7month old starting nursery

[lucie333]

I did have this posted in a different thread but had no reply's, hoping for some more in this section😊

My baby (7m) is starting nursery 1-5 5 days a week and my 3 year old will be going 9-5 4days a week. I feel horrible that I need to be away from them for this long some days I won't see my 3 year old till the following morning😢, my question is how do baby's so young do in nursery if anyone has experience? I'm so nervous he never is away from me maybe for the odd hour while I have a driving lesson but apart from that he is always with me, my 3 year old loves nursery so I know he'll be okay for the extra 2 hours a day. I'm just worried about my baby:( I wish I didn't need ti go back just now but I can't afford to be not working any longer. Any experiences with nurseries and young babies would be great please😊

A lot of my friends went back at 8 months and their babies are absolutely thriving! Too early for too much separation anxiety and they have all progressed much quicker than those who are going a bit later! Sending hugs

My son started nursery at 6 months and absolutely loved it! First he was very well cared for because he was the youngest and staff don't often have young babies. He was also very receptive to a group setting so fit in immediately (when he didn't really like baby groups like sensory for instance). I think he loves being stimulated by the group.
He is almost 12 months now, and we haven't had any issue with separation anxiety so far.

Of course each baby is different, I hope your little one will settle as well too!

Thank you for replies, when oldest started nursery at 2 he really really struggled, we both did, we were both in tears everyday before he got through the door, it took him about 6 months to start living going in, now he asks to go on the weekend, if only lol🤣

Hi mine started a nursery at 9 months and as others have said - she was totally fine, got cuddles all day. By the time she became a bit more aware she was already comfortable with the setting and the people. She’s now 2.5 and happily goes in every day - it’s very very rare to have any issues at drop-off.

20 years ago both mine started nursery 3 full days a week at 4 months. Maternity benefits were not what they are for many now and I really didn't have a choice. We all just had to get on with it - they survived, as did I.

To be honest my experience is that (depending on the nursery) babies this age do okay because they don’t tend to really care or notice that they’re in a new place.

I worked in one baby room where most of our babies were over 1 then we had one 5 month old - at mealtimes other staff from toddler room and preschool used to pass the little baby around and cuddle her so we could feed the babies! She was absolutely furious when she started eating and had to go in the high chair and eat food instead of being carried round the room seeing everyone 😂

But overall the facts of it are that you need to work. Maybe you would prefer to be at home with the baby but you can’t - you need to work to support the children and that’s that.

Nursery is wonderful! Both of mine started full time at 9/10 months and love it (they're 4 and 2 now). The eldest is in school now with kids she's known since the baby room. Our experience has been uniformly positive.