sending little one to nursery

[nicg85]

Dd is nearly 5 months and I will be returning to work sept/ October.
She will be going to nursery 2 or 3 days when I'm at work.
The last few days I've been thinking about how she will be at nursery.
I know it's a way off yet but I'm dreading her going.
She spends 24/7 with me and will then have to leave her
I know she will probably love nursery and I bet most mums dread leaving their child but it's upsetting me thinking about it.

Do most LO'S love going to nursery?

[Dixiechick17]

My DD started in November and has had every bug going so far, but so have my friends babies that haven't been to nursery, that's winter for you and mum and baby groups.

[Artistic]

I completely agree that most babies do fall ill in the autumn months. It's just that mine was too poorly & running a temperature every Wednesday evening (after being at nursery for mon, tue, wed mornings). It was mostly a viral but so draining to see her spend thurs to Sunday battling fever and colds only to get better by Sunday and bring it all back by wed! I do think mine was rather sad to be left at nursery and that further reduced her immunity (guessing!!). She enjoyed all the activities and the staff were good, but she was just so heartbroken to leave me each morning and wept when I went to collect and clung to me all afternoon. She's different at the cm where she sobs a bit at drop off but still runs inside and is very happy at collection time. And she does 4 full days now. Perhaps it was down to her personality and needs that cm suits better.
My older DD loved nursery from the age of 21 months - so I have nothing against nurseries at all. It's just that autumn is a tough time to start nursery and just wish someone had told me that, so am telling OP.

[nicg85]

Thanks for your comment everyone!
Although I'm now worried about my dd catching colds, bugs etc...
She will be starting in sept or oct. I have to return to work in October so there's nothing I can do about that.

How did you guys go on if your LO was ill and couldn't attend nursery?
Did you take time off work? And if so did you just take holiday leave and were your employers ok about this?

Thanks :)

[Salene]

Mine started at 11.5 months, odd tears here and there now he is 18 months there is never tears and he is always full of smiles when he arrives and waves me off quite happily

He loves it

He goes 3 times a week

[MummaGiles]

It's hard to imagine it at 5 months, but you won't believe how different she'll be by sept/oct. I put my DS in nursery full time at 10 months and he took to it really well and settled quickly. He is very happy there and has come on significantly with his development.

[Salene]

Don't worry about her falling ill, they need to fall ill to build their ammune systems up

As my husband works away I have no choice but to take dependants leave when my son is ill. Which is unpaid leave meant for looking after sick kids etc.

[pitterpatterrain]

For illness we have been fairly lucky so far but when DD is ill one of us will take the first day off where we can, and then we take her to grandparents the other side of London for day 2 if she is not getting much better as two days plus in a row is harder to sort out in the work schedule

As I am I PT we have also been "lucky" that her illnesses may be on that day as well (Wednesday)

Rare that she has had anything all week, I can't think of a time that happened

DD first went to nursery at 6 months and is now 2.5 and she still loves going (most of the struggle is getting her home in the evening!)

[Fluffy24]

Our nursery are great so DS only missed a few days when he had hand-foot-and-mouth, the rest of the time they're happy for him to attend, with a bottle of calpol if necessary, if he feels up to it. He's gone home early a couple of times with a persistently high temperature, though i think teething and vaccinations were factors then too, but generally even if he is coughing/sniffly being in nursery seems to take his mind off things and he's only been upset at being left once or twice in the past 9 months.

I've taken holiday for the odd day but am allowed to take unpaid parental if necessary.

[ParsleyTheLion1]

My DS started nursery at 10.5 months last November (3 days a week). He has only ever cried once when I left him (in the first week). Since then, he actually seems really pleased whenever he goes. And grins broadly at any nursery staff we meet on the way in. Whenever I walk into the room at the end of the day to pick him up, he's either being held in a cuddle by someone or he's happily engrossed in some toy or something.

However, there has been one major difficulty. Like Artistic and Mrsog he has been ill very often (fevers, V&D, nose permanently encrusted with green/yellow snot, coxsackie virus infection (the same one that gives hand/foot/mouth)). Consequently, I've had to take far too much time off work (mother lives abroad and DH doesn't want to do childcare and earns much more than I anyway, so don't really feel I can leave it to him). MOre importantly, though, DS must feel pretty rotten a lot of the time and I feel guilty that effectively the child care I've chosen has caused that.

[ParsleyTheLion1]

Forgot to mention the other drawback to prepare yourself for: generally DS will have one big nap a day (90 minutes or so). At nursery, he often only manages 40 minutes. And from talking to my friends it seems like daytime naps are slightly compromised at nursery.
Which probably contributes to DS's susceptibility to colds/illnesses.

[ParsleyTheLion1]

Salene do you know what statutory dependant's leave entitlement is?
I think at my work you're allowed max 1 week per annum paid leave for caring responsibilities. And then any more is up to the discretion of my line manager and would be unpaid.
I accept that the leave would be unpaid, but I always thought you were entitled by law to more than 1 week p.a.

[Dixiechick17]

At my work we're allowed up to five days dependent leave. My husbands only allow it to be taken as emergency holiday.

Naps for us have been fine, my DD has up to three naps at nursery, one of which is more than an hour, probably will differ from one to the other.

[Artistic]

Parsley - totally agree. Mine was a poor sleeper to begin with and at nursery had a little 40 min nap - which surely aggravated her health (not to mention needing another nap at 5pm which shot her night sleep too). However most of the problem was down to the nursery who did not have a separate baby sleep room that I saw at some others. All children that slept were put to sleep together which am sure caused more noise and consequently woke the poorer sleepers. I'd certainly recommend every nursery having a separate sleep room for under 2 year olds.