Hellobee Boards

LO went to daycare when she was 12 months old. I was nervous, for sure, but she did ok.

That said, she's a pretty easy going kid who totally thrives on structure and predictability. Also, we knew before she was born that she would be headed to daycare and that we intended to be able to leave her with the grandparents often, so throughout our leave (we split our year up and did about half each) we left her with grandparents and an aunt often.

From my observation of other mothers dropping off kids, the more you carry on, the more they carry on. And most kids chill out within a few minutes of mom leaving. It's true. So, with my LO, I tried my best to act like I was totally cool with dropping her off, and that has almost always worked.

LO went to daycare at 13 months, and she did great. I think she's cried once — and we switched to a new daycare a month in. Some kids are a little more adaptable than others, so it's hard to give advice!

I was home with DD until 6.5 months and then she was home with a nanny. We started her in daycare at 15 months. It was fine.

The first week (transition) was rough, lots of tears but she cried less and less everyday. Now we have to beg her to leave the centre and come home. She also gets really mad on Saturdays when she finds out she isn't going

ETA: She wasn't used to being around all those people but she adapted really well in the end.

My son was 2 when he started daycare, the transition was long, because he had to learn to sleep on his own, in a room with other kids, without his beloved sleepsack.