birdie
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Post by birdie on Aug 7, 2017 10:09:49 GMT -6
So s will be starting "school" next week! He will be going to a Montessori Daycare Tuesday/Thursday. I have been home with him since birth, and I'm not at all concerned about how he will do. He loves to play with other kids, and he is quick to leave me behind and socialize with other adults at play dates.
What do I need to take with him? They provide lunch (not sure about snacks).
We use cloth diapers, which they allow.
The biggest question is regarding milk. S still nurses, but I don't want to pump. When I had a nanny for three days, he was fine with just milk before nap. Should I suck it up and pump for one bottle or let them figure it out?
I have no clue how they will get him to nap on a cot since he is a very VERY particular sleeper at home (will only sleep in his crib, pitch black, dead silent-- wakes up with any noise and stands and cries, etc). He has no attachment to any blanket or lovey, just has a binky. Is there anything I can do/bring to help? He is a total beast if he doesn't get a good nap during the day, and sleeps poorly at night if he doesn't nap.
Any advice helps! Thanks!
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Post by jillywilly on Aug 7, 2017 10:22:56 GMT -6
How old is S? As far as what you need to bring, they should provide you a list, but I would think the standard is diapering supplies, sippy cup(s), change of clothes, etc. Our day care provides lunch and snacks, but I always bring some fruit and whatever remnants of breakfast DS doesn't eat before we leave so he can finish breakfast when he gets there since he's not always a huge eater when he first wakes up.
As for milk - if you feel like you're ready to stop nursing, I would think this is a huge opportunity to do so. I would skip pumping, and let him do regular milk with all the other kids. Also, I would check if they allow bottles in his room - when DS moved from Infant B to the toddler room, he went to sippy cups only at day care. If you want to pump to keep your supply there for days he's home with you still, then definitely talk to them about bringing the milk, and if it needs to come in a bottle/sippy/whatever.
For naps, I would pretty much plan on them being pretty crappy the first couple weeks while he's getting used to the new routine. But after a while he'll adapt. I've found that one of the huge wins of day care is there is such a "monkey see, monkey do" mentality about the kids - DS has been in day care twice a week since I went back to work at 12 weeks, but even with just being on a part time schedule, I've found that it's really helped him learn good eating habits, and whenever he "graduates" to the next room, he always made huge leaps in language/development. Bring his binky for naps, and I also have been bringing a little blanky for DS since they started allowing it in the Infant B room. He had no attachment to it when we started, but now it's his special "school" blanky and he likes carrying it in to the room and putting it in his cubby Monday mornings (it comes home with us on the weekends to get washed with the sheet they put on his cot).
Good luck!
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Post by sheilathetank on Aug 7, 2017 10:26:06 GMT -6
For K I send 2 bottles of WCM as well as whatever is left in her sippy from breakfast. I personally, would not pump but just nurse in the morning before you go, ESPECIALLY if you don't want to pump. WCM should be fine. I also send a blanket for her at DC's request. It's a "comfort item" but K could give two shits about it. I pretty much send a large receiving blanket and call it a day. I wouldn't send anything handmade since they usually label it with your kid's name/initials. As far as him napping, I'm 100% sure the DC has dealt with tough sleepers before. IME the stimulation and constant go, go, go tires them to the point of exhaustion. DC environment is just so different from home, that I wouldn't be surprised if he naps fine after a few days there.
Will you be working on the days he's in school or will you be enjoying the quiet?
eta: oh yeah, also pack like 2 changes of clothes including socks, and send him in good closed toed shoes.
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birdie
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Post by birdie on Aug 7, 2017 10:38:00 GMT -6
How old is S? As far as what you need to bring, they should provide you a list, but I would think the standard is diapering supplies, sippy cup(s), change of clothes, etc. Our day care provides lunch and snacks, but I always bring some fruit and whatever remnants of breakfast DS doesn't eat before we leave so he can finish breakfast when he gets there since he's not always a huge eater when he first wakes up. As for milk - if you feel like you're ready to stop nursing, I would think this is a huge opportunity to do so. I would skip pumping, and let him do regular milk with all the other kids. Also, I would check if they allow bottles in his room - when DS moved from Infant B to the toddler room, he went to sippy cups only at day care. If you want to pump to keep your supply there for days he's home with you still, then definitely talk to them about bringing the milk, and if it needs to come in a bottle/sippy/whatever. For naps, I would pretty much plan on them being pretty crappy the first couple weeks while he's getting used to the new routine. But after a while he'll adapt. I've found that one of the huge wins of day care is there is such a "monkey see, monkey do" mentality about the kids - DS has been in day care twice a week since I went back to work at 12 weeks, but even with just being on a part time schedule, I've found that it's really helped him learn good eating habits, and whenever he "graduates" to the next room, he always made huge leaps in language/development. Bring his binky for naps, and I also have been bringing a little blanky for DS since they started allowing it in the Infant B room. He had no attachment to it when we started, but now it's his special "school" blanky and he likes carrying it in to the room and putting it in his cubby Monday mornings (it comes home with us on the weekends to get washed with the sheet they put on his cot). Good luck! He is 16 mo. I am really excited about the leaps in language, he will be in the older kid room, as one of the youngest. |
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birdie
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Post by birdie on Aug 7, 2017 10:44:54 GMT -6
For K I send 2 bottles of WCM as well as whatever is left in her sippy from breakfast. I personally, would not pump but just nurse in the morning before you go, ESPECIALLY if you don't want to pump. WCM should be fine. I also send a blanket for her at DC's request. It's a "comfort item" but K could give two shits about it. I pretty much send a large receiving blanket and call it a day. I wouldn't send anything handmade since they usually label it with your kid's name/initials. As far as him napping, I'm 100% sure the DC has dealt with tough sleepers before. IME the stimulation and constant go, go, go tires them to the point of exhaustion. DC environment is just so different from home, that I wouldn't be surprised if he naps fine after a few days there. Will you be working on the days he's in school or will you be enjoying the quiet? eta: oh yeah, also pack like 2 changes of clothes including socks, and send him in good closed toed shoes. For now, I will just be using the time to get caught up with our house. We moved back in April and still have things left to do with the remodel that I can't get done with S here. But my husband and I are likely going to be firing the person who took my old job at our business, so I will probably be going back to my old job. I'm not sure when that will happen, and we would only consider taking S to this daycare and they had an opening so we took it. Even if I go back full time, S will only do two days a week and H and I will juggle him on the other days. Since we are the only two workers, and own the business we can either have him at the office with us or I can work from home/playgrounds. I get the emails to my phone and forward the calls to my phone as well. |
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Post by jillywilly on Aug 7, 2017 10:46:00 GMT -6
birdie, that's perfect he'll be on the younger side of the class, because he'll probably try to "catch up" to the older kids! One thing I forgot, especially now that we've been in the toddler/twaddler rooms for a while, we've found it super helpful to emulate day care's schedule when he's home with us, and since he spends one day each with each of our moms, we have them follow a similar schedule as well. So since day care's nap/quiet time is from 12-3 every day, we try to make sure he goes down for his nap between 12 and 1 every day, and having him on a consistent schedule every day even when he's in different environments has been I think the most important thing we've done to get him to nap/sleep on a regular basis.
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Post by sheilathetank on Aug 7, 2017 10:51:24 GMT -6
For K I send 2 bottles of WCM as well as whatever is left in her sippy from breakfast. I personally, would not pump but just nurse in the morning before you go, ESPECIALLY if you don't want to pump. WCM should be fine. I also send a blanket for her at DC's request. It's a "comfort item" but K could give two shits about it. I pretty much send a large receiving blanket and call it a day. I wouldn't send anything handmade since they usually label it with your kid's name/initials. As far as him napping, I'm 100% sure the DC has dealt with tough sleepers before. IME the stimulation and constant go, go, go tires them to the point of exhaustion. DC environment is just so different from home, that I wouldn't be surprised if he naps fine after a few days there. Will you be working on the days he's in school or will you be enjoying the quiet? eta: oh yeah, also pack like 2 changes of clothes including socks, and send him in good closed toed shoes. For now, I will just be using the time to get caught up with our house. We moved back in April and still have things left to do with the remodel that I can't get done with S here. But my husband and I are likely going to be firing the person who took my old job at our business, so I will probably be going back to my old job. I'm not sure when that will happen, and we would only consider taking S to this daycare and they had an opening so we took it. Even if I go back full time, S will only do two days a week and H and I will juggle him on the other days. Since we are the only two workers, and own the business we can either have him at the office with us or I can work from home/playgrounds. I get the emails to my phone and forward the calls to my phone as well. That's awesome that you have that flexibility with your schedules. Hope the transition goes smoothly for you guys. |
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birdie
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Post by birdie on Aug 7, 2017 11:40:45 GMT -6
For now, I will just be using the time to get caught up with our house. We moved back in April and still have things left to do with the remodel that I can't get done with S here. But my husband and I are likely going to be firing the person who took my old job at our business, so I will probably be going back to my old job. I'm not sure when that will happen, and we would only consider taking S to this daycare and they had an opening so we took it. Even if I go back full time, S will only do two days a week and H and I will juggle him on the other days. Since we are the only two workers, and own the business we can either have him at the office with us or I can work from home/playgrounds. I get the emails to my phone and forward the calls to my phone as well. That's awesome that you have that flexibility with your schedules. Hope the transition goes smoothly for you guys. The flexibility is nice, and I am thankful for that. But it is a job that doesn't really operate on a set schedule, so I may have to do things nights, weekends, holidays. I also really don't like working with my H, and it puts a bit of a strain on our marriage. |
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Post by littlelion on Aug 7, 2017 13:07:02 GMT -6
I'd ask for a list from DC. The DC my sons go to provides everything re:food/milk. I'd skip pumping but that's a personal choice. The only thing I have to provide outside usual baby/toddler stuff is: change of clothes (2), blanket, and tissue (once in a while). 100% agree w jillywilly, my toddler learns and adapts to DC routines. For him to go to sleep at home, he needs me in the room in the bed next to him. And no blankets. At DC, he learned to nap in the cot and with a blanket. I once brought in a different blanket and the DC lady said he needed his usual Frozen one.  oh-kay kiddo. |
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Post by sheilathetank on Aug 7, 2017 13:14:35 GMT -6
That's awesome that you have that flexibility with your schedules. Hope the transition goes smoothly for you guys. The flexibility is nice, and I am thankful for that. But it is a job that doesn't really operate on a set schedule, so I may have to do things nights, weekends, holidays. I also really don't like working with my H, and it puts a bit of a strain on our marriage. The owners of the last company I worked with were a married couple. They didn't have the healthiest marriage to begin with, but the strain of the work made the tension between the two palpable some days. The walls were really, really thin and you could hear every single argument. I would probably strangle my husband if we owned a business together that was a our bread and butter, so I give you credit for making the best of a not so ideal situation. |
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budders
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Post by budders on Aug 7, 2017 13:19:02 GMT -6
To echo others, I would ask for a list for what you need to bring. Our daycare provider provides all food and milk for V, so we don't need to worry about any of that. I really just send extra clothes to keep there, and diapering supplies.
As for naps, V is the worst sleeper and and needs very specific conditions ably home, but at daycare he does pretty well. I think he follows in line with what the other kids are doing and goes with the flow, so you may find that he adjusts to a slightly different napping setting better than expected!
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cmb
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Post by cmb on Aug 7, 2017 17:20:09 GMT -6
birdie, that's perfect he'll be on the younger side of the class, because he'll probably try to "catch up" to the older kids! One thing I forgot, especially now that we've been in the toddler/twaddler rooms for a while, we've found it super helpful to emulate day care's schedule when he's home with us, and since he spends one day each with each of our moms, we have them follow a similar schedule as well. So since day care's nap/quiet time is from 12-3 every day, we try to make sure he goes down for his nap between 12 and 1 every day, and having him on a consistent schedule every day even when he's in different environments has been I think the most important thing we've done to get him to nap/sleep on a regular basis. ^^ this is big. Once he adapts, stick to it. DS1 has been on daycare's schedule since 14 months (he started at 9.5m but wasn't ready to drop to one nap like they pushed until 14 months). As for what to bring- two pairs of clothes to change into, a spare sheet (they'll most likely be on a portacrib pad), a blanket, sippy cup, diapering supplies including diaper cream, and suntan lotion. He'll adjust. We let daycare do the cot on the floor for a week or two while DS1 was still in a crib. Kids are weird when it comes to behavior at daycare- they're often completely different then when home with us. Don't be surprised if he screams at drop off for a long time. Some kids don't do well with it. It will eventually end. My kid hates change and still managed to adapt. It took a while, but now he walks in right to his class and loves his teacher |
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oh-kay kiddo. 
