Settling in sessions

[RebeccaP]

My DD (11 months) is due to start nursery at the end of May. She will attend nursery 3 days a week. The nursery have booked us in for two settling-in sessions. The first settling-in session (2 hours) I will stay with her and for the second one (2 hours) I will go upstairs to do paperwork and give her some time on her own. The nursery says this is normally an adequate amount of settling-in time for the babies, but my husband and I are very dubious and believe DD would benefit from more settling-in time. The nursery are happy for us to book some more sessions - so any opinions on the ideal number of settling-in sessions/ how long etc would be really appreciated. My DD is quite clingy and we really want to ease her into nursery in the best possible way.

Among my friends we have all got our toddlers into nursery ranging from one morning a week to full time, and they were all very different in settling in. My dd is quite homey and clingy, but amazed me by settling in immediately! My friend's dd is used to going to play with Granma and others for days at a time was awful and took lots of sessions. The nursery were brilliant though.
I really think you just have to take it at your dd's pace and see how she is, rather than try to guess how many will be needed. The nursery sound like they are happy for you to have as many as needed.
Best of luck with it

What you describe in terms of 2 settling in sessions was the way it happened for my DD at 13 months, to attend 3 days a week. I was dubious too, but went with what the nursery recommended and she was absolutely fine (of course it was me that was a mess the first full day I left her!). I think at that age it can actually be easier than later.

But you do need to be happy about the whole process and go with your instincts about what is right for your child because you have spent the last 11 months with her. Could you see how those first 2 sessions go and then book in 1 or 2 more setlling sessions if needed? I'm no expert but would say maybe don't do too many as then she'll get too used to your being there or too used to just short sessions. Most nursery staff have had good experience of setlling in all types of children - if its not working then you will need to question if its the right nursery. But it probably will be fine

For what its worth, I was really worried about the whole nursery thing, but by and large it has been really positive for both me and DD.

Good luck