Advice on Daycares for Newborn (NW DC) - Help!

[Anonymous]

I live in Logan Circle in NW DC and I'm expecting in July. I've begun the process of searching for a quality daycare facility and have found it quite overwhelming. I'm in awe at the non-refundable deposits and the extensive waitlists! Thank goodness I'm starting this process now. Anyway, a friend of mine recommended a daycare in DC called Huckleberry Cheesecake. I searched this forum but couldn't find any chatter on it. Does anyone send their child there or does anyone have any experience with HC that they could pass on to me? I'm planning on touring it in the next few weeks but I sometimes find that word of mouth is the best knowledge.

Also, can anyone recommend a daycare program that they used or currently use for their newborn that they have been pleased with? I would specificially be interested in daycare programs in Washington, DC.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and for any feedback you can provide - I truly appreciate it!

[Anonymous]

First Baptist Church Child Development Center at 17th & 0. Excellent care, low turn over with the providers. Wait list is about 14 mos but it took us 10 mos because people dropped off. You can search on it in this forum and find some older comments.

[Anonymous]

The wait list at Huckleberry Cheesecake is over a year long. We got on the list when I just found out I was pregnant, and didn't get a spot until 13 months later. Their hours also seemed shorter than average, from 8 to 6. Another daycare in that general area is Capital Kids, it's around 24th and M. They say their list is over a year long also, although we got a spot a little sooner (got on the list in November, got the spot end of September following year). We ended up not going with either CapKids or HC, I work in Bethesda so we ended up with a daycare there.

[Anonymous]

I'm due in May & live in your neighborhood. I put in an application at the Bowen YMCA even though they will be moving their center in June and they don't yet know where to. I figure maybe that uncertainty will keep a lot of people from putting in apps there & maybe keep the list down. First Baptist seems good, but yes, year-long wait list there. That's the story at pretty much everywhere I've called. One year or worse.

[Anonymous]

I toured Huckleberry when I was looking for daycare and I did not like two things: the center is in a basement so there are no windows to see what the weather is like etc. The other reason was that it does not have its own outdoor space and is located in a high traffic area so the kids have to walk some distance before seeing some green and quietness.

[Anonymous]

FYI, First Baptist has an small outdoor playground that is used in the summer. Inside, there is a very large auditorium that the children play in. The auditorium is also used for events like the Christmas pageant. Lots of areas for kids to play.

[Anonymous]

The daycare game is hard! I too did not like Huckleberry's facilities. It didn't both me that they did not have a play ground on site, but their location is such that the kids need to travel far to find any greenery! I second the recommendation about Capital Kids (although it took us 15 months post-appl to get offered a spot) - it is a beautiful facility, next to lots of parks, and I liked the director very much. I've heard good thinks about a church day care on P Street (sorry don't recall the name). And we wound up at US Kids on 14th & H. I would definitely recomemnd US Kids (good care, nice facility) but they are a government agency daycare and so preference goes to parents who work at the various agencies they support (Treasury and a few others). They are close to the park in front of the white house which is a great play area.

My advice - apply to as many places as possible and hope that one comes through. But, as a backup, I would look into a Nanny as a "bridge" solution between when you need to return to work and daycare availability. It seems that places do open up, but may not be in time for when you need them (I think it's pretty much a fluke that we got the space at US Kids).

Good luck! I know this search is surprisingly hard!

[Anonymous]

I, too, looked at Huckleberry Cheesecake when I first found out I was pregnant in fall 2006. I got on their waiting list to be sure I was on a list somewhere, but I wasn't thrilled with the center. It was okay, but not great--particularly for the price. When we visited, the infant room was very crowded and noisy; I remember the mobile infants were crawling over each other, it seemed, because there wasn't much play room. I was also struck by how the caregivers fed the littlest ones--they held a bottle up to a baby strapped into a bouncy seat, rather than holding the baby in their arms. That didn't sit right with me...I guess I was looking for a bit more cuddling and nurturing. Like the PPs said, there were no windows and no parks or playgrounds nearby. Also, there is no parking lot, so doing a drop-off by car is a challenge.

That said, the director seemed very nice and one mom I ran into outside of the center said she was very happy there. They called me to say a spot had opened up about 10 months after I got on their list. They will even let you "defer" and keep your name at the top of the list if you need a bit more time, which is nice.

I actually ended up going with an in-home day care provider near my home in Virginia for my now 8-month-old. I hadn't even considered that type of care until a coworker recommended that I think about it. If you can find a good person (licensed, safe house, plenty of children's toys and activities, loves the kids as their own), it's a great alternative to a large, noisy center. It's in a quiet, home-like environment with one person that the child can bond to. We are so, so happy with it. The trick is finding a good person: word of mouth, posts on DCUMs, or checking the local licensing board website for providers' names are options (for example, Fairfax County has a website that lists all of their licensed day care providers, which is searchable by location, language, etc.). The only disadvantage is, of course, that if the provider gets sick or takes a vacation, you have to find alternative care--not a problem at a center. But we've found the benefits far outweigh the downsides, for us.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I was wondering how you found your in-home day care provider? I live in Alexandria, VA and am expecting my first child in March of next year. We are considering finding an in-home provider from September of next year onwards.

Thank you in advance.

[Anonymous]

Hello,
My daughter is now two years old and she just started daycare this past September. She had been cared for by fabulous Nanny for the first two years of her life. During these two years we got into US kids, but did not like what we saw. At that time my daughter was under 6 months so we toured the infant room. We did remark that the toddler room seemed nicer. You also have to know that we had been spoiled by having a nanny for three months at that point. We didn't start reciving calls from the many Bright Horizon's that we applied too until my daughter was over 1.5 years old. We never applied to Hulkleberry and never got a spot in the BH on 20th and K.
We turned down US Kids, BH on 9th and 18th and teh JCC. We ended up choosing Capital Kids and are extremly happy so far. We really like my daughter's teachers and the director. The director described Capital Kids as being city rats because they take advantage of the parks, library and tennis courts that surrount their facility (which does have windows). It thrilled me to know that the kids get outside at least once everyday.

[Anonymous]

We are at US Kids and love it. My son started there at around 20 months. We got on the waiting list in January and got a spot in April because someone was transferred to Miami and we totally lucked out.

We love the director and all the teachers. My son has done really well there.

[Anonymous]

Tiny Findings Child Development Center is wonderful and is located in NW, but more in the city at 441 G Street, NW in the GAO building. Wonderful staff, nurturing, play-based, and a 3.5 to 1 ratio in the infants room.