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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My child started at daycare full time around 14 months.  It would have been around 6-8 months if not for Covid.

We have the money to hire a nanny.  We could have made a sacrifice and given up a career.  We have plenty of money and options to have made different choices, but why?

No one on this thread has put up convincing arguments as to why having kids in small groups at daycare under the age of 2 is detrimental.  A lot of talk about how much brain development happens before the age of 2 but nothing convincing that being doted on and pampered for 2 years is superior than being part of a group situation at daycare.  It was a great experience for the child and it was good for us.

You can put my child’s developmental milestones up against anyone else’s and you’d be hard pressed to see any detriment from going to daycare “too early”.

This mentality that there’s absolutely no other way to parent other than taking off work for 2+ years or getting a nanny is nuts.  Maybe it’s the only way *you* can figure it out,  but other methods work for other people.  [/quote]

Except most of the concerns about group care involve its impact on infants (or babies up to 12 months) and your child was not in daycare as an infant. So you actually don't know.

In fact one of the reasons it can be hard to find an infant spot in a daycare is due to the generally accepted wisdom (based on evidence) that babies need to have very low child-to-caregiver ratios -- because most jurisdications require low ratios for infants they will generally have very few spots available (and usually don't make money off these spots even though they cost more than the ones for older kids -- it's a loss leader that gets families into the daycare and can also keep families with older siblings at the daycare).

And one of the problems with daycares for infants is that even when they meet the requirements for ratios for infants this is generally only on paper and it's harder to know how it will go on any given day. They'll technically have the staff for these ratios but often infants will be camped in cribs or play pens or strapped into infant seats while caregivers are largely focused on the mobile children. And yes this has a major impact on developmental milestones because ask any pediatrician whether it's a good idea to keep your baby in a crib or strapped in a chair all day. They will emphasize the importance of face time with their caregiver for social-emotional development and of tummy time and freedom of movement to develop gross motor skills.

Anyway a baby can do fine in a daycare if they receive the ideal care there but the issue is that a lot of parents don't trust daycares to actually provide this when no one is looking. Since your child didn't actually attend daycare until 14 months (and most people agree that by a year and a half group settings are not harmful and can even be beneficial to kids -- even SAHPs will often put kids that age in playgroups or preschool in order to help them socialize and acclimate to other kids and caregivers).[/quote]

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