Infant Care Tours and Questions

[duckker]

We are touring a couple of infant care places this week as we weigh several different options for child care. What kinds of things should we look for? What sorts of questions should we ask? Everything I've found online so far is a little generic in nature, and I'd love to get "real people's" input on what was/is important to you. I'm a little nervous about leaving a 6 week old in a center, although I'm sure I'm being FTMish about it... So we are weighing this option vs. a nanny until an as-yet-undetermined age. Financially, the nanny doesn't make a ton of sense as a permanent option, but it would allow me to get back to work and then transition baby into a care center around 4-6 months. (Feel free to weigh in on that one, as well.) 

[sudokufan]

As a first step, I found it really useful to look up my state's rules for daycare centers. They are online and very very thorough. It gave me ideas of things to ask about and clarify, and to check that the centers I toured were following that. For example, they are required by law to nap on demand in infant rooms here so it would have been a red flag if they had "nap times".

Security concerns - do they have an alarm system? who has access? are there cameras? how do you designate someone to pick your child up in an emergency? do they have an emergency alert system? For example, ours lets you sign up to receive "informational" texts and separately for "emergency" texts - the first is stuff like reminders that they close for Labor day, the other is for when they have to close early because there is a power line down across the street.

Storage and Supplies - what do they supply? what do you supply? formula (if used), diapers, wipes, diaper cream, bibs, teethers. If you supply yours, where do they have for you to store it, do they do an inventory check and let you know or are you responsible for checking. What about extra clothes? Do they have spares in case they go through all the ones you brought? Can baby bring a special toy or blanket?

Medicines - what's their policy on administering them? Some places just want you to fill out a form, other places want a form plus will call you before giving them, others won't administer unless prescription, and some won't even give prescriptions (which would be a dealbreaker for me but not for others).

[tas1883]

What privacy said.
Look at the other rooms when you are on tour not just the infant room. I know it seems like a long time before you will be moving to another room but it will be here before you know it. Also ask about solids and then meals (they provide or you provide).

[mustardseed2007]

Some things that have come up on here that I never would have thought to ask:
1) Do you hold babies when feeding them. Is there an age when you will stop holding babies to feed them.
2) Will they reoffer unfinished bottles of breast milk.
3) Will they make bottles? (whether formula or pouring BM into a bottle). Some places consider that "food preparation" and they don't do it.
4) When you get to food, do they let you bring your own food. Some places you can bring your own when your child is a baby, but then you can't when they get older. In which case their menu becomes important.
5) Also look at their older kids classes too. It would be nice if you could keep your kid in one place for a long long time, but that won't happen if you turn around and decide you hate their toddler program.
6) And security is a question. How do they handle it.
7) What is their plan to get kids out of the class in the event of an emergency? Around here it's normal to put all the babies in a crib and wheel them out of the building but it's nice to hear them say it.
8) What is their teacher/kid ratio. This should meet with the minimum ratio. But also, it's nice to know really how they staff the rooms. I've been to schools where its 1 teacher for 4 babies (per state requirements). But they organize their infant program into multiple baby rooms with 4 babies and just 1 teacher. Well...if you staff like that how does the teacher communicate if she's experiencing an emergency?
9) Observe how the room smells. It shouldn't smell like a dirty diaper.
10) How do they communicate with you about your baby's day - feeding, changing, napping.
11) How long have the infant teachers been there.

I agree with looking at your state's website if you can. Texas also has it online and it helped me figure out where to look.

ETA: Dang there were a lot of typos there. 

[veganlady]

So much of what I was going to say has been offered already. I would just add that they should be fine with you spending as much time in the room as you need, before you enroll and while your kid is there. I nurse at drop off so I'm there for a good 20 minutes. I feel like I really know the teachers and have a chance to get caught up on everything that is going on with my kid and the center. Plus they are used to me being there and I thin behave like they normally would. I feel confident that I know how they are going to handle things when I am not there. If they don't have an open door policy, that is a red flag to me.

[toratoratori]

All of the questions suggested by PPs are really good. I don't know if you're planning to cloth diaper, but if you are, be sure to ask about their policies and requirements surrounding that.

[leap08]

I think there are lots of good questions posted already. I'd ask about older rooms and their pre-school curriculum, because ideally you'll want to stay with the same center beyond infant care. Ask about their menu/food policies for older kids and medicine and sunscreen policies. I think you can tell a lot about a place by how the older kids act so I'd ask to tour those rooms as well. But, really I think you'll get a gut feeling about a place. I liked everything about our center the moment I walked through the door.

[shakinros]

Great thread. Everything mentioned here is good! I just want to second that we knew when we walked into our center that it was the one for us.

[mustardseed2007]

Oh, and in your shoes I would start in a center also. We did start with DS being watched by family for his first year. When that was an option it was awesome. But we weren't paying nanny rates or anything.

For DD I did try to find someone to do a nanny share (and even got close to finding someone to go in with me) but ultimately I wasn't successful. If you were thinking of having a nanny for a year, then it might be worth it. But only 6 months, I would just go to the center and save yourself the stress of two searches.

The only thing to be aware of is if you are in an area where centers are in high demand, you may not be able to get in right away and you may find yourself looking for a ST nanny or some other creative option anyway.

[duckker]

All of these suggestions and thoughts are SO super helpful. There are (of course) about fifty wildfires raging in my home and work life right now, and trying to figure out how to do this as a first time baby momma was the last thing I felt up to doing (plus we have to tour at 6:30 and 7 am, two days in a row, due to DH's work schedule--so my brain will be worthless at that point, anyway). I swear I'm just going to print out this thread and read aloud. Unless I can convince one of you to go for me? Is this a full service message board?

[queenbabee]

Following for future reference. Very good advice here.

[sudokufan]

Here's something else I thought of -- how do they report on baby's day? Some places do paper; mine has gone electronic. In the baby room they updated real time using a touch screen pc mounted on the wall, so I knew about every bottle, diaper change, nap time, and tummy time/activity minutes after it happened. Kinda cool, though not necessary, but having that info in some shape or form is very helpful.

Also, how do they handle injury reports? I was surprised how often we got them even as a baby. They record every little thing, like "scratched his cheek with own fingernails while rubbing his eye", but they have a threshold where they'll call to let you know and it's good to be on the same page about that threshold. Now that he's a toddler, it's a good day when we don't get an owie report ;-)

[jlaok]

I would also look at the daycare for the older kids classroom too. A lot of times we focus so much on the infant room and don't think about looking at what the other rooms do.

Here are some things to look at for older kids:

~ what the snack/lunch menu. do you have the option of bringing your own food
~ what does the playground look like
~ what do the kids do for outside play time when the temperatures are high/low
~ is their a curriculum for older kids. if so, when does it start.

Another couple of things to look at in the baby rooms are the daily schedule/activities and what times the primary teachers are there. if the primary teachers are gone (usually in early morning or late afternoon) are their permanent assistant teachers or floating teachers.

[duckker]

So, DH and I decided that we are going to do a two-phase approach: "zoom through" a bunch of potential locations to get a feel for the place, etc., and then go back in a couple of weeks and actually sit down with directors/teachers and go through the questions for places that end up on our short list. Which is good, because I am completely brain dead this morning. I got three whole hours of sleep last night, less than my 4.5 hr daily average in the past week. Between pregnancy brain/crazy end of term hormones and being a complete newbie to the entire child care scene, I feel utterly unequipped to make rational decisions. But these questions and points are all GREAT and I do hope you keep them coming. I felt like I had a much clearer picture of what to look for when we did tours this morning.

[leap08]

When you go back to sit down and ask questions, I would try to go at a different time of day. Mornings/drop-offs are often pretty busy and kind of hectic at most centers. Our center does a lot of room combining in the morning and then they split off to their regular classrooms at 8:00 am. Teachers are busy greeting kids, setting out breakfast, receiving instructions from parents, etc... I just think you'll get a better idea of how most of the day goes if you're able to visit at a non-drop off/pick-up time.