Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of what you do, try expose the baby to other children as much as possible (starting now), and talk a LOT around them. Go to outdoor (or indoor if you're comfortable) storytimes. Take walks in the park where there are other children. Lots of babies that isolated at home during the pandemic developed speech delays.

socialziing starting now at 7 months?

where have you read that babies need to socialize starting now at 6 - 7 months? That is not true

Please site your evidence for the speech delays. also i dont know if you are aware, but we are experiencing a huge explosion of cases with the highly contagious Omicron, so recommending story time indoors (or outdoors in winter) is weird. Again, let me know where you are gtting your information about speech delays and why you are recommedning that socialziation with other kids matters at 6-7 months. My ped said this is not true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of what you do, try expose the baby to other children as much as possible (starting now), and talk a LOT around them. Go to outdoor (or indoor if you're comfortable) storytimes. Take walks in the park where there are other children. Lots of babies that isolated at home during the pandemic developed speech delays.

socialziing starting now at 7 months?

where have you read that babies need to socialize starting now at 6 - 7 months? That is not true

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of what you do, try expose the baby to other children as much as possible (starting now), and talk a LOT around them. Go to outdoor (or indoor if you're comfortable) storytimes. Take walks in the park where there are other children. Lots of babies that isolated at home during the pandemic developed speech delays.

socialziing starting now at 7 months?

Regardless of what you do, try expose the baby to other children as much as possible (starting now), and talk a LOT around them. Go to outdoor (or indoor if you're comfortable) storytimes. Take walks in the park where there are other children. Lots of babies that isolated at home during the pandemic developed speech delays.

I know a lot of people who started daycare around 12 months when they were in this situation. As someone else said, once they can walk, you will drive yourself insane trying to WFH with no help.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of socialization, you must get childcare so you can both do your jobs efficiently. Have you considered a nanny?

we are doing our jobs efficiently. this isnt our issue. I explained we cant afford a nanny.

I guarantee you that you are NOT doing your jobs efficiently while also taking care of an infant. Consider a nannyshare, or daycare or whatever. But you can not work full time AND properly care for an infant.

thats not true haha. My partner's job was part time as mentioned, and now that he is back full time he has a very low key low mgmt job. Its been fine and I had a great end of year. But once he is more mobile it wont be so managebale. That is why I am reaching out for advice. So far, have gotten great tips such as finding a nanny share so I am glad I posted. Thanks anyway!

NP- I think you’ve answered your own question. This arrangement seems very challenging to begin with but will become impossible once the baby is mobile. My first didn’t crawl until almost 11 months, my second was crawling by eight months. Line something up soon- where are you located? Something like Monday morning moms and Maryland childcare network might be helpful for finding an in home daycare, if you’re in MD. Also ask your neighborhood listserv.

Try carelulu.com to find in-home daycares. Not all daycares post or advertise (ours is full always and advert only by word-of-mouth) but the website is helpful to see pics, compare rates, etc.

If your baby is social (do they light up when they see other kids?) then I’d enroll in daycare soon, like 12-15 months. They’ll have so much fun with other kids (even if they’re not *playing* together, but thru observation etc) and that age is SO CURIOUS and also EXTREMELY MOBILE 😅 It’s much harder to work at home with kids older than a year and contrary to what someone else said, kids DO benefit from the social aspect even before preschool age. Plus my kids’ sleep improved once they got on the daycare schedule.

Make the choice/transition when you want to and know that there are definite benefits either way.

I live in a neighborhood that has plenty of in-homes. I found our first one while walking my dogs one day. We stayed there for a year and the provider closed because they were moving out of state. The next in-home we went to was mentioned a few times on DCUM. Now we are at a center.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d try to find in-home daycare at 1 year. Once they start walking, it’s much harder to balance work and childcare. Most daycares in our area (NW DC) are $2400 a month but I’ve found some great in-home daycares in our neighborhood for $1500. You should also join a parenting group on Facebook for your respective area. I’m in one for our neighborhood and there are opportunities for meeting other parents and tons of support. You might also find a nannyshare.

other then fb, any suggestions for how to find inhome childcare ? I have not had much luck so far!

I got recommendations from DCUM, the FB parenting group (they usually have reviewed lists) and while walking the neighborhood. I’ve heard Care.com has some listed but haven’t signed up for it. I’ve also heard that some church affiliated daycares are really affordable and have part-time options.

I asked on nextdoor and got some helpful responses (ended up at a small, affordable fed daycare downtown but it was still a useful avenue).

We had our daughter in daycare until about age 1.5, when COVID hit. She didn't start back until age 3. At 3 she was very much ready for socialization and benefitted from it. I dont think that it really mattered before that age. Kids are very self-centered, and at 1.5 she wasn't really interacting with other kids all that meaningfully.

I will agree with other PP that having your kid home while you work is incredibly stressful and I would not wish it on anyone. But, for the year and a half we kept her home, we saved a ton of money, knew she was safe from COVID, and got time with her that deepened our bond incredibly and I would never give back. If you can manage the stress and working at nights and on weekends to offset it, it can have its benefits.

We had a baby born just before the pandemic and we made it to 11 months before we started at a home day care. But then we withdrew due to the covid spike and their lack of precautions, and started at a new day care at 15 months. It was less to do with the baby's need for socialization than our inability to work with a toddler. Honestly day care at 1-2 is not a developmental need, it's to enable parents to work. So yes, I'd plan on around a year, 18 months is too late.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d try to find in-home daycare at 1 year. Once they start walking, it’s much harder to balance work and childcare. Most daycares in our area (NW DC) are $2400 a month but I’ve found some great in-home daycares in our neighborhood for $1500. You should also join a parenting group on Facebook for your respective area. I’m in one for our neighborhood and there are opportunities for meeting other parents and tons of support. You might also find a nannyshare.

other then fb, any suggestions for how to find inhome childcare ? I have not had much luck so far!

I got recommendations from DCUM, the FB parenting group (they usually have reviewed lists) and while walking the neighborhood. I’ve heard Care.com has some listed but haven’t signed up for it. I’ve also heard that some church affiliated daycares are really affordable and have part-time options.

helpful. Thanks!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d try to find in-home daycare at 1 year. Once they start walking, it’s much harder to balance work and childcare. Most daycares in our area (NW DC) are $2400 a month but I’ve found some great in-home daycares in our neighborhood for $1500. You should also join a parenting group on Facebook for your respective area. I’m in one for our neighborhood and there are opportunities for meeting other parents and tons of support. You might also find a nannyshare.

other then fb, any suggestions for how to find inhome childcare ? I have not had much luck so far!

I got recommendations from DCUM, the FB parenting group (they usually have reviewed lists) and while walking the neighborhood. I’ve heard Care.com has some listed but haven’t signed up for it. I’ve also heard that some church affiliated daycares are really affordable and have part-time options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of socialization, you must get childcare so you can both do your jobs efficiently. Have you considered a nanny?

we are doing our jobs efficiently. this isnt our issue. I explained we cant afford a nanny.

I guarantee you that you are NOT doing your jobs efficiently while also taking care of an infant. Consider a nannyshare, or daycare or whatever. But you can not work full time AND properly care for an infant.

thats not true haha. My partner's job was part time as mentioned, and now that he is back full time he has a very low key low mgmt job. Its been fine and I had a great end of year. But once he is more mobile it wont be so managebale. That is why I am reaching out for advice. So far, have gotten great tips such as finding a nanny share so I am glad I posted. Thanks anyway!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of socialization, you must get childcare so you can both do your jobs efficiently. Have you considered a nanny?

we are doing our jobs efficiently. this isnt our issue. I explained we cant afford a nanny.

I guarantee you that you are NOT doing your jobs efficiently while also taking care of an infant. Consider a nannyshare, or daycare or whatever. But you can not work full time AND properly care for an infant.