Part of preparing for the birth of your baby is deciding on an infant daycare. More than likely, you’ve Googled the search time “infant daycare near me” a time or two.
If you’re lucky, there may be a few in your area that have good ratings and are recommended by other moms you know. But sometimes, that’s not always the case.
When trying to find a daycare for your baby, there are a few tips to keep in mind.
How To Find An Infant Daycare
Keep in mind these are just a few ways to find a daycare that may work for your needs. There are always options you may find on your own that are better suited.
Talk to family and friends
More than likely, someone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone. It’s like the 6 degrees of separation, but for daycares.
Moms will also give positive and negative reviews of daycares, so listen to your friends who have used places in the past. This will help you know where to stay away from and where to look into as well.
Put your name on waiting lists
Go ahead and add your name to a waiting list. If it’s a good daycare, there is probably going to be one. Adding your name to a waiting list doesn’t mean you’re going to enroll there, it just means when a space opens, you’re going to have the choice at that point in time.
Read online reviews
Online reviews can be the best place to read the worst of the worst information. This is because keyboard warriors LOVE to type out all the things they hate about a place. You’ll find out from other parents why they hated or loved that specific daycare with just a few clicks.
Don’t count out home daycares
Home daycares are quite popular and often more affordable. More and more families use them because of the lower cost and also because of the smaller number of children there are.
You can even check with friends who are stay-at-home moms to see if they’re interested in earning some extra cash. You never know — you might be able to have your bestie help in keeping your infant while you’re working!
Prepare early
Last but not least, you need to be calling for daycares asap. Don’t wait until the baby is born because it may be too late by then. You know when you’re due date is, so that gives you a rough ballpark of the time frame of when you’re child will need daycare.
Start the process when you’re at the beginning of your third trimester so you can make the rounds and have some good options on the table.
When it comes to finding a fantastic daycare, research is the key. If you can find one that is close to your place of work or your home, that is an even bigger bonus!