DD is 8.5 months now and I'm starting to think about daycare as a means for her to get some interaction with other children. We live abroad and daycares here won't even accept a child under 1 years old, but that's just in a few months!

Finding play dates is close to impossible and I don't know of anyone with children, so daycare would be her only opportunity to be around other kids. It should also help with her language skills as well. We're bilingual, but hearing more people speak to her in the local language (not just my husband) should accelerate her learning.

Those are the pluses, but there's a few things that concern me as well. For instance, DD was extremely sensitive skin, she breaks out in hives fairly easily. We still haven't figured out all of the things she's sensitive to. There's also the usual things like an increased risk for illness and most importantly, will she be ready? She is extraordinarily clingy right now and her separation anxiety is really extreme (only from me, not DH).

To help me weigh out the pros and cons, I'm most curious about when is it truly beneficial to expose children to other children? I'd love to hear all your thoughts and suggestions!

Oh, and the daycare's up the street, if that affects it in anyway. It was one of the pluses when we chose our house.