gentle start V immersion - which to do?????????????

[booradley]

Hi, does anyone know of any reports etc or had personal experience of this?
I'm trying to weigh up which option I should go for. DD is 6 months old and will have to go pretty much full time in July.
I've found an excellent nursery with good rep etc but I don't know whether or not to :-
a) start her her gently with one morning per week and work up to two days, then all day etc gradually; or
b)wait til much nearer the time and start her off with a couple of days indroduction and then full time.
The nursery are happy to leave it to me but I'm completely lost, I thought I was doing the right thing by doing the gradual thing but dd was so distraught when I picked her up after an hour (it was the welcoming in session) I don't know what to do.
I know all babies get upset etc and it is a big change for her, new people, new surroundings, other babies - but am I doing the right thing - does anyone know of any studies or had experience of this.
I need to make a decision and I feel I need some more information / experiences - can anyone help?
Thanks

i tried to send my daughter just three times a week for a month, and then start full time. when she was 1.5 . it actually made it harder because she would spend a day with me, then be upset to go to nursery. over and over again. when she started full time she got into the routine and that was it. but 6 months is younger so i leave someone else to advise you on that age group...

Send her when you need to. 6 month olds have a very shaky appreciation of time, and an hour or half a day isn't going to feel much different to her. And a week feels enormous.

IMO it's not worth the money - you may feel she has "got used" to it by going every week, but the chances are it's just that she is older. Spend the time with her while you can.

Hi Boo,

So in July your dd will be 9-10 months, is that right? About the same age as my ds when he started nursery. He is now full time. I would wait until the fortnight you start back to work and use that fortnight to build up gently, starting with a couple of hours, then a morning, then until after lunch etc, and building in one important routine thing at a time, e.g. she takes her nap there, she takes a meal / bottle there. But take her every day and at the same time so that she knows this is the daily routine now. Yes she will be distraught to start off with, both at dropping off and likely even when you come to pick her up, but almost certainly the staff will tell you that she settles in between. This approach worked for us with a very shy little boy who was not used to other people at all. Now he loves it.

I meant the fortnight BEFORE you start back to work, duh.

We planned gentle start, but she managed to pick up a bug on her very first visit so it ended up being pretty much immersion! Absolutely no problems, though.

Thanks everyone, good advice all round.

both mine started nursery at 9 months - a good time developmentally imo even though teething can start to kick in then meaning they are under the weather a bit.

July is also a good time to start as the nursery will be quieter (many take the summer off if they have school age siblings) and also fewer bugs about!

i would do gradual build up at most for a month before you go.