Unfortunately your maternity leave is up and you decided that you want to put your infant in daycare. After being an infant teacher for several years I have come up with a perfect guide on what to know and do for your first day of daycare. When starting daycare you should come in prepared and with a plan. First thing to do is make sure your baby’s first day of school is a couple of days before you actually start to go back to work.
The reason I tell most moms to do this is because it is not easy leaving your baby for the first time and in those first couple of days you can get comfortable with the idea of knowing that if anything is happen to you can be there in a heartbeat as well as passing by to check on them if your feeling a little anxious.
Now when doing a drop by to see how your baby is doing throughout the day please try and not be seen by your child this will only make it harder on you and your baby. When starting daycare you are usually given a packet that tells you everything you need.
One of the first things you should focus on is a daily feeding schedule to provide your teachers with. It is important that you already have your child on the schedule before starting it in daycare so that the day care provider has a better idea of your Child’s wants and needs. Also if after a couple of days the teachers recommend different techniques that can help your child thrive please listen to them. They are just trying to help make your babies time in daycare easier.
Once you have your schedule down you need to pack up all the essentials your baby will need while in daycare. If your child is using formula I suggest bringing the formula to the daycare so that all you have to bring is a certain amount of bottles everyday instead of having to prepare a bottle everyday before you leave your house in the morning. Always bring an extra one just in case you’re running late one day or have to do a quick errand after pickup.
If you’re using breastmilk it’s best to prepare the bottle beforehand most daycares are not allowed to store frozen milk and have a hard time defrosting them when brought in milk storage bags. As the months go by you will slowly start to introduce food to your baby. If you decide not to make your own it’s best you leave pouches for your baby at the daycare and if you decide to make your own to bring in everyday I would also still bring pouches to leave at daycare just in case of an emergency or if your child just doesn’t want what you brought in that day.
Next thing you will need to do is make sure your baby has everything they need in their cubbies. Always leave at least 3 pairs of extra clothes for your child as well as three sets of bed sheets. Sometimes accidents happen and you always want to be prepared. As you may know sleep sacks are the only thing allowed in the cribs other than pacifiers make sure to have a couple of extra ones as well.
You want your baby to have anything they could possibly need if anything is to happen. You are now ready to take on this adventure with your baby. Visit our baby blog for more tips and updates!
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