Dilemma of Shifting DayCare from home care

I preferred home care for kids under three year. Mainly because at that age they cannot cope with the stress with big groups and several adults. The other reason is that they get sick very easily when there are a lot of persons. But home care (either nanny or taking kid to a home car provider) is not always possible.

They serve breakfast, lunch and snack in the daycare so no need to cook for the child. Usually not much packing involved (as you can keep spare clothes etc at the daycare). Are you able to leave different times - the other parent leaves later (and take kiddo to daycare) and the other comes home earlier (and pick up kid). In that way the daycare day is shorter which is better for the child.

Talk always in your native language, read books, during weekends go together to the playground and other activities.

 

@Sanjuruby3
Sorry for long post. Below is my experience with Daycare.


As for me Daycare or Homecare depends on Kids. My DS is very active and social person, he always wants to go out and look around new things. He was in daycare in Oct till mid-nov, due to winter he was getting frequent colds and we started homecare with Nanny. It was good for his health and food wise. But once he turned 10 and started exploring he would get bored and cranky at home. So I knew daycare would be good for him. He started his day care in June and he is enjoying it there, with different games, water games etc. In these 2 months he was not sick as he was in last winter.
In his daycare there are only 4 kids in his pod out of which 2 of them are full time. His teachers are really flexible in his food and sleep schedule. I send him food from home (there also option to use daycare food). At Daycare he prefers to eat on his own and so I send him sandwich or pasta for lunch. Snacks would be cut fruits, cheese, fruit pouches, apple sauce, banana & yogurt or muffins.
Now they are sleep training (sleeping on his own on his mat) and self-feeding him with spoon. Once he moved to toddler room, they will start potty training boys.
If you want to go daycare way, choose once that has few children in each pod/class and flexible one. I have been too few day care where form 12 months, no sippy only open cups, only silver ware self-feeding & not home food with more than 10 kids in a class with 5:1 kids to teacher ratio.
And also with day care we have to additional work at home getting up early etc. but for my DS daycare worked really well and after coming home he has his dinner and plays from some time and sleeps for 12 hours straight.

 

Hi OP,

I have experience of professional daycare and home based daycare but now I regret why did I sent my DD to home base daycare. My DD started daycare at the age of 10 month but she adjusted very well. She learned everything on own (eating, sleeping etc) She was fluent at 1.5 year of age and potty trained on second birthday Daycare teacher helped us in every stage.

Now I am on leave for my second DD who is just 6 month old and planning to start her daycare on 10 month again.

No

 

@Sanjuruby3 Hope you had good time in India. Any change be it for adult or kids its hard the first few days, if you think nanny will not work or difficult then day care it is. I know few mentioned about home based Vs Normal. Believe me I have experience of both and in both cases kids get sick equally the same. Trust me your kids immunity will also develop. You cannot keep her home for long time anyways so better to start now. After one a baby is really ready to explore and make friends. Don't have any guilt trip on it.

First few weeks will be hard so give time for your baby to settle down. If option exists introduce your kids slowly to daycare by increasing the time little by little. Kids are more stronger than what we reward them for.


Regarding food, I would say try to pack the same lunch you normally do at home. As too many changes to the baby may revolt back to you. Slowly get her used to other foods which are easier on you. But remember first thing for you is to make her comfortable at school.

if possible hire a Moms helper or even a cook and have a maid come over every once in two weeks for cleaning. That would make your life little better.

What concerns me is what your day care said about putting her in baby room. Normally if a toddler is still in bottles or not self feeding, the day cares will accommodate and slowly try to teach them self feeding and wean from bottles. This is what the Montessori did for my son ( self feeding. He was out of bottles by 12 months). Right now don't stress on which class she is going and all if you think that is the best school for her and you really don't have option. You can work on all this slowly at home.

Regarding those milestone- Did your doctor seem concerned? If not just take a chill pill and enjoy your baby hugsmiley. My kids didn't walk until they were 14 months so everyone is different.

Good luck !

 

@Sanjuruby3

Don't worry about younger section. In daycare they move sections based on mile stone rather than age as every kid is different. In younger section they get more attention and seeing same mile stone kids around would be good for her. My DS when started he was only one crawling in his pod all other 3 were walking. With in 3 days he started walking by 2 weeks he became a pro.

Infections, we cannot do any thing, they have to get immune to it. I heard that only 1st winter will be worst. I have to see how he dose this winter.

Food. I give them schedule daily in a paper. I bough a toddler lunch box and bag in amazon.

Here is his daily food schedule.

7:00am: Milk ( This a battle for me in the morning, i try all different flavors, its a hit or miss)
8:00am: Beakfast: (Raggi poridge, milk with cheerios, Pancakes, bread toast or idli)

10:30 Mid Morning snack: Apple sauce or fruit pouch with some biscuits

12:00 Lunch:
Pasta with cheese and boiled veggies (Carrots, peas, beans or broccoli) Spinach and broccoli i make paste and mix with pasta.
or
Cheese Sandwich & boiled veggies. with sandwich i smash veggies and add it in his cheese. This his fav & eats only sandwich and skips veggies

Along with yogurt cup.

4:00 Evening Snack: Fruits (peach, mango, nectarine, cherries or strawberries), Cheese stick and Banana.

6:00pm. Milk at home

7:00pm Lunch: Dal rice with rasama and curry (He likes roasted or tyr fry veggies with ghee peper&Jeera powder) and Yogurt cup.

8:00pm: Bedtime.

I always send extra, food pouches, cookies or muffin or banana bread just in case he rejects any food or is more hungry.

I used to send milk for sanck time, but he was not drinking it. He drinks lot of water and some times i send apple juice.

U can try chapati or paratha if she can take it. U can add spices to pasta, veggies and sandwich also.

Hope this helps

 

@Sanjuruby3
I forgot to metion, I used to send rice and dal that he used to eat in the beginning but for some reason he was not eating there. So i tried pasta and sandwich which he is completing.
As @chitravivek said don't make too many changes at once and try to send her Fav food. Also after coming home give her a lot of attention and love.
Be prepared for lot of crying when u leave. My DS crys daily when i leave, the moment he sees me going out of door he is happy playing with his toys and other friends.

At first u might be mad a daycare staff, give then atleat 1-2 weeks time to get to know ur daughter. Once they know about her everything will be fine.

 

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]I have a 15 months old son and he goes to Daycare since he turned one year old. I had a nanny for about 5 months before that. I also WFH and having nanny coming to home was working well as it offered me flexibility. Nanny would help with doing laundry for the child, cook food for him if I couldn't make it and cut veggies if I ask when the child is sleeping. But then she had to leave for personal commitments and I opted for DayCare without a second thought. Few friends discouraged me saying kid is too young, should be at home, he will get sick often. Some even hinted that mom should quit job for child's better care! notdonesmiley

Anyways, I chose daycare and I have been a very happy mom with happy kid who wants to go out and play with his friends, have fun activities there everyday and be social. He learned to eat on his own (with hands and spoon) and follows some sign languages he learned from day care. We talk in our native language at home and he learns English at daycare. He responds exactly same to both the languages. It's a little difficult to manage the timings and increases work load as I need to cook his lunch, pick and drop him but then during the day I get to focus on my work and he gets to play, do different activities with other kids there and sleep on time with all other kids. The daycare sends pictures of a special activity they did for the day and explains how each kid took part in that activity and their response on it. On the kids getting sick part, I don't really think it's an issue. I think it helps him developing a better immunity. He has been down with cold few times but then it's okay as the the doc told me he will get sick more often because he is at that age where lot of the kids get sick.

Regd. packing, I pack only his lunch. Rest of the stuff like diapers, wipes, Vaseline, his swimming clothes(for summer splash days), any other cream, extra clothes remain there and I refill once in 15 days or on demand basis.
I mostly give indian food for his lunch - I make different styles of stuffed paratha (carrot, spinach, cabbage, cheese, methi, potato). Cut them into triangular pieces like pizza slices so that he can pick those slices and eat. Other varieties include, boiled eggs, mild chicken kabab tiny pieces, boiled and seasoned veggies with rice, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed carrots, wheat porridge, laapsi, kheer etc. for snacks, I am okay with the snacks the daycare offer. When the daycare have veggie or chicken only lunch on their menu, I don't pack lunch and let him have there. The daycare have provided menu options which they use so I plan based on the menu. I hope this helps. [/FONT]

 

@Sanjuruby3 - I am logging in after a long time and nice to see you back.. hope you had a great time in India..


Whenever I want to post on a topic, you always do it for me.. I am really surprised how this happens pretty much every single time


Coming to the topic, I am too sailing in the same boat and wanted to ask for suggestions.. and all the replies really help me.. Thank you Sanjuruby for starting this thread and thank you all to those whose replied..


Mine is a little bit different situaion.. I do not have any issues in continuing home based care for my 9 month old boy.. My nanny is doing a good job in providing care for my son and I also have the option of WFH most days.. however I am wondering if a 2-3 hours per day in daycare/pre-school will keep his active mind occupied and happy.. My DS has always been a very social baby and loves to interact with people even those who are total strangers.. When we go to birthday parties/when we have guests, he almost abandons us and babbles/smiles/plays with people and 'investigates' everything around him.. Moreover he loves to be with kids.. It is more for his personality that I am considering to put him in daycare for a few hours a day.. and that too after he turns 1 year.. the only thing I am afraid of with daycare is infections.. and it looks like sooner or later he has to face it and it will also help his immunity..