Tuesday- tour a highly recommended daycare center located less than a mile from us.
Thursday- the big u/s followed by lunch with Danielle's mother and sister to celebrate the gender.
Friday- prenatal appt with Mr. Midwife
Saturday- lunch again with the in-laws and some baby shopping/registry updating at BRU.
Here are some questions I've come up with so far to ask the daycare center. If anyone has any suggestions please add them. In my search for what to look for in a daycare, most of the info was geared towards toddlers and not so much on newborns. If there's anything you like about your infant room/daycare provider can you share?
- Daycare Questions:
- What are your hours? Drop off and pick up?
- Do you care for babies in cloth diapers? If so what would I need to do to make it easier for you?
- What is the schedule for newborns like?
- How do you handle holidays like father’s day for children who come from single parent homes or two mother homes? (i.e make a card for uncles/grandfathers)
- What is your policy for sick children?
- Do you still charge if we go on vacation for a few days to a week?
- Which holidays are you closed? Are we charged for that day?
- Do you accept FSA?
- What is the staff to child ratio?
- What kind of training does your staff have (i.e. CPR, Child Development)?
- Is there a nurse on staff?
- What is included in your fee? Diapers, formula, meals, etc? Is there a discount if your child breastfeeds, is on a special formula that you don’t provide or is cloth diapered?
- As our child gets older, will you respect our wishes for no candy?
- What kind of snacks do you serve older children?
- Do you offer an educational program or curriculum? At what age do you start?
- What kind of stimulation or child development skills do you offer infants?
- What is your policy on discipline?
- Do you send home a daily report on how my child’s day went?
- Do you allow parents to visit during the day?
- Can parents join their child during lunch time every once in a while?
- How do you reduce the spread of germs and infections (i.e. washing hands after diaper changes, children not coming if they are sick/sick room, washing hands before lunch)?
- Are babies taken outside for fresh air/walks?
- Do you allow children to watch tv or play video games? Is there another alternative to this activity?
BTW, I called my insurance company today and an electric breast pump can be coverd if my doc/midwife gets an auth and documents that I'll be separated from my child for either work or school. That'll be a huge saving on my part.
UPDATE: The tour went well. I got all of my questions answered and then some. Their daily schedule made me choke up because it's so cute. SugarPlum is officially on the list.
12 comments:
Great questions! May want to ask about the policy if you're a few minutes late for pickup, you know, traffic, work stuff, etc. A friend of mine gets charged $5 a MINUTE for every minute she's late!
I can't wait for the u/s results!
$5 a minute. OMG!!!!!!!
That sounds like a very thorough list! You might want to get very clear information about how much the babies get held / tummy time, and how much time they spend just lying in a crib / sitting in a car seat.
Wow - I am so impressed with this list. You are so organized! My only concern is if you are going to be able to get through all those questions in one sitting. I would imagine they get many questions from new parents and wonder if they have written policy materials that cover the basic questions?
Super excited to find out the gender! What a big week for you gals!
Enjoy!
wow, you are very organized with your questions and that's great about the electric breast pump!! I cant wait to read if your having a boy or girl! I'm going to be checking your blog over and over on Thursday, lol!
Are the doors locked? (Most centers give parents their own "code" or you have to be buzzed in, etc.) and are there cameras in the rooms? If so, can you access the cameras via the Internet to watch your child? And if YOU can access it, can ANYONE?
CJ- I hadn't thought of that but when we arrived, we had to buzz and someone met us at the door. She said we would have our own personal code to get in once our baby is enrolled. She also showed us that there are cameras in the rooms and there's a tv we can watch in the main office. She didn't say anything about having web access which would be so cool but then I could see me checking it all the time just to see our SugarPlum and not doing any work!!!
I personally would be more direct about the same sex parents question. Are there any others at the place? How do they feel about same sex parents? Will both you and danielle be given "equal" parental status?
Homophobia has a way of hiding and coming out in sutle ways at the kids.
I would ask if you can drop anytime, unannounced. If they say yes, that is a sign of great daycare, nothing to hide.
Also, ask if your baby can be fed on demand when under 6 months. Ask if they know how to store and deal with breastmilk (handled a little different then formula). Also ask if when you occasionally drop by, if they have a space for you to comfortably breastfeed the baby.
I'm stealing your list of questions!!! They're great!
We started looking into daycare but people were not calling us back. We gave up!!
Congrats on finding your center right away!!
Gayby- I added that to my list last night.
Malea- that's a good point. I learned later from my friend Phil who is on the board of directors for this daycare (and the one who used it for 3 years) that the Director is a lesbian and they have a few lesbian staff mbrs. Phil suggested hat if we are truly interested to schedule an appt with her to go over some of their policy, mission, and get some of our more pressing issues addressed by her. Danielle did ask if they would give her any troubles picking up the child or being involved as we are a same sex couple and the girl said no but this was the only disappointing part of the visit: she pulled out the application form and under mother said this is where I would fill out my info, skipped over "father/legal guardian" and said "here, we would just list you as the emergency contact." I brought this up to Phil who was apalled and said he would address this with her. Danielle and I, in the meantime, agreed we would cross out the Father and indicate her as the other parent. I do it on medical forms as it is now when they ask for the father. Screw society and their limited view of families.
Cathy- I can stop in without notice and breastfeed. I didn't ask about the feeding on demand. I'll have to ask the director about that.
J&D- steal away. A friend of mine who has a 6 month old said she never called in advance or made an appt to view daycares, she just dropped in. Said she wanted to see what it looked like on an average day. So maybe you can try that with 1 or 2 if they are not returning your calls.
I'll be checking A LOT tomorrow to hear the big news!!
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