My son is 9 months old and has been at nursery for 2 months now.
What you need to take all depends on the nursery, as they are all different. His provides nappies, wipes, formula, snacks and purees. He has his own assigned cot, with bedding provided by the nursery which is washed once a week (unless there's an accident). They give me a pre printed handover form at the end of each day with details of his feeds, sleeps, activities etc written in.
I knew he would need spare indoor clothes (in case of accidents) to keep at nursery, and a warm coat/snowsuit, hat and mittens for going outside. I also made sure to have lots of spare bib/bandana things to keep at nursery for when he's teething and dribbling a lot. So that was all sorted.
What I DIDN'T fully prepare for, and was caught out by in the second week, was that parents have to provide all their own general OTC medication. So you need to make sure that you give the nursery (labelled with your child's name):
- nappy cream
- general cream for rashes, such as Savlon
- teething gel
- Calpol or Calprofen
The other things I sent at the beginning were two bottles for him to take formula and water from during the day. They live at nursery and the staff are responsible for cleaning and sterilising them (result!) Also a small Snoopy to keep him company in his cot.
One final thing: I ordered some name tapes done and sewed them into his coat, snowsuit and clothes so that there was no danger of getting them mixed up with another child's. As a result I've never had any clothes go AWOL but his shoes (which I couldn't sew a nametape into) did disappear for two weeks - apparently they were eventually found in another child's spare clothes box. After that, I haven't bothered sending him in shoes anymore. They don't like anyone to wear shoes in baby rooms, parents and staff included, and most of the babies seem to wear just socks, slippers or even bare feet if it's warm enough. Until your child is walking then you really won't need them.