It's happening! And help with daycare change

[mamma_z]

Hi All,

I am quitting my full-time office job (yay!!!) at the end of this month, and I will be teaching yoga part-time and taking care of LO the rest of the time. I am ecstatic about this change--I never planned to be a SAHM, but it was difficult to leave my baby to do work I don't care about. Now I will be doing something I'm passionate about

I am a little concerned about daycare, however. Right now, DH watches the baby while he's home, and we have a part-time nanny for when we are both at work. She is great at adhering to our childraising preferences (holding/rocking for naps as needed, no cry it out, using cloth diapers, handling breastmilk and not being weirded out by breastfeeding, etc). Sadly, we won't be able to afford to employ her once I leave my FT position.

One of the gyms I will teach at has free, on-site daycare, and it seems pretty nice. But I'm worried about how LO will transition to a "group care" environment, and to new caregivers & children. He will be there for two hours at a time at the maximum while I teach a class. He is currently 8 1/2 months, and I fear at the stage that separation anxiety will make this change even harder for us

Do any of you have tips?

[doodah]

Can you do a few runs with him before you even switch over? See how he does? You can also look in to drop in care at a local facility, home daycare or SAHM.

to be honest, usually the daycare transition is harder on moms than kids. You have to make sure that your expectations are reasonable for what can be provided at a gym daycare. It will be different than what a nanny will do. The best case scenario would be to work around his naps so he naps at home, not at the daycare. See what rules they have regarding milk and food. The reality is that with group care, he will get less attention but he might be just fine with that and ready to play and not need all the hands on care he was getting before. It will be more about what YOU are okay with at this point.

[luvsviola]

I agree with doodah. Gym daycare is generally designed to make sure the kid isn't hurt in the time mom is gone. It is not designed to be replace the nanny, nor is the care generally stellar. If the kid is fussy or not cooperating, many just call parent and say come and get kiddo. The gyms I've been to don't feed kiddos and only change diapers if poopy. It is expected that you would feed kiddo before dropping off. There very well might not be nap facilities there. Most are just a playroom.

I would do several trial runs long before you start care so you can figure out if it is going to work in time to hire someone else if you aren't comfortable with the situation. I'd also ask about ratios of how many kids to the caregiver the gym allows.