FTM daycare starting next week

[Anonymous]

What do you with you had known (packing bottles, drop offs, anything...) as a parent sending an infant to daycare for the first time? I feel like there will be a learning curve when it comes to getting our routine together and packing bottles...

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I wrote down a checklist that I kept with the daycare bags. I don’t need to use them anymore but they were helpful to refer to in the beginning, especially when the mornings can be hectic starting a new routine. I had a bag of stuff that stayed there for the entire week (diapers, sleepsack, pajamas) and a backpack we brought back and forth each day (milk, a couple of spare outfits, burp cloths, bibs, and a gallon-sized empty ziploc for the daycare to put any of these previous items that needed to be washed). I also keep bug spray and sunscreen in the bag. For the first couple days, I also packed a familiar toy just in case for a comfort item.

My DC was crying on and off the first two days but settled in by the third. Then the daycare provider told me DC was the happiest kid at daycare! Just give it time.

[Anonymous]

Aw good luck!

The most important items are diapers, wipes, 3 sets of clothes in a big ziploc bag, 1 bottle. 1 formula box or 3 breast milk cold in bottles and 1 extra frozen bread milk bag. 2 pacifiers, diaper rash cream. And that's all. You can label the baby bottle with masking tape, even in the dishwasher it does not come off. Write the kids name with permanent marker on the tape. All these things needs to stay in the Daycare. But not the baby bottle.
When family daycare runs out of something they will let you know.
I'm a Family Child care Provider. Have a nice week! Buena semana!

[Anonymous]

Oh and a sleepsack. Infants after 1 years old don't need it anymore in daycare

[Anonymous]

Diapers for the week or 2 weeks

[Anonymous]

Label everything. If you don’t label it, don’t be sad if it doesn’t come back.

Find out the teacher’s birthdays and if they have kids.

Don’t feel guilty about sending them every day, even if it’s a day when you don’t have to send them. Soon, they will start getting sick and they will miss time off because of it. It balances out.

[Anonymous]

I wish I had known to start daycare ahead of when you actually need it. Starting a job the same day as my baby starting daycare was rough, especially during the thick of COVID