Gym Child Care?

[westiemom]

I miss my workouts so badly! I haven't ever done gym child care so I have questions.

At what point would you take your kid to the gym child care center? Our gym allows babies over 2 weeks but I realize that doesn't mean you SHOULD do it then.

Anything else I should do ahead of time?

Anything I should bring with her?

Thanks!!

[k3am]

My gym doesn't do it until they're potty trained. We have one nearby that's 3 months and up. My kid will be going to DC at 3 months, so I'd be cool with it. (I would not be cool with it at MY gym, since my gym's "childcare" is pretty crappy. I wouldn't even send DD there.)

If we were at the Y, I'd be working out daily.

[teraiin]

I'd want to know the qualifications of who is looking after the babies.

Our local gyms do not have very good childcare but in sure that can vary from place to place!

[aaemommy]

I agree it varies widely. I would take A- I think he'd love playing with the other kids and the new environment. But unless the workers were specifically trained for babies, I wouldn't take Cam. Babies are hard and have a lot more needs than toddlers/ older children do.

[k3am]

This is one of the reasons I'm looking for forward to getting back to work.. A few days a week I'll stop at the gym before grabbing the kids.

[annarose]

I would ask my local mom group for recommendations. Personally I wouldn't take my young baby for awhile but in also not a SAHM so maybe if I could go during the off hours I would have a different opinion. The YMCA child care area by my parents looks 10 times nicer than what I saw at my local gyms plus they seem more kid oriented so if it were me I would check there first

[tincupchalice]

My gym allows at six weeks. I'm waiting until he gets his first shots. I'm familiar with the care givers because ds1 has been going there since he was about a year. I am a bit nervous leaving a smaller baby, but I have friends with infants who have been using this place for a while with no problems.

[ellipses]

It depends on the gym childcare, because they can vary greatly in the setup, cleanliness, experience of workers, etc. I don't think I'd want to do it if it was very crowded but often there are only a couple kids. I think gym daycares and church nurseries have less strict child:caregiver ratios than real daycares because the parents are on the premises. I definitely wouldn't do it prior to 8 week shots. I'd probably do it at 3-4 months since that is when my kid will go to daycare anyways, if I felt comfortable with the place.

[mrsw26]

If we had a Y membership I'd definitely feel comfortable leaving him there for an hour, but the ones in our area have great staff. I can't wait to sign up in the fall once things calm down a bit here and my work picks back up!

[helloerrbody]

I have been taking B to the gym since he was 6 weeks old but it's a small family owned gym and the woman who does the childcare is amaaaazing. Also there is a giant window into the room and everyone is walking by constantly so there definitely isn't going to be anything bad happening in there that goes unnoticed.

I also work at 24 Hour Fitness but they don't accept babies until they are 6 months. I will be taking him when he's that age. I figure if there is ever an issue or an emergency I'm right there in the gym.

[walkek85]

I was a member of Lifetime fitness when DS1 was an infant. They start taking children at 12 weeks. I thought they did a good job as their caregiver to infant ratio was small. I ended up canceling my membership because DS1 was constantly getting sick so prepare for that.

Now, with #2 I plan to rejoin in August when DS2 is 3 months because with DS1 going to daycare 2 days a week DS2 is bound to get sick one way or another.