Childcare tips

Hey, just to say, I have all your same concerns but over nursery instead. My little boy starts soon and I’m so nervous. We’ve not been apart either and are very close. It’s going to take lots of time to settle into it all. You’re not alone ♥️

Your little one might surprise you, my little boy is going to nursery in Jan and he did 2 taster days. He loved being dropped off, got a little sad during I think but it's nothing they haven't dealt with before so I wouldn't worry. One time I went to pick him up he was sat on one of the ladies knees reading a book (his fave thing to do) it was like she just knew. No help I know but hoping it's put your mind at ease a little xx

Hey I went back to work when my little one was 10 months old so I started in November. We did a settling in period over a week so starting with one hour then 2, 3 etc. we did a full day before I went back to work. My little girl took about two weeks to settle but now she loves it. As soon as our childminder puts her hand out she goes to her straight away. I give her bottle in the morning and then she has breakfast there.

I'd agree with the above, your LO will surprise you. Prior to mine starting nursery at 9 months they'd never been away from me longer than 45 mins. I was absolutely terrified but each day got easier and I've slowly discovered who I am again, beyond being a mum. It can take a while for them to settle into their new routines, but they will. Mine thrives at nursery and has a great nap schedule. If they were truly unsettled and they couldn't do anything they'd call you 🩷

Hey! My son goes to a childminder so just sharing what we did. We started off by leaving him with her for a couple of half days just to see how he did (we also did a couple of 1hr visits before this when I was there with him and we all just chatted). Then I started transitioning him in from August and he was doing a day a week or so, then I upped it to 2 days a week in Sept until I went back to work in October and then it was 3 days a week til mid November when we moved to 4 days a week in line with me getting back up to working 4 days a week at that point. I think the slow transition really helped as he's always had a great time there and we never had any tears leaving him not even once!! If you can't do this then I'd just say to make sure you do at least one or two settling in sessions so they can get used to the new people and setting!

Also our schedule on work/childminder days looks like this: 7:15am wake and breastfeed (doesn't usually take much milk especially if fed overnight) Then get him changed and dressed etc. and bag packed 7:50am breakfast (yogurt and berries) 8:10am leave to drop off (chimdminder is 5 min drive away) I usually pick him up around 5pm and then bring him home and do his dinner at 5:30pm. Bedtime is usually 7:30pm but can vary depending on how he naps. We always had to bounce him to sleep in the bouncer prior to him going to the childminder so I was concerned she wouldn't be able to get him to nap but it's been totally fine!! She either takes him in the pram if he's having a grizzly day and won't settle, or just pats and shushes to sleep usually. He actually often naps for longer there than he will at home (go figure lol) so your LO might surprise you. Sometimes they play up more with us / in their home environment as that's where they feel most comfortable and they know we are near I think!!

Also in terms of what we pack, every childminder is slightly different in what their fees include but what we do is: Nappies (not Wipes as she provides these) Snacks e.g. fruit, carrot sticks, melty sticks etc (not lunch as she provides a meal) Sippy cup White noise machine for naps Sleeping bag for naps Spare outfits (I usually pack 2 changes of clothes as he had pooped through 2 outfits in a day before lol) He doesn't have any milk in the day when he is there, just water from his sippy cup. He is still breastfed in the morning / evening and overnight and he has rejected milk from bottles / cups since he turned about 9 months for some reason so we just do water in the day at the childminder now.