CP and I are officially done with our daycare tours of the various facilities in our town. We definitely have a number one on our list, but there are two others that we would consider if we decide our number one is too expensive (we toured 5 total).
First off, there seem to be a lot of people in my area that choose to go the nanny route. We decided it was not for us because with me working from home two days a week, once the kid is old enough to know that I am in the house, how am I going to get any work done? Not to mention it's actually more expensive than a facility daycare....I know that there are a lot of great nannies out there but to put my trust in one person watching my kid the entire day, every day? Nope. Same kind of thinking with in-home daycares. I know that they are less expensive than facility daycares but how do you know who you can trust? What if they are having an off day? Hungover? How do they keep track of all of the kids of different ages? At least with a facility daycare there are more than a couple of people in the room and even if my infant won't get held 24/7 by the daycare worker, they are in the same room with others in their age group. We also liked that the daycares we looked at had a schedule of activities and things they work on with the kids (sensory activities, potty training when they are ready, learning their ABCs, etc.). I'm not sure, but you may not get that with an in-home daycare or a nanny. (THIS WHOLE PARAGRAPH IS MY OPINION- NO JUDGING ON WHERE YOU HAVE/WILL PLACE YOUR CHILD.)
Daycare #1
This one is the cheapest of the three. I would still feel comfortable taking our kid there as it seemed like a nice enough place. It is in the bottom of a medical office building which is a little odd (we would rather have more natural light), but at least there would be doctors around if something happened. The hours are not great for my commute- I would definitely be rushing to get there from the train every day. The big selling point for me is that once they start feeding your child it is all organic food. No grilled cheese, fries, chicken nuggets, etc. The meal plan was filled with REAL MEALS. This was the only daycare with organic food.
Daycare #2
This was the medium-priced daycare. The space was bright and the daycare seemed cheery and happy. The hours were a bit better for my commute, but I would still have to drop my kid off and drive back to my house, drop the car off and then catch the train.
Daycare #3
This is our number one choice and of course, the most expensive of the three. Having grown up in New Hampshire in wide open spaces, CP was all about the outdoor space of this daycare. The other two daycares had small and sort of sad outdoor areas for the kids, so this one blew them away. We know that the infants won't be outside, but we are also thinking that we won't want to switch daycares after a year or two, so it matters down the road. Once the child hits 15 months, if CP is still working at the same company, we will get a discount which will be really nice. This daycare had activities they they start very early on with the infants which we also liked. Finally, this daycare would be the easiest for me to pickup and dropoff when CP is traveling. They are open for 12 hours and are right across from a train station. I would have to take a different train and park at the station (only $2 a day), but I wouldn't have to worry about rushing in/out of work, nor would I have to worry about if the train was running late. The facility is also fairly close to Buster's doggy daycare so if I am doing both dropoffs then it makes the whole process pretty easy.
All three daycares had essentially the same answers on staff CPR training, facility security, sick policy, toy cleaning policy, individual cribs, etc. We had a whole list of questions given to us by friends on Facebook.
All three of the daycares are also okay with cloth diapering which is huge for me. I don't think that I have talked about it yet, but there are two cloth diapering services for my town. We haven't made the decision on which one to go with, but I am pretty excited about cloth diapering. THIS IS A PERSONAL DECISION ALL PARENTS HAVE TO MAKE AND I AM NOT JUDGING YOU IF YOU DON'T CLOTH DIAPER YOUR KID. Personally, I would love to keep disposable diapers out of a landfill and from what I have read, cloth diapered kids don't need to worry about rashes and tend to potty train earlier. With a service I don't have to worry about putting the diapers through our washer and dryer as the service drops off clean diapers and picks up the dirty diapers on a weekly basis. Both services use green, earth-friendly cleaning processes. We are going to have to bring a bag to/from daycare every day for the diapers but that shouldn't be too bad. I have heard that the cloth diapers are not as absorbent so in the beginning you have to change your child every two hours and may need a few more clothes on hand, but we'll see. If I decide that I can't/don't want to handle it, then so be it.
I should tell you about the tour that we took of the most expensive daycare facility in our town. Holy poop the daycare was ridonkulous. It was like camp every day for the kids. It had a water park, a basketball court, a tennis court, a dance studio, a gymnasium, etc amongst other amenities. When the kid moves into the toddler group, they have to start wearing a uniform (seriously??) and would be moved from activity to activity every 30 minutes (I know that toddlers don't have great attention spans, but wouldn't this create ADD in a kid?) The facility was amazing, but it was too much money and over the top.
So yeah, we just have to make sure that Daycare #3 fits into our budget come March or so and we will be registering our child pretty soon!
10 comments:
What a huge relief to have the daycare situation mostly under control. Regardless of whether a family plans to have a stay at home parent, a nanny or outside of the home childcare, it's a huge decision that weighs heavily on most parents. Glad you're feeling good about your decision.
We intended to use cloth diapers, too. But, it didn't work out for us and our daycare wouldn't allow them anyway. We compromised with disposable diapers made with organic cotton and disposable wipes we make at home (well, we buy the disposable cloths and make the solution at home). That's really nice that your daycare options allow for cloth diapering.
I'm glad you have it narrowed down! It's a hard choice. I know that light and outdoor space would be really important to me.
I plan to cloth diaper (probably not until after the first 4-6 weeks though), but will have to do all my own washing. A diaper service will be nice! I know that a lot of daycares have rules about which cloth diapers are OK though (only all-in-ones) so I'd just check to make sure they're OK with whatever you bring in.
We cloth diapered (Callum is potty trained now) and will again with the next kid. Once we figured out what we were doing it was really easy. Callum did train on the early side (28 months) with a minimum of difficulty, though who knows how much of that was due to the cloth diapers vs. just luck/personality/whatever. On the rash thing, though, he still got them. Not as bad as when we used disposables, but we did. I recommend buying a large vat of coconut oil (the only thing that works on diaper rashes and is also cloth diaper-friendly) and smearing it on your kid's diaper area at every change, whether they have a rash or not. That way it acts as a barrier to help prevent rashes in the first place. Costco sells giant tubs of coconut oil for much cheaper than I've ever seen it anywhere else.
Good luck!
We went with a daycare that wasn't the cheapest (wasn't the most expensive either) but made the most sense for us in regards to the hours, the care for Sadie, and the activities (they do books/songs/cognitive play from the start). Also they provide all the food after formula/breastmilk/etc. And she THRIVES there. Also was super important for us that we could take her out for the summer, since Dave is home and some daycares wanted us to pay for her spot! We LOVE her daycare. You have to do what is best for you, and the extra cost seems like it'll be worth it in the end (cloth diapering, close to train, doggie daycare, etc.)
Daycare #3 definitely sounds like the best option all around! Definitely don't underestimate the impact the daycare drop-off would have on your commute. With our second daycare, the travel seemed fine initially, but it took me almost twice as long to get to work than it would have if I had gone another way and it was very irritating by the end of our time there.
I think you have the most important part down - be willing to be flexible. We picked a childcare avenue that we thought was best for us (in-home certified). It was...for the first 5 months. Then it wasn't, so we went another route (nanny). That has been AMAZING, but we're thinking about going to a center in 6mo or so for more socialization. Flexibility is so important because every kid/family is different, and needs change over time.
We used cloth exclusively from birth to 8mo. At that point we had never-ending rashes that NOTHING got rid of except disposables. We did a combo until 10mo, when we had to go entirely to disposables. Our ped said it's the "curse" of having a redheaded baby because they often have really sensitive skin. The introduction of solids made cloth a no-go for us anymore. We loved them while we used them though, except for the rashes.
I like the sounds of daycare #3. Hope it works out for you. We are thinking about doing a combo of cloth vs. disposable diapering. Cloth when at home, disposable when out and about. As for daycare, we are really super lucky and know several in home daycare providers that are really good. One of them is actually our best friends and she is amazing, so I feel very fortunate and know EXACTLY the kind of care our kids would be receiving.
That's great you found some good daycare options. I haven't even begun to look into that yet. Ugh. I really need to get on that.
I tried and tried but could not convince my husband to use cloth diapers. I at least wanted to try it out. So, even though it pains me, we are using disposable. Although, I am going to try all the natural and eco friendly ones first and hope those work out. Then maybe I won't feel so guilty.
Another cloth diapering hopeful!! Yay! I will use you as a test dummy. I request many posts about how it's going. :)
Also, it sounds like you're in a really good place with the daycare decision. The most expensive one sounds like the best part about it is the convenience. The organic food one would be awesome, but getting baby to and from sounds like a nightmare. And let me just poke fun for a moment at that ridiculously expensive one you mentioned. How silly. 30 minute activity switching? I'm sorry. That's crazy. In my opinion, a child that age should be doing what they find most engaging. Because what they find engaging is engaging because it is helping their brain and/or other parts develop. So if my baby wants to spend 37 minutes at a sand station, please do not peel him or her away from it and plop the child in front of some musical instruments just because the bell went off, right?
PS, can I get access to that list of daycare questions? Because that sounds super helpful!
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