When to start nursery

[BingBongBoo86]

Hey all,

I’m looking for some advice/experience on when to start my nearly 3 year old at nursery.

DD1 is 3 in a few weeks. She hasn’t been to nursery/preschool before but has been to plenty of groups with me. She goes out with my DH, grandparents etc without me, no problem. When we visited the nursery she was really excited and didn’t want to leave.

All good but I’m due DD2 first week in September. Not sure if it’s a good idea to start DD1 at nursery then, wait until after October half-term or even January. I’m not sure what to expect in terms of how upset she’ll be when the baby is born. So far she’s been quite positive about having a baby sister but when I’ve shown her scan photos or family/friends have touch my bump she gets very clingy, telling me she loves me, wanting to be held etc

I’m worried it all might be a bit too start her at nursery when the baby is due. Any advice would be welcome as I’m going round in circles about when to start her!

Thanks 😀

Start her. Ds went to a preschool when dd was born. In fact he started while I was still in hospital and then came to visit. It was nice not to have to entertain him while settling dd, even for a few hours.

Is it a term time preschool or a year round nursery? If the latter could she start now? If it's term time only i would wait until October half term personally.

It’s term time only, otherwise starting her now would probably be best but it’s not an option.

If it’s a year round nursery could you get her in now? Even if it’s just a couple of afternoons a week to keep costs down if that’s an issue. Ours usually has spaces from the end of July as the older ones leave ready for school.

DC1 went to nursery as normal when DC2 was born, and it really helped me to have a few times a week when I could just chill on the sofa with baby and not be entertaining a toddler.

Thanks. Yes, thinking it might be good to have some time to get used to newborn. Worried she might just plain refuse to go though, lots of screaming etc. She’s very strong willed, not very easy going.

Ah, cross-posted. In that case I’d go for start as planned in September, maybe a week or two of shorter sessions to start if they allow that eg drop her at 10 and collect at 2 for the first week, then gradually extend it.

September is a good option for part time preschool as it runs in school years

I would check what their starting policy is. As Ds will start in September and they have 3 week intro where first week we have to stay with them and it’s 2hrs, second week we stay 1hr and then wait onsite 30mins, then back in 1hr. Then third week gradually leaving them without us.
you might not want to do this with days old baby.

I was thinking a couple of mornings in September, building it up to some more after half-term, depending on how she gets on. Thanks for your input, appreciate it.

I would sincerely advise against sending your DD to nursery at the same time as the new baby is due. Your toddler will likely feel pushed out and replaced, like you're sending her away to have more time with the new baby. If I were you, I'd avoid changing anything major in your DD's life until at least Christmas.

I was going to say this.

My DC1 started nursery last September, and loved it, was happy and excited to go every morning. Settled in really well.

DC2 was born in October and DC1, although madly in love with their sibling, really struggled with the adjustment. Would sob on a morning when it was time to leave the house, really didn't want to leave us at home, we all found it really hard. There was a few mornings I allowed her to stay home with us because she was so worked up, and eventually she could see that she was missing nothing. It also helped when I had recovered from my CS and baby and I could walk her to school. But I think it would have been an even harder adjustment for DC1 if starting nursery landed at the same time as DC2's arrival.

I would say to start in the January.

This is my gut feeling. Thanks for your advice.

Thanks for responding. I fear that your experience might become reality for us if we try nursery in September. My DD is sensitive to change so I think it’s going to be hard anyway without throwing nursery into the mix. I’m swaying towards a January start, she’ll be 3.5 and hopefully a bit more use to life with a new sibling.