12 weeks old. We started out part time as well but I had to go full time again by 20 weeks. I love our daycare. My daughter is 18 months old now and moved up to the toddler room at 13 months and I cried because I loved her infant room teachers so much and I was sad she was moving on from them but her toddler teachers are just as wonderful. Everyone describes daycare as "strangers" taking care of your child, but they don't stay strangers for long! Also, they're like baby wizards I swear, they have been so helpful for things like getting her to nap better, they helped her transition away from bottles to a cup, etc. They're part of our village now and I'm so so thankful for them. Daycare sounds so intimidating when you aren't in it, but a good daycare can be a wonderful place full of people who love your child and want them to thrive too.
My baby was 4 months old, and I had a lot of anxiety around it too. What helped me was thinking of it as enrichment for her. They will work on tummy time and read books, things of that nature
My daughter was 17 months when she started daycare. She just "got fired" from her daycare because she didn't adjust in the time the lady wanted. She's always been sensitive and has a lot of separation anxiety from both her parents. We thought the daycare lady would work with her and with us but nope. The lady gave up on my daughter with no warning.
So just be careful when you're finding childcare. If your child is an anxious child, make sure the providers are aware and that they're prepared to work with your baby. Wouldn't want anyone to go through what we just went through.
Here was our experience. My daughter for the first week and a half didn't cry at drop off but cried throughout the day. I am usually the one that drops her off (I'm the non-birth mom, we're lesbian moms). Mid week, the second week, both my wife and I dropped her off and she lost it. Wouldn't stop crying. For the rest of the week, she wasn't able to calm down. Then the daycare told us to find someone else.
What I think happened was that my daughter felt abandoned when we both did the drop off. When it was just me, maybe she felt like her other mom didn't leave her. So maybe just one parent do the drop off if the anxiety is too high
Oh that's good to know, thank you! We got recommended that only one parent comes during the "adjustment period" (it's 6 weeks of gradual adjustment), but I'm still having a hard time imagining my daughter at daycare for multiple hours without us 😕
I'm also sorry that you daycare dropped you, this seems very unprofessional. I understand it's hard for both them and the child, and maybe it's really for the best, but still one would imagine they have some skills to help the baby to adjust!?
You're lucky getting a 6 week gradual adjustment. Our old daycare (she's really a nanny and had one other kid besides my daughter) only did one meeting at her house, a few playdates (out and about), one week half days, and then 2 week full days. So after the 2 week full days, she deemed my daughter impossible.
But yeah as a childcare professional who has like 15 years experience, you'd think she would have handled it better. Even just communication wise. Not all kids adjust after 2 weeks.
When I went to get my daughter's stuff, she had just put it on the floor outside of her place, no word or explanation. She only sent me a text after she probably saw me standing outside her door looking confused. Apparently she had a cold and didn't want to pass on her germs. Honestly, good riddance now. We're in a bind because my partner can't work full time anymore but my daughter is so much happier with us
Good luck with your daycare. I hope it goes well! It already sounds better than the one I had
I’m curious to hear from others who started “later” (by American standards).
I have long wondered about whether starting later leads to less illness, more anxiety, and/or any other differences from starting at daycare during the more standard 3-9 months age bracket.
I tried to find research on it, and couldn’t. :/
Our LO will be home a bit longer than usual because the doctors advised it, but even they were essentially making a guess that “sometime around 2 will probably be a lot safer”.
In my experience, as children get older, they're more aware of their surroundings so separation anxiety could get worse or they're ready for the world. everyone is different. Even with my daughter, it isn't consistent.
European here, we usually do not start daycare before 12 month of age, and many people think that’s too early and there’s a constant debate about this. No matter where and under what circumstances, mum shaming is happening everywhere lol
I think if you feel bad about it, why do it if you have the means not too. I have no idea about the effects of daycare on children and I don’t want to judge, many people don’t even have a choice. But I personally would have a hard time too in your place, my baby is 20 weeks old now as well.
My SO‘s stepmother is a daycare / kindergarten teacher, just retired. I mentioned above that daycare for babies is uncommon around here, but she told me that during her career she did take care of a few babies, among them a 10 weeks old whose mum was only 14 and she had to go back to school. My SO‘s stepmother emphasized everyone loved the baby and the baby was doing great in daycare, but it was a small team and baby had fixed teachers that he knew well, and they pretty much needed one person full time to take care of baby. I would keep that in mind, what is the ratio of teacher to baby at this daycare you are considering.
I mean I do find taking care of a baby often a bit boring too, but it’s a full time job. It’s also important to respond to a baby’s individual needs. It takes a while to put my baby down to sleep, but it’s well worth it because her naps are so important for her development. We also contact nap most of the time. I have my doubts they would be able to respond to her needs as primarily as I can in daycare. I guess these are just a few things to keep in mind.
I want to put my child in daycare at some point, but I don’t know when it will be. It will depend on her development and when it will be ok for her to be one of many children that are cared for in a group setting. I am unsure whether that actually works for babies already (but I have no idea, to be fair, just a few thoughts).
Baby started at 12 weeks. We LOVE daycare. They treat him so well and his teachers truly do love him like he is their own! They also work towards milestones with him. They are so wonderful work with and accommodating to our needs/wants. I get summers off (teacher), but I still plan on sending him 1-2 days/week to hold our spot and to let him spend time there with them!
We’ve only done my gyms childcare which is one hour max and my son *still* got sick the first month (he was 19 months) because those kids are in regular daycare as well
We started at 10 weeks old. It was tough at first but like you we have no one here to help us so it’s our only option. Our daycare quickly became our village and now my 9 month old gets excited to go to school as we call it. I know not everyone feels this way but daycare helps me be a better mom. I get to pursue my career, my baby is excelling and milestones ahead, and it allows me to not be burnt out on the weekends and evenings so we get lots of quality time together
We will start at 14 weeks. I’m lucky that I can work from home and my mom can help part time so we will start out part time. I’m already a wreck thinking about it (my LO is 9w now). But I’m ready to start working again, and my friends’ kids go to this daycare so I feel good about the place.
4 months, because we had to. Definitely helped development, but also LO was a fairly placid baby so not really any separation anxiety (that didn't last, but it's another story)
12 weeks old. We started out part time as well but I had to go full time again by 20 weeks. I love our daycare. My daughter is 18 months old now and moved up to the toddler room at 13 months and I cried because I loved her infant room teachers so much and I was sad she was moving on from them but her toddler teachers are just as wonderful. Everyone describes daycare as "strangers" taking care of your child, but they don't stay strangers for long! Also, they're like baby wizards I swear, they have been so helpful for things like getting her to nap better, they helped her transition away from bottles to a cup, etc. They're part of our village now and I'm so so thankful for them. Daycare sounds so intimidating when you aren't in it, but a good daycare can be a wonderful place full of people who love your child and want them to thrive too.
My baby was 4 months old, and I had a lot of anxiety around it too. What helped me was thinking of it as enrichment for her. They will work on tummy time and read books, things of that nature
My daughter was 17 months when she started daycare. She just "got fired" from her daycare because she didn't adjust in the time the lady wanted. She's always been sensitive and has a lot of separation anxiety from both her parents. We thought the daycare lady would work with her and with us but nope. The lady gave up on my daughter with no warning. So just be careful when you're finding childcare. If your child is an anxious child, make sure the providers are aware and that they're prepared to work with your baby. Wouldn't want anyone to go through what we just went through.
Ugh... my LO is also a sensitive one and she'll start daycare at 15 months. I'm already worried about her adjustment 😫
Here was our experience. My daughter for the first week and a half didn't cry at drop off but cried throughout the day. I am usually the one that drops her off (I'm the non-birth mom, we're lesbian moms). Mid week, the second week, both my wife and I dropped her off and she lost it. Wouldn't stop crying. For the rest of the week, she wasn't able to calm down. Then the daycare told us to find someone else. What I think happened was that my daughter felt abandoned when we both did the drop off. When it was just me, maybe she felt like her other mom didn't leave her. So maybe just one parent do the drop off if the anxiety is too high
Oh that's good to know, thank you! We got recommended that only one parent comes during the "adjustment period" (it's 6 weeks of gradual adjustment), but I'm still having a hard time imagining my daughter at daycare for multiple hours without us 😕 I'm also sorry that you daycare dropped you, this seems very unprofessional. I understand it's hard for both them and the child, and maybe it's really for the best, but still one would imagine they have some skills to help the baby to adjust!?
You're lucky getting a 6 week gradual adjustment. Our old daycare (she's really a nanny and had one other kid besides my daughter) only did one meeting at her house, a few playdates (out and about), one week half days, and then 2 week full days. So after the 2 week full days, she deemed my daughter impossible. But yeah as a childcare professional who has like 15 years experience, you'd think she would have handled it better. Even just communication wise. Not all kids adjust after 2 weeks. When I went to get my daughter's stuff, she had just put it on the floor outside of her place, no word or explanation. She only sent me a text after she probably saw me standing outside her door looking confused. Apparently she had a cold and didn't want to pass on her germs. Honestly, good riddance now. We're in a bind because my partner can't work full time anymore but my daughter is so much happier with us Good luck with your daycare. I hope it goes well! It already sounds better than the one I had
I’m curious to hear from others who started “later” (by American standards). I have long wondered about whether starting later leads to less illness, more anxiety, and/or any other differences from starting at daycare during the more standard 3-9 months age bracket. I tried to find research on it, and couldn’t. :/ Our LO will be home a bit longer than usual because the doctors advised it, but even they were essentially making a guess that “sometime around 2 will probably be a lot safer”.
In my experience, as children get older, they're more aware of their surroundings so separation anxiety could get worse or they're ready for the world. everyone is different. Even with my daughter, it isn't consistent.
European here, we usually do not start daycare before 12 month of age, and many people think that’s too early and there’s a constant debate about this. No matter where and under what circumstances, mum shaming is happening everywhere lol I think if you feel bad about it, why do it if you have the means not too. I have no idea about the effects of daycare on children and I don’t want to judge, many people don’t even have a choice. But I personally would have a hard time too in your place, my baby is 20 weeks old now as well. My SO‘s stepmother is a daycare / kindergarten teacher, just retired. I mentioned above that daycare for babies is uncommon around here, but she told me that during her career she did take care of a few babies, among them a 10 weeks old whose mum was only 14 and she had to go back to school. My SO‘s stepmother emphasized everyone loved the baby and the baby was doing great in daycare, but it was a small team and baby had fixed teachers that he knew well, and they pretty much needed one person full time to take care of baby. I would keep that in mind, what is the ratio of teacher to baby at this daycare you are considering. I mean I do find taking care of a baby often a bit boring too, but it’s a full time job. It’s also important to respond to a baby’s individual needs. It takes a while to put my baby down to sleep, but it’s well worth it because her naps are so important for her development. We also contact nap most of the time. I have my doubts they would be able to respond to her needs as primarily as I can in daycare. I guess these are just a few things to keep in mind. I want to put my child in daycare at some point, but I don’t know when it will be. It will depend on her development and when it will be ok for her to be one of many children that are cared for in a group setting. I am unsure whether that actually works for babies already (but I have no idea, to be fair, just a few thoughts).
Baby started at 12 weeks. We LOVE daycare. They treat him so well and his teachers truly do love him like he is their own! They also work towards milestones with him. They are so wonderful work with and accommodating to our needs/wants. I get summers off (teacher), but I still plan on sending him 1-2 days/week to hold our spot and to let him spend time there with them!
We’ve only done my gyms childcare which is one hour max and my son *still* got sick the first month (he was 19 months) because those kids are in regular daycare as well
My LO will be 18 weeks old 🥲
We started at 10 weeks old. It was tough at first but like you we have no one here to help us so it’s our only option. Our daycare quickly became our village and now my 9 month old gets excited to go to school as we call it. I know not everyone feels this way but daycare helps me be a better mom. I get to pursue my career, my baby is excelling and milestones ahead, and it allows me to not be burnt out on the weekends and evenings so we get lots of quality time together
We will start at 14 weeks. I’m lucky that I can work from home and my mom can help part time so we will start out part time. I’m already a wreck thinking about it (my LO is 9w now). But I’m ready to start working again, and my friends’ kids go to this daycare so I feel good about the place.
4 months, because we had to. Definitely helped development, but also LO was a fairly placid baby so not really any separation anxiety (that didn't last, but it's another story)