Help! DD starts nursery in just over a week and we're all over the place!

[bbbum]

This is my last full week of maternity leave :( DD will be 1yo next week and she starts nursery a couple of days after and I'm having a massive wobble about being ready for it!

Milk - she's still bf-ing at 7am, 11am, 3pm and 6:30pm. Last week she was had a good go of cows milk from a beaker with me on a couple of afternoons, yesterday I was out and she wouldn't take it from DH. What is she won't take it at nursery?

Naps - all her naps were in the buggy (at home or out and about) until last week where I've been trying to get her more used to the cot in preparation for nursery. She's got better but only having 2x 30-45 min naps a day so she's totally knackered...

Morning wake up - I think because she's so tired from lack of naps she is doing really well at night and sleeping through til quite late in the morning. It's gone 8:30am now and she's still asleep (went to bed at 6:45pm). On the days I work I need to be out if the house at 7:35am.

Bed time - again because she's been so tired bedtime has been anywhere from 6pm-6:45pm. On nursery nights we won't get home til 6pm earliest.

Food - All the above us throwing feed times out and she's being fussy with her solids (blw) and seems to be relying on milk more than food.

Clingy - she's desperate to be physically close to me most of the time. She'll play with her toys but likes to be sitting on or near me.

Help!!!!

I'm due to take her to the hv clinic later and an scared I'm going to burst into tears when they ask how things are.

You will cry I'm sure. I howled in the shower for 3wks before returning. Nursery turned out fine. Felt bit silly later.

Ask the room leader for a copy of her day plan. Ur prep is great but doubtfully needed as she will just copy and fall in to place with their routine. I know it feels she won't but give it a month and u will b so surprised.

Having a copy of the plan helped me when dd was home. Dd was a year at starting too. I copied lunch times/nap and it made our home life lots better than what I used to do!

It was 3full months before dd would reach for her key worker but I could see Improvement every week. I would never have believed me at the time, so fully expect u to be doubtful too. It will be ok.

Take a bag that she can pick out of a crowd. Jlewis do hard case back packs in animals. I've got a teddy, clothes, spare nappy cream etc in it. Must b same teddy as they will associate for comfort that its nursery. Also means ur home favourite doesn't get trashed!

Don't worry about the feeding. When I went back to work after dd1, she was still feeding 4 times a day, just shy of her 1st birthday. But, when I wasn't with her, she didn't bother about those two missed fees, but did when I was with her, three days a week.

I worried about it masses and it was so fine.

Don't panic!!

DD was also 1 when she started nursery, also BF a lot during the day, also BLW, also clingy, and would only sleep on me, or after being rocked to sleep. Out of all of that, the sleep was the easiest thing - I think she was so worn out by everything going on, she was happy for the nursery staff to put her to bed, and she just fell asleep apparently (she didn't do this at home for another year unfortunately!)

The hardest thing was the separation from me - but she only went one day a week, which made it harder for her to get used to it. But it took a good six weeks before she wasn't upset when she was dropped off. Although I'm sure it was more difficult for me than her

It will all work out. It will be hard for both of you to start with, but it will get better. And do give it 6-8 weeks for both of you to get used to it. DD absolutely loves going to nursery now and I'm really pleased we stuck with it.

Good luck!

Both the nurseries I've used have either a double buggy in a corner for kids to nap in, or bring the child's own buggy in if necessary. In fact I had to push them to try and get Ds down in a cot! So don't worry about the cot issue.

Also, if your DD doesn't have a comforter to take with her (mine didn't), our nursery suggested tucking a muslin between me and her whilst I was feeding her, and then taking the muslin to nursery for her to sleep with so it reminded her of home. No idea if it helped DD but it made me feel better

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Yesterday wasn't as distrastrous as I thought it was going to be. Couldn't find her red book for the HV / weigh-in so didn't go so didn't have to worry about bursting into tears.

Popped in to see my dad (who DD usually LOVES) en route to her second nursery settling-in session but she was still clingy, wouldn't take her cows milk so I was expecting a complete meltdown at nursery... But she was fine! They said she had a little crawl about (she usually sits still when unsure of somewhere) and prodded a couple of the other babies/kids and didn't even look around for me! The nursery staff seemed impressed, so I was obviously proud mummy (but a little sad she didn't really notice I wasn't there!!!!).

Today - and this is big news for us - she had 1.5hrs nap in the cot and went down without a fuss! I can't tell you how delighted I was! She's got a very sore bottom and face (nappy rash and eczema from teething) so I suspect that's why she was clingy yesterday and I've decided I'll express enough breastmilk as a backup in case the nursery can't get her to take cow's milk.

So all in all, feeling much more positive and less panic-stricken than yesterday!

I've got a copy of the nursery's day/timetable and it's pretty much what we do now anyway... And yes they recommended introducing a comforter too. They said they use a buggy for naps as a last resort (baby room upstairs so can see why).

She'll be doing 2 days at nursery and a day with grandparents (whilst I work 3 days pw) so it's a big adjustment all round and I'm sad it's the end of an era (ie mat leave) and feel apprehensive about what is going to become the "new normal" and advice from others has been to expect a bumpy ride for the first couple of months and then things settle down, so I reckon what with Christmas coming soon, I'll give until late Feb

Thank you all though, your words were all very reassuring and helpful!