Anonymous wrote:3 month old does not need a stuffy. If daycare asking for it for this age they are incompetent. Hopefully not! I am surprised to hear about parents bringing milk or formula. If your daycare is licensed they participate in state Food program and are supposed to provide basic formula, milk, and baby food. Of course, if you use some special expensive formula then you bring your own, same with baby food. Sometimes parents send their home made baby food, yogurts, etc. Be sure to tell your provider what you want them to do with milk leftovers, and for how many hours to keep them. Pacifier, if your baby is using one. All the contact information forms, emergency forms, etc. Good luck!

I do not think a 3 month old is allowed to have a stuffy in the crib if it’s a licensed daycare.

poor baby. The daycare seems to be a non-communicator if OP has to ask those questions here. They should have told you everything during orientation meeting!

10:08 here - also, remember to send in a sun hat and sunscreen if baby is old enough and they're going outside. You'll likely need to sign an authorization form for the sunscreen.

We always brought in a box of diapers and a few packs of wipes to leave there. They let us know when we were running low and we restocked. DD had a cubby with a basket to keep changes of clothes. My only tip on that is to remember to swap things out as the seasons change. I was always bad about remembering to do. For food, we sent 4 filled bottles/day. DD typically drank 3, but I strongly suggest leaving an extra. Sometimes babies will drink an ounce and decide they are done, but be hungry later and they can't feed from that bottle hours later. Our daycare served food and mashed things up for the babies, so we relied on that for solids, but sometimes sent in finger foods or purees if we weren't comfortable with the menu, like if they were serving something she didn't have. Make sure you label everything with name and date.

It's a lot at first but you'll fall into a routine quickly.

3 month old does not need a stuffy. If daycare asking for it for this age they are incompetent. Hopefully not! I am surprised to hear about parents bringing milk or formula. If your daycare is licensed they participate in state Food program and are supposed to provide basic formula, milk, and baby food. Of course, if you use some special expensive formula then you bring your own, same with baby food. Sometimes parents send their home made baby food, yogurts, etc. Be sure to tell your provider what you want them to do with milk leftovers, and for how many hours to keep them. Pacifier, if your baby is using one. All the contact information forms, emergency forms, etc. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:Definitely ask your daycare! Mine likes when we send cases of diapers (less reminders to bring in more) and wants at least three spare outfits, but provides linens to the babies. My 7-month-old gets three bottles and three jars of baby food a day. I bring in the bottles daily but the baby food I drop off in bulk every few weeks. I also leave oatmeal there.

This is so helpful, thank you! The feeding is changing so much that it's hard to envision what to pack.

Definitely ask your daycare! Mine likes when we send cases of diapers (less reminders to bring in more) and wants at least three spare outfits, but provides linens to the babies. My 7-month-old gets three bottles and three jars of baby food a day. I bring in the bottles daily but the baby food I drop off in bulk every few weeks. I also leave oatmeal there.

Is this a daycare center? They will give you a list of what to supply.

For us when the kids were in the infant room we had to bring:
--an emergency bag with extra clothes, diapers, etc (this was stored and used for a situation where they would need to evacuate and parents might not be able to get there for several hours, like 9-11)

~Weekly:
--5 crib sheets, + an extra in case one needed changing during the day (you could bring less and restock during the week if needed)
--extra clothes (restocked as needed if they were changed during the day)
--non perishable foods (jars of baby food, cereal, etc as needed)
--milk once they switch to cow milk
--Diapers (and they had to be individually labeled which was an enormous pain)
--Wipes

~Daily
--bottles, labeled with name and date, always an extra one in case something gets spilled
--any perishable food you might want to send for the day


I may be missing stuff--it's been a while. Our kids had an assigned crib with a storage container underneath it where we kept bedding and extra clothes. Diapers/wipes were stored near the changing stations.

Ask your daycare.

Ask the provider.
My baby started daycare at 4 months, at an in-home. We supplied a package of diapers, wipes and diaper cream and restocked as needed. I also sent a couple of extra changes of clothes and bibs every day. DD was exclusively formula-fed, so we gave the provider 4 bottles and jars of formula. And seasonal items like sunscreen and bug spray.

OP here. He's 8 months old. Seems like the feeding piece is the hardest to nail down, but I guess we'll figure it out as we go along. Trying to do some planning now to help minimize stocking up on things after I start working.

You should get instruction from your daycare about this, as it is all provider specific.

We brought in a full package of diapers and wipes and they let us know when we needed to bring more. Usually it would be marked on the daily sheet at the end of the week. They require 2 full changes of clothes to be kept there, updated seasonally. Each kid has a cubby. Daycare policies differ on this, but I would resist a policy that has me carrying a bag of clothes and diapers back and forth every day.

Policies may differ on bottles and food too, and differ based on whether your kid has formula or breast milk, and your kids age, and how they handle food for other kids. When my breastfed babies not yet eating solids went to daycare, they asked for 4-5 smaller bottles at first, but after a bit we started sending in 3 larger bottles as the babies got used to it, got older, and got on a schedule. Same with solids - we sent in a few snacks, daycare helped us adjust quantities, and then eventually the kids just switched to eating the daycare food. That was a great day because I didn’t have to bring in anything but the kid(s)! Drop off and pick up got much easier.

It depends on the age of the child. Has the daycare made suggestions? For a 3-month old, I used to send:

-5-6 labeled bottles a day (just to be safe, usually had leftover bottles we’d use at night; daycare supplied adhesive labels)
-Big pack of diapers and wipes every so often
-A few changes of clothes
-Sleep sack
-Stuffy/comfort item

How old is baby?

Leave there: diapers/wipes/extra outfit. Have a second of each ready in your car, so when they tell you they are out, you can replace immediately and then refill the car at your leisure.

Can you please share your packing essentials for daycare and other tips?

It's overwhelming to plan for everything we need and how it's going to work logistically (like I guess send the baby with 3 bottles per day, plus one solid food meal? and how many diapers - can we keep some there? should i just assume that we can leave a bag of stuff there, or are there some things I should haul back and forth every day?).