Starting nursery

[sophiewd]

Our DD at 10 months is starting nursery two mornings a week as of next week. We are going in on Friday to discuss her routine, etc. She is a happy outgoing baby anyway but any tips on settling in would be gratefully recieved. Lucky to get a place as our other local day nursery which I wanted her to go to closed over night with no warning to parents. They turned up the next day and told to go look for someplace else.

[novadandypowder]

My dd started nursery 4 mornings a week when she was 1yr. It was very hard for both of us, so all I would say is be prepared for tears (from both of you). She'd been used to a part-time child minder in our own home, so I thought she'd be used to spending time away from me, but it's taken 2 months for her to fully settle.

I was tempted to stop at the beginning as I thought it was too distressing, but I'm glad I persisted and now believe it's the best thing for both of us.

Talk to the carers as much as you can, they will be best placed to let you know how your dd is getting on when you leave, and let them know as much as you can about your dd in advance. I felt better for telling them about her little quirks and habits.

I also found that giving dd something from home helped, she takes a comforter with her and I did let her have a dummy for the first few weeks.

Don't be in a hurry to leave her, any nursery worth their salt should let you extend the settling in session if you're not happy, but IME you need to make the break and trust the nursery to do their job.

HTH

[sophiewd]

Thank you for that. It was kind of you to answer and hopefully next week things will go OK.