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I was very worried about naps and feedings when my son started daycare at 5 months. He is a little finicky about how he takes his bottle and was a terrible napper at the time. Turns out he eats very very well at daycare, and I have no idea why.

They figured out how to get him to nap. Some days he does very well, but other days it's bad. On some daycare days he has VERY long awake periods. I've just learned to let it go....at this point, it doesn't seem to affect his nigth sleep as much. Also, I'm at work and pre-occupied so just don't worry about it because I can't control it.

My sister's son is a bottle refuser as well (5 months). She is still on maternity leave but has been leaving him with their nanny for an hour or two this week. He will take the bottle if she is not around. I know you tried before, but have you tried recently?

I think you just need to trust that as your mom/MIL continue to care for W, they will start to understand her cues better and will come up with their own ways to get her to sleep and eat.

@banana: daycare does that, too! It's standard & I can't wait to read DS's note sheet. It's not control freaky, it's sweet!

I would have a really hard time with it if she wasn't going to a center or wasn't being cared for by someone who's job is to be a nanny or a daycare provider. If your family is going to be watching her, you need to make sure they do all the things a care provider would do - feed at scheduled times, nap at scheduled times, play, etc. I like that daycare writes down what M does every day - nap times, feeding times, diaper changes.

I know it can be hard for family to think about it as a job and not just "play time with baby."

Good luck!!

Agree about writing things down - my mom even does this for me too when she watches my son on Tuesdays. She writes down his naps and wake times and feeds. I know you have some doubts about whether your family members will respect nap times, and writing things down might help. My mom also really tends to follow my wishes, which I love. She raised 4 of her own kids, but she does things *my* way because she knows it is important to me.

Congrats on the new job!

I personally love reading the notes about my LOs day. I think the first week may be difficult but your LO will adjust.

@winniebee: I found the report cards kind of boring until LO started walking, and then it was a constant stream of "Ben fell down while doing X and bumped his Y. Applied ice." We used to guess how many times per day or week he'd have been iced, and what he'd bumped that day.
(He was always totally fine, he was just a little overenthusiastic about the walking. And not that good at it.)

I'm dreading this too... I have 3 more months until my mat leave is up and LO is in a total mumma phase right now. I get knots in my stomach every time I think about leaving her with a sitter to go to work :S