Nursery settling in experiences

I had exactly the same experience. Our settling in sessions sent so badly , they were smack bang in the middle of nap time and they just weren’t long enough for her to actually “settle”. She’s been going 2 consecutive days since September and is absolutely fine now !! The nursery staff said sometimes the settling in sessions actually don’t help and it’s better for them to be thrown in the deep end. So try not to worry !! Easier said than done I know x

@Georgia oh thank you, that’s reassuring!!! Were you ever called to collect her when she started properly? I assume if they cry on an actual day the staff try and console them? x

No never been called to collect on actual nursery day! They’ve just worked out their own ways to console her. I started to think of the settling in sessions as almost induction sessions for them to get to know her as well, and so I suppose from that perspective they were useful! X

First settle in went well as it was a novelty I think… he even ate some little sandwiches at the table 😅second one was awful I left him crying and got back to him screaming which I heard when I got out of the car 😭. He does 2 full days a week (I have a new job in the same nursery) and it’s been very rocky so far. Leaving him in the morning crying is SO tough, but the girls say he does have settled moments and has started playing more independently/with others (although he likes an adult near!) so little by little he’s getting better 🥹, mind you he’s been on hunger strike all of his nursery days so far and won’t eat there! 🫠I’ve been packing an extra bottle for now. For the first time yesterday when I went to get him though he didn’t cry from overwhelm when he saw me, he was actually just happy to see me so that’s definite progress 🥹, hang in there, they will adapt slowly but surely, I’d say make sure to pack a dummy if they have one and their cuddly toy as this gives them comfort xx

Also… they usually have you fill in an ‘about me’ form so you can write what helps them to settle if you have any tricks or techniques or any particular songs etc that calm them! ☺️

@Naomi oh gosh it sounds so overwhelming!! I’ll end up in tears myself driving to work knowing I’d left him there upset 😢

I work in a nursery and we do settlings in where the parents join them and it helps to adjust to a new environment then leave them from 1 hour then couple of hours xx

We started our settling in sessions this week. We only had 2 hours yesterday and 3 hours today. Tomorrow it’s 9 😱 wish us luck. So apparently our wee boy has been doing well. I think it depends how you adjust them to nursery. So I’ve been taking the boy to baby/ toddler groups for a few months and slowly withdrawing active play with my son - obviously still watching him but just encouraging him to play independently or with other kids. Is there anywhere you could take him to just play? Soft play? Play dates with other kids? Baby toddler groups?

I promise it will get better! We were in the same boat 3 weeks ago. My little girl started 4 days a week nursery at 10 months. I'd say for the first two weeks she cried at every drop off (so did i), some days she refused to eat her lunch and it was generally a tough time. Then day by day it got better up to this week when she saw her key worker and stretched her arms out with a huge smile. The relief!! I think the truth is, settle in sessions are not enough for children this age to get comfortable and they just need to start with consistency in order to get comfortable and start enjoying their new environment.

@Alana he pretty much will only do independent play at home, he just scoots off and plays with his toys and climbs things! We take him to rhyme time too once a week and he’s the same there, just crawls off to play x