Preparing baby for nursery

[Claire008]

My little one is 7 months, and I'll be going back to work when they are 13 months and sending them to nursery 2 days a week.

I know I have plenty of time but want to get prepared for the transition for little one and know time with fly by.

The nursery suggests baby be able to take a bottle and to self soothe for sleeps, as well as having been left with trusted adults before starting nursery. Currently baby is ebf, feeds on demand and has never taken a bottle. I can start trying to introduce a bottle, but doubtful they'll take to it and not sure if it is now too late as thought baby would be off bottles after 1yrs old and on sippy cups or something similar instead? Baby has an open cup for water with meals. I would be pumping for any bottle feeds and not will not be introducing formula/cow's milk after 1 as a personal choice (will be introducing plant based milks after 1 but will breastfed until baby self weans) but I'm not sure I can pump enough currently. I have a Medela swing pump. Is there anything I can do to increase pumping efficiency?

Also with self soothing I do not want to go down the sleep training route with any crying as a personal choice. Is there such a thing as baby learning to self soothe without letting baby cry? Baby currently feeds to sleep but know I'll have to change this which makes me quite sad 😢😭

Thank you 💖

I like the idea of leaving with trusted adult but will your baby need a bottle? They could use a cup of milk and you can bf mornings and night if you wish to continue.

Honestly, this is 6 months away, that's practically your baby's whole life again. There is SO little point even thinking about this right now.

Take a look at gentle sleep training if you want to break the feeding to sleep habit without much distress, and don't worry about the bottles at all. At 13m baby will not need any milk feeds in the day if you're still BF morning and night.

If you breastfeed morning and evening like @MolliciousIntent said, they won't need any more milk. They can have the plant milks instead at nursery. Alpro do a small carton with a straw and oatly barista will keep well in a bottle.

There's a massive difference between baby only able to fall asleep on you, to the sound of a certain song, with you rubbing her nose anti-clockwise (insert any other habits) ... and baby needing a few cuddles and a couple of pats on her back. They aren't saying leave baby to cry to sleep, they're just asking for you to not make it impossible for baby to sleep elsewhere.

A 13mo does not need a bottle, so I wouldn't worry about that at all. My ebf DD started nursery at 12mo and she's never taken a bottle. She has milk with me and water in a cup with meals at nursery. I did worry about how they'd get her to sleep, etc (as I tended to feed to sleep in those days) but within a week they were getting her down for naps just fine.

Honestly, nursery carers are miracle workers and you really don't need to overthink this part of parenting. Kids are adaptable!

my daughter was breastfed and a bottle refuser when she started nursery at 10 months - but by then she only really needed milk in the morning, evening and before bed ! So I used to just feed her before I dropped her, feed her when I picked up and then before bed

she just had water in the day there at nursery

she was well used to being left with others (my mum, a dad sister etc - and well used to spending time with lots of people

the sleep thing - I had her able to set settle - but at nursery they actually rock her to sleep cus they don’t let them cry in the sleep room as other babies are sleeping in there

youve loads of time though honestly don’t worry

Honestly, this is 6 months away, that's practically your baby's whole life again. There is SO little point even thinking about this right now.

This, really.

At 6 months, my baby was EBF and had never been away from me for more than an hour.

At 13 months, she settled into nursery in about 2 weeks without any particular effort.

They won't need a bottle at nursery for 2 days a week at that age. You don't know what will happen with their sleep over the next 6 months. They also settle completely differently for adults that aren't mum and dad.

If I could give you my honest advice, just enjoy where you are now and stop worrying about this. It's too far away and your baby is too small for you to be able to control any of it really.

They aren't saying leave baby to cry to sleep, they're just asking for you to not make it impossible for baby to sleep elsewhere.

But loads of people have babies that only nap facing southwest in a temperature of 19 degrees on the third Thursday of the month at home, and on a mat on the floor shoved in the corner at nursery.

Nursery sleep is different. There's no point worrying about it at home.

What everyone has already said!

far too soon, she'll change as much in the next six months as she did in the first 6 months, then a month is long enough to make any feeding/sleeping adjustments you want to.

the only things I'd start doing now is making sure she's used to mouse (friends around/baby groups/playground) and getting her used to being left with others. Sooner rather than later. Do that before she hits 9 months.

but mostly just enjoy your ML with her!!

I agree not to think about this now. So much will change on its own between now and then.

Mine started nursery at 12 months, was breastfed morning and evening - for the first month I would express milk that they would try and give her in a cup but she wouldn't take it so I quickly found out that it was a waste of my time.

In relation to naps - at that age, mine was fed to sleep & was a contact napper still. Again thought this would cause dramas at nursery but she slept in their cots absolutely fine.

I wouldn't stress

I think this is the least of your worries.

At that age babies do struggle with separation. SO I'd build up by saying how much fun it will be and that there will be lots of children to play with and lots of new toys too. I'd get them used to noisy situations by going to mother and baby groups and mixing with lots of other kids. And I'd get baby used to being left with eg a friend, a grand parent etc.

Just to echo what everyone else has said, DD is 12mo now and will be going to nursery at 13mo like yours.
She has been breastfed and I could count on my fingers the number of times she's ever had a bottle. At 7 months I couldn't imagine her ever not needing to breastfeed or going to sleep on her own, but now she does and she can go a whole day without breastfeeding (we still do morning and night) she just has a cup of cow's milk as a 'snack' if needed (no bottles). In 6 months time you will have a different baby to the one you have now, just start introducing sips of cow's milk a few times a week from 11months to get them used to the taste (just sips!) But even that's not essential after one, nor is pumping, unless you really want to.

This is exactly right!
I've worked in nurseries for years in the baby room and they definitely aren't expecting you to fully sleep train your baby and leave them to cry. I mean you can't leave babies to cry to sleep when there's loads of them going to sleep at the same time anyway!
Your baby just needs to be able to fall asleep not feeding really, because obviously if that's the only way he will fall asleep they can't do that! The staff at the nursery can rock, cuddle, pat your baby to get him to sleep 😊
I wouldn't worry about the milk or pumping he will be fine by then!

At 13 months baby wont need a bottle, so dont fret about that. I spent months in advance expressing milk so she could have a bottle at nursery and she refused them all and just ate her meals and snacks instead! We BF before and after nursery and it was fine.

IMO a good nursery adapts to the childs sleep habits and works with them. Our initial nursery didnt have time time or patience and poor DD would end up crying herself to sleep for 20 minutes and that was it. It was the main factor in removing her.

Current nursery did everything needed - cuddles, rocking, bum patting. My cosleeping feed to sleep baby now goes and lays on her mat and falls asleep unaided while shes there. MAGICAL! At home its a shitshow!

My baby started nursery 3 days a week at 13 months (and childminder the other 2 days).

She has never had bottles or formula. I just cut breastfeeds down to first thing in the morning and bedtime. On weekends with us and on childminder days she just drinks water from a sippy cup in the day. On nursery days they give her full fat cows' milk with her morning snack.

With us she only naps in the car or a moving buggy, at night she feeds to sleep. At the childminder's she sleeps in a stationary buggy and at nursery she sleeps on a mattress on the floor. They have lots of practice getting babies to nap!

We have no family help so she'd not been away from us before. She cried at drop-off for a week then was fine. She's only 14 months now and gets excited about going to nursery!