Choosing a Good Daycare for your Infant

Whether to use daycare for your infant is a complicated issue. There are many factors to consider, top among them being whether both parents need to or want to work.

If you decide your baby will go to daycare, you need a reliable, healthy, safe, and loving environment for your child. You will never be able to perform well at work if you are uneasy about your child care situation. To find a good center, ask family, friends, and neighbors for recommendations. Then, pay a visit to the recommended facilities that are convenient to you, interview the director, and study the facility. Here are some questions you should ask:

• What is the staff to child ratio?
• Are there different rooms for infants and toddlers?
• What are the policies on illness? What are the criteria for not allowing a sick child to come in?
• What are the facility’s hours and holiday schedule?
• What happens if you are late picking up your child?

Spend some time talking with and observing the staff. Are they warm with the children? Are they involved in interactive play? Do the children go outdoors? Also take a look at the toys and activities available, and the cleanliness of the space.

The daycare should be convenient to one partner’s work, or near home. Many daycare facilities close at 5 or 6 p.m., which can be stressful for people who work until 5 and then have to fight through traffic to get to the facility on time. Also think about what you will do if your child needs to be picked up in the middle of the work day because of illness.

Know your daycare options

Daycare options have blossomed in the last decade. Some employers have on-site daycare. There are national chains, and there are local, independent daycare facilities. Be sure that any daycare you are exploring is licensed.

Daycare centers are usually large facilities with many children of different ages. Family daycare, on the other hand, usually involves a mother or grandmother who has children come to her home. Family daycare may not be regulated by the state, so it is especially important to get personal references from other families who have used the daycare.

Some people prefer having a nanny or babysitter live in the house, or come during the day and leave at night. These types of child care tend to be more expensive, and many families do not want another person living in the house or they may not have space for a live-in caretaker. Live-out babysitters can be less reliable—after all, if they get sick or their car breaks down, there is usually no backup.

Getting Started with Daycare

Try to do a dry run before you start with a new daycare. The day before your dry run, think about what your baby will need, including back-up outfits, food, pacifiers if he uses one, diapers, creams, and wipes. Pack these in a bag and put it in the car. On the day of the dry run, plan to get out of the house by the time you would need to if you were going to work. Get up and get dressed, and get your baby ready. Drive to the center and do the drop-off. Hopefully this dry run will make your first day using the daycare go smoothly, and help you feel comfortable enough to let you concentrate on your work.

Dr. Victoria McEvoy graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1975 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at HMS. She is the Medical Director and Chief of Pediatrics at Mass General West Medical Group. She has practiced pediatrics for almost thirty years. She has been married to Earl for thirty six years and raised four children. She currently enjoys writing, traveling, reading, almost all sports, and spending time with her two grandsons.

Family Health Guide
To take advantage of the latest medical advances, and to deal with the often-confusing world of health care, you need information that is clear, accurate, easily understandable, and accessible. The Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide brings you the information you need to keep your and your family healthy and to cope with illness when it does strike. 170 faculty members of Harvard Medical School, physicians who care for patients every day, developed this comprehensive guide.

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