Nursery age

[cutejeans]

Hi everyone,
Not sure if this should go under pregnancy or another topic but I just wondered what different opinions were..
What age is too young to start nursery? My son will be 9 months when I'm due to start back at university next September and so he would need to go to nursery for a few days a week. Is this too young? X

All depends on your circumstances.

I'm a SAHM but my own mum put me in to nursery full time Mon-Fri 8-6 when I was 6 months old because she and my dad didn't have a choice, they both worked full time and had no family around to help.

DD was 6 months old and I went back to work full time and she went to nursery full time , financial reasons meant I could extend my mat leave.
She’s 2 and now LOVES all the staff members, her nursery is perfect and they get deeply for her. Deffo not too young.
You have to do what works for you and your family.

Couldn’t extend my mat leave that should say

Not at all. My son went full time from 11 months and always loved to go. Not everyone has the choice so whenever it suits your family is the right time

Of course it’s not too young if you need the childcare! My 7MO old has just started and is doing great. I’d just get looking for a suitable one ASAP since not all nurseries take babies and because they have to have high staff ratios for that age waiting lists can be quite long.

My daughter went at 9 months and thrived!

My baby will be going to nursery at 6 months because I can’t afford to take any longer off work. I think it’s good for the babies to mix with others and form bonds with them, especially as will be an only child x

Mine started 2 days a week at 8m then 3D days a week at 10m and it was fine, he was fine.

Since children’s outcomes are heavily influenced by maternal education level.. go to university.

It's fine - the nursery we used could take them from six weeks, although it's unusual in U.K. for the mum to go back to work this early (one friend had to because of rubbish maternity pay and a mortgage to pay.

Mine went at a year old but I regret not putting her in earlier - from six weeks for half a day a week or so to get a break as we had no family help and I wish I'd gone back to work at six months.

They get a keyworker and deputy keyworker assigned who effectively became the extended family we didn't have and really helped her blossom and thrive at nursery!

Thankyou everyone, you've all made me so much better about it! I was worrying he'd be too young, but my partner works full time and I'll be starting back at university so won't really have another option! I'm a first time mum at 21 so just worrying about doing the best for him! X

Also, one big advantage I found with an earlier start was that we didn’t have to worry about separation anxiety. My eldest started at 15 months and it was really difficult but there was no problem at all with my 7MO.

Experience from people I know and myself is that after 1yo (maybe 15-18months) is much easier for them to adapt to nursery. There is a jump in social development and they became much more social and open, less attached to the parents.

However if there is the need, there is the need. DB went to nursery very young because my mum needed to go back to work.

9MO is okay, don't worry about it. When I was in the US, some mums stayed with their kids just for a few days/weeks and then went back to work

@cutejeans if it helps, most European countries only allow 3-4 months maternity leave as standard.

I believe the US is a matter of weeks

Around 8 months or 3 years in my personally opinion

I worked in a nursery for 5 years

Younger babies settled in alot easier than older toddlers

I would also suggest that your little one start about 6-8 weeks before you go back if possible and they will pick up every bug going and be sent home alot

• If you can do earlier than 8 months, great…

Ideal age is around 6/7 months for settling in period - Period to catch everything

Then start on a longer base term at 8 months

@WaterAndRichTea not necessarily. We had to delay starting nursery by a week due to hand, foot and mouth but after that she had 3.75 years at nursery and was only off sick for 3 days in that entire time. I got called once to collect early - although our nursery had a sensible Calpol policy where they'd ring to say child had a temp and could they give Calpol. If you said yes they'd give it, if temp wasn't down within an hour you had to collect, if it was then they could stay.

We have no choice, ours will be with a child minder at 6m full time.

@RidingMyBike

Well thats great for tour little one.

Iworked in a nursery for 5 years and i would say 90% of children, especially babies, caught everything going and we would always suggest starting atleast a month before mum went back to work

@WaterAndRichTea our DC has caught everything going, not always sent home though. Only once they ‘sent him home’ and he had a cough that they thought was covid. All other times I’ve just kept him off because he’d rather be snuggled when I’ll by me or his dad.

Another one that would say out them in at least a month before you start nursery so a) they can get some of the bugs out the way and b) you're not worried about them settling alongside getting back in the groove of uni

Oh yes definitely an idea to start them early! DS had most of week 2 off with a cold, luckily I wasn’t back to work yet.

Not too young at all. It’s not remotely unusual either because it’s when the ‘paid’ portion of maternity leave ends and lots of women can’t afford to have three months with no income. Plus your education is really important and will almost certainly be beneficial for your child’s future!

And yes I second the idea to start them a bit if you can! My DS picked up a lot of bugs in the first few weeks and I found it quite stressful.

We started our DD at six months just one day a week, I did this so that I could get used to being away from her, after a month I upped it to two days, and then when I went back to work she did three days a week and I found it easier to adjust. She loved nursery