Hellobee Boards

I guess I don't really know... We are not in that situation.. .but I always thought that if we needed childcare I'd want a nanny for the first year and I could be willing to do daycare at a year old.

I said 6 to 12 months. I think that if you know you are going to have to put your child into day care it would be best to at least start them part time prior to a year. That way they get adjusted while they are still pretty young and not used to having mommy or daddy around ALL the time. I got back to work after 15 weeks but because of the timing we can't get into our day care until the baby will be about 6 months. So we are going to do a short term nanny. This is really quite ideal for me. A nanny would be too expensive for us to do long term but we can swing it for a little while and it makes me more comfortable to have baby start day care at 6 months when his/her immune system is a little stronger.

I voted 6-12 months but she started at 3 months.

I think by 6 months they are very aware of their surroundings so a new environment is good for them. Plus my daughters learning is so advanced for her age because she's around older kids often.

12 weeks!

LO started at 12 weeks, and I definitely think that being so used to "going to school" every day, and knowing his caregivers so well, meant that we never had any really traumatic transitions. LO has the occasional moment of clinginess when I leave, but for the most part, he's pretty psyched to go in and hang up his lunch bag and say hello to the babies and start his day. And he's never cried if we talk about going to school, or driving up to daycare, or walking into daycare or anything. He clearly associates it with good things, and he's always happy to go there (I think he just sometimes wishes I'd stay and hang out there WITH him and his friends!)