Getting ready for CM, any tips?

[emskaboo]

My son will be going to a childminder in January two long mornings and one day a week in January when he is a year old. I was wondering if there is anything I can do which will make the transistion easier for him and the CM.

I am gently stopping feeding him to sleep for naps, and making sure he can self settle during the day for naps. I am also really encourgaging use of a sippy cup. Is there anything else?

Sould I be going to more groups to get him used to diferent locations, or leaving him with my DH and or friends more often?

how refreshing to have someone who is thinking ahead!

you sound well organised and thoughtful, would def suggest more sepration from you just for a while. one phrase i use to the little one is 'mummy always comes back' even if you've only been gone for 10mins.

hope he has good fun at cm.

I agree it's nice to see you getting him ready for it.

Sounds great re: getting him to settle himself and using a sippy cup. I agree settling in sessions with cm will help, I do an hour, then two hours, before children start. If first hour they are quite upset, we make the next session an hour too. EM is right, children quickly learn tat they have fun at cm's house then mummy picks them up again.

Do you usually go anywhere 'busy' (with children I mean), such as activities, groups? If you don't and you thik it will be a big adjustment for your child then maybe do one a week but don't worry too much about that one!

Just wanted to say self settling for naps is a really important one, maybe check with cm where ds will be sleeping eg travel cot for example and get ds used to napping in a travel cot.

Thank you very much for replying, that's really helpful. Sorry for my delay, we have the builders in and all the power went off! I'll persevere with the naps. The phrase about mummy coing back is fab and the travel cot idea sounds great.