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I'm totally biased on this subject I guess, because my LO started daycare in January and was basically sick January-May (RSV/bronchiolitis, hand and foot, pink eye twice, daycare crud cough that lasted months). My husband and I must have taken 12-14 days sick days between us and at one point, we had my mom come so LO could just stay home from daycare for 2 weeks and recoup.

I'm pushing hard for a nanny for the first school year after LO #2 is born for that reason.

Every child care situation has its pros and cons, but it's so hard having a sick baby when they are too young for most medications and they can't tell you what hurts. I'd rather have all the daycare illnesses with a 2 year old than a 6 months old, if I had a choice.

No, but I had a bad experience with home daycare (did lasted a week there) and I just don't think I could put my trust in a provider again knowing they are the only one around when my LO is not able to tell me what is going on. We had a nanny from months 4-7 which was awesome. I felt more comfortable sending her to a center when she didn't feel as fragile at 7 months. She started in September and has pretty much had a constant cold since. It's unavoidable the first year of "school" at any age. I Think it's worse at this age beause she crawls around and puts everything in her mouth. We have been lucky to have avoided anything really yucky so far, so my opinion might differ had we gotten some nasty bugs!

We did an in home daycare starting at 3 months, and my kid has been relatively healthy! Sure stuff gets spread around still, kids get sick, however I don't' feel like she's nearly as sick as other kids in centers. Even at 2 1/2 we rarely have to keep her home. (minus this last week, it was a rough week for us.)

I don't think it's really going to matter between in-home and a center. I think if you ultimately want to do a center you should just start your LO in a center to avoid that transition. And if you really want to avoid illness I think a nanny is the way to go.

ETA: My LO started daycare last February (at a center) and she did have her fair share of colds when she first started but nothing major.

I would because I did.....we love love love our in-home and E will be there until she's about 3. It's just been such a good experience for us. E still gets sick...but she's only around 2-3 other kids each day versus 9. I don't know how much worse it'd be if she was in a center. She was only sick a couple of times the first winter. This second winter has been worse. But...we've all had it bad

PS most of the time when E gets sick, it's some random one off thing that NONE of the other kids at daycare had. 6 day long fever virus? Nobody else had it. Stomach bug? Nobody else had it. I think DH and I bring home more random germs from the office than she gets at T's house

I wish I could have kept our lo home longer. Having a sick baby sucks so bad. Sick older babies/toddlers are so much easier to handle than sick babies. They're going to get sick when they go to daycare but if you can put it off, I would.

LO started daycare in September at 13 weeks old and (knock on wood) really hasn't gotten that sick, ever. I mean sure, she gets colds and has had an ear infection, but it isn't constant sickness.

I personally would prefer to have an infant in a larger center (or in-home with more than 1 provider), in part because caring for an infant is stressful, and I want our caregivers to have adequate outlets and backup when they get stressed out.

L started in-home daycare at 7 weeks in February - never got seriously sick
K started in-home daycare at 4 weeks in September - never got seriously sick
(both girls had non-stop mild congestion, but nothing that affected their eating/sleeping/personality/etc)

So, I don't know what I'd recommend. At least with an in-home daycare there are minimal families you come in contact with. At ours, besides us and our provider, there's only one other family. After our provider has her 4th and I have my 3rd, it'll just be the two of our families - that will be AWESOME!

I'm pretty sure having someone come to your house would limit germ exposure, but the biggest benefit is that it's so much easier for YOU! Life is great when you don't have the morning rush of getting the baby up, dressed, a bag packed, and out the door to the sitter's.

I have an October baby - we've had a nanny since I went back to work and she was over 1 before she got her first cold. I don't know if it's luck or the nanny, but it was awesome to be illness free for all that time.

I was home with my son for two years. His first major illness was at 9 months, he caught a cold from my husand. It turned into an eye infection because he rubbed snot in his nose.

Next illness as at 14 months, he caught a stomach bug from a children's play space at a hotel.

So yeah, in home.

eta: I also don't think you build immunity year to year with colds and things. Last year's cold is not the same as this year's cold.

DD was an october baby and went to daycare in February at 4 months old. She actually did okay there until the spring and then was sick with colds, ear infections, and bronchiolitis. It was tough on me as a WOHM to keep getting calls and taking time off to take care of her. However, I'm now a SAHM and she is now 2, and she goes to all kinda of kids' places (kids gym, day care at my gym) and has yet to even have a sniffle this winter, where kids I know who have SAH are constantly sick, so I do think her immune system beefed up a bit from that early exposure. At the time I asked my pediatrician if I should take her out of daycare, and she said kids have to get sick at some point to build their immune system.
To answer your original question, I think I would have preferred home care for a few more months. She was just sooo young to be dealing with all that illness even at 6 months.