is that you're doing it while he is very young and by the time he really needs his mommy, you'll be all done! working three days sure beats working monday through friday 9-5! you're gonna miss more that way!

so you go and do it for yourself and your son! and good luck to you in your search for a daycare...
I took some notes to use once it's that time for me too...

Thank goodness my days of getting my babies out of bed at 4:30 am dressed, fed and ready for daycare so that I could be at clinical at 0600 are long gone. I didn't have family. I did ask around, talk with other moms who had their kids there, dropped in unexpected often and watched closely for behavior and marks. The one time I had my 22 month old son in a center he was bitten by another child every day for 2 weeks. I still feel horrible that I coudl not take him out as they would not refund the $ and I had no other resourses to pay for other care. I felt trapped then- now I know what I would do differently. Please keep talking with other moms with their kids in daycare so that you don't feel trapped into a situation that you know is not good for your baby. You need to be able to leave them and concentrate on your classes. Goodluck!!
p.s. my baby boy is now a 19 year old couragous US soldier!!

Why don't you ask the school for a referral?

My three year old has been in daycare since she was 6 weeks old. I love it, she loves it.

1- Don't set up an appointment, just go. Health/food inspectors don't make appointments, you shouldn't either if you want to see what their facility is really like. Avoid 11-2pm (lunch and nap time).
2- Go with the one that starts earliest. If you're going to have clinical early, you need to drop off your child early. We started clinical at 0645, meaning we got there between 0600 and 0615 (bus ride from parking lot and breakfast).
Good luck. We've never had anything horrible happen at daycare. She's gotten into some um, altercations with other kids, but that can happen anywhere (playdates, cousins). One bad bite (the kid that did it was expelled), lots of falls (again, nothing new for a toddler). If it weren't for daycare, we'd still be potty training her.

Also check with DSS and see what kind of services that have to help you pay for childcare since you'll be in school full time. A friend here used a program through DSS to pay for daycare for her son since she was in school full time.

Dept. of social services. Our local DSS includes the stuff for kids, adults, elderly, etc...

Are any of the day cares you are considering NAEYC certified? That is one of the first things I would look for on paper. Then definately go and tour the school. If a school won't let you just 'drop in' for a tour then don't pick that one, it's not a good sign.

Because you have an infant make sure and ask them how they keep track of feedings, diaper changes, naps, etc. At the NAEYC center I worked at we had care sheets for every child in the building - but they are most useful for the infants. My son was at another day care when I moved (not at infant, almost 2 at the time) and they didn't keep track of anything like that on paper so I never knew how his day was in that sense. With infants, eating, changing, sleeping is a big part of how their day is so for most parents it is important for them to know those things.

Ask about the ages of children in the rooms also, though they will probably tell you this on a tour. For infants, it is better to have them in their own room up to about 1 year old rather than in a mixed age room with 3 and 4 year olds also. When you have mixed age groups none of the age groups get all their needs met appropriately because it is impossible to cater to all those ages with a single activity and trying to do multiple things at once for all the age groups and each child in them is unrealistic. You woudln't want your baby crying for a bottle when the teacher is in the middle of an activity with the 3 year olds. It is much easier to multi-task if you are only tasked with caring for infants. Home day cares of course will be mixed age, but there are fewer children in a home day care so it's not quite the same there.
If your son is going to be in day care for a while..like in a few years then I would choose a center over a home day care unless the home day care can show you the lesson plans and preschool activities that they do. At a center they will surely do preschool if they are of good quality, and when your son is old enough transitioning to preschool in a familiar center would be much easier.

Hope that helps a little for you, again I can't stress NAEYC enough..it is a national voluntary licensing agency but very important.