Parenting in the First 3 Years Podcast
#3: How to Help Your Baby Thrive When Starting Daycare
with Gabrielle Holt
Starting daycare is a big adjustment for parents and children alike. How can you best prepare? What if the transition doesn’t go well? Will your baby cry all day long? There are likely a lot of questions swirling around in your head as you contemplate enrolling your baby in a child care center.
Gabrielle Holt is the Birth-3 coordinator at Montessori Country Day School in Houston, Texas.
She joined me for this episode to bring her perspective and 10 years of experience to answer these questions and more. Parents who are thinking about starting daycare, or even those who recently did, will find Gabrielle’s insight comforting and actionable.
Here’s a glance at this episode…
- [02:00] Gabrielle Holt introduces herself
- [02:56] How do you know what to look for in good child care?
- [06:54] Is there anything parents can do to get their baby ready for child care?
- [09:11] Making the transition when you baby is used to sleeping in a car seat or swing
- [12:14] When babies cry
- [14:05] Having a dedicated teacher for your child
- [16:11] What is the transition plan?
- [20:09] When a child doesn’t go to their parent at the end of the day
- [23:09] Tips for starting daycare for the first time
Resources Gabrielle Recommends:
https://heysleepybaby.com/blog/sleepassociations (Layering sleep associations helps childcare providers have multiple ways to soothe your baby that are familiar.)
https://nurturednoggins.com/6-things-to-know-before-your-baby-begins-child-care/
https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/93-caregiver-parent-communication-tools
http://www.thestudiojune.com/2016/08/starting-school/
Homework:
Write down all the fears you have about starting childcare. Once you’re done with that, reflect on which of these fears can be answered via a conversation with the provider, which will ease with time, and which will require some reflection and self-work to solve.
Click here to download a free childcare checklist from Childcare Aware of America.
Check out this early photo of me working in child care! (I’m the one on the right.)
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