Daycare/Childcare
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kshin29
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| I am 7 weeks and was told I need to apply now to get my child into daycare. Is this correct? Also, will cross-post, but how does one find a "good" day/childcare option? I'm in Takoma Park near Silver Spring. Thanks! |
Anonymous
| Yes, you need to apply now. |
Anonymous
| If you are looking for a center then yes you need to get on lists immediately for a home daycare you have some time. |
Anonymous
| Yes, but make sure you really want day care, a nanny share is about the same and has many benefits over daycare. |
Anonymous
Opinions vary. I really preferred a daycare center. |
Anonymous
+1 There are advantages to a nanny share IF you find a good set up and nothing changes. But the advantage of daycare is that once you are in, you are not reliant on another family or an individual nanny for childcare. But many nanny shares don’t last or the families don’t mesh or the nanny gets a better gig or has another reason to leave. Also, when comparing costs pay attention to added costs to a share, like needing to pay for equipment, food, the nanny’s vacation leave, classes your child may attend, etc. At a daycare center the costs will be transparent and up front (and if they aren’t, run). That kind of predictability can be really, really helpful. But yes, OP, you should get on waitlists now. You will have good options in TP/SS. |
Anonymous
For your infant? Really? I did daycare for my first to start and it was awful. So many illnesses. We quickly switched to a home day care that only had 6 kids. It was so much better but the baby was literally sick every 1-3 weeks. With our second we did a nanny from the get go and it is so much better. Wish I had never put my first in daycare to be honest. So institutional. So impersonal. So unclean. I can still smell the stinky diapers, see the sad baby faces stuck in swings and chairs while the overwhelmed caregivers gave out bottles and diapered kids like overwhelmed robots (this was a 1:3 ratio, mind) and attempted to log everything in a stupid app. I can still hear the crying, and those hacking coughs. This was a top rated center (we toured many) but the reality is just awful. I felt like the worst parent in the world leaving my kid there with all those sad, crying babies. Most daycare parents won’t admit this but it’s true. Infant daycare is almost categorically horrible. I’ll say it. Everyone will argue because they don’t want to believe it but it’s true. Infants need primary attachments to a loving caregiver in a safe and calm environment, and you just don’t get that in an institutional Setting like daycare. They don’t need the socialization until they are older. |
Anonymous
Summary: this poster had a bad daycare experience and now feels comfortable generalizing that to the conclusion that all infant daycare is bad. And rationalizes that this is true by assuming that daycare parents know their kids are in a horrible environment but don’t change anything because … they don’t want to admit it for some reason? They’d rather pay thousands per month for bad care? Sounds about right! |
Anonymous
Completely opposite experience here. We used a reputable NAYEC accredited center for our children from age four months on and wouldn’t have changed a thing. We had the same max three to one ratio per classroom, so generally 6 kids with two main teachers. but there were also additional floaters available to assist as needed and during numerous unscheduled pop ins I never observed a baby’s needs being unmet. Plus all activities were focused on what was most developmentally appropriate for their specific age range since all were within a few months of one another. In contrast at the in home daycares we visited with kids of different ages all together it seemed like the caregiver’s attention was monopolized by more active toddlers, with the younger infants being less catered to and sometimes left in unsafe situations. (Anecdotally I personally know of two young children who were seriously injured while in the care of at home daycares). I appreciated the center model of having multiple adult caregivers on staff (plus a director/assistant director supervising) which both made me feel more at ease from an oversight/accountability standpoint and also from a practical standpoint allowed for more reliable care without being subject to an individual caregiver becoming ill or going on vacation. |
Anonymous
All of my experiences were also at an NAEYC accredited center. My background is in early childhood education. Everyone in this field who can afford a nanny, uses one. And they don’t send their kids to daycare centers, they have nannies and then send them to preschool when they are 3-4 years old. No newborn wants to be in a room with 8-12 other infants and 3 adults. Babies this age don’t need lesson plans or activities. Only the US expects new parents to put brand new babies in this situation. The rest of the developed world lets babies stay home with a parent for a year or more. Daycare exists because capitalism demands it, not because it’s good for infants. |
Anonymous
+1. Also I wouldn’t do a nanny share. I would just get a dedicated nanny and try to make it so that one parent is around/WFH in the morning hours and the other is around during the afternoon hours. That’s what DH and I did (well before Covid) and we liked it because it made the nanny more accountable. We weren’t intrusive and she was happy. |
Anonymous
| Yes, you have to get on several lists yesterday. |
Anonymous
| Just went through the nanny share vs daycare decision and so happy with daycare. With the nanny share first the other family Dropped out and then the nanny stopped responding. Daycare for the hours is cheaper and I’m in an expensive daycare. 3:8 staff baby ratio. I go everyday to nurse and seems like a really good environment. They follow Emmi Pickler natural motor development so there are no swings or other baby containers except cribs for nap time. Environment is so much more baby friendly than my tiny apartment. And they have stuff like a picker triangle, a pull up bar etc. I can’t afford a nanny but am happy not to deal with the hassle of the nanny share. Teachers call out sick and I still have care unlike with nannies. I did like the idea of having my kid in the other room while I WFH but just didn’t have the bandwidth to find another family, find another nanny and transform my tiny space into something good for 2 babies. |
Anonymous
Where on earth is a center following Pikler in the DMV? That’s a unicorn. |
Anonymous
I’m in California. But yes I feel quite fortunate 😀 |