Has anyone changed their childs nursery 1yr in?

[salt]

I'm thinking about sending my dd to a different nursery to cut costs but I have a couple of problems.

Firstly, I'm really happy with her current nursery, I really can't fault it. I'm sure the other nurseries are just as good but I find myself comparing other nurseries to her current one and they don't even come close. There's always just something I can't put my finger on.

Secondly, dd didn't settle into nursery well and is not particularly good at coping with disruption to routine. The thought of her being unhappy and crying every morning for months is awful.

She has been at her current nursery for about a year and is very settled there.

Has anyone else changed their childs nursery and how did their children handle the traansition? also how did you do it? did you phase one out gradually or stop one and start the other?

Sorry I have quite a lot of questions about this so any advice would be gratefully received!!

Salt,

My DS1 changed nurseries last year. Situation is a bit different in that he was older (aged three) and the reason why he had to change nurseries was that his old nursery basically couldn't handle him (he is on the autistic spectrum). BUT the thing that might be reassuring from your point of view is that he coped very well with the transition. We phased the transition in gradually, and he stopped going at the end of the summer term, which was helpful (although I realise that this won't apply in your case).

HTH

We moved ds1 after nearly 2 years to a cheaper nursery which was also much closer to home. He was absolutely fine with the new one right from the beginning, and never had any problems settling in. He was 2.5 at the time. I think it was so easy because the old nursery had quite small rooms, not much space to run around in, and was fairly formal, ie they did lots of numbers and letters even at that age. He was quite bored with it all. In comparison the new one was much more rough and tumble, more children, and more emphasis on playing so he loved it from the start.

We were going away for a month over Christmas so he finished at the old nursery in mid December and then started in the new one at the end of January when we got back. I think it was good to have a complete break like that so he felt as though he was starting a new phase of life. Is there any possibility you could combine the change with a holiday or something too?

For us, moving him was definitely the right thing to do. Hope it goes well for you too if you decide to go ahead.

I don't know if I could tye it with a holiday but that's not a bad idea.

I guess if I could hold out for another 6months I might be able to explain to her that she will be going somewhere else.

I'm glad you both found that it was a positive experience. It's reassuring to know.

I changed ds's nursery when he was 1y old, because the old one moved to a location I couldn't get to without a car (which i didn't have). I remember it as an incredibly stressful time!! Not the actual moving him, but having to decide what to do, make the arrangements, hope there'd be places elsewhere etc etc - just when i thought I'd got childcare sorted out... The actual change was fine, I moved him from one (which was much nicer than the new one) to another two, because the new nursery was more expensive so i couldn't afford it full time, and they didn't have a fultime place anyway, so i juggled around with a creche that was mornings only 3 days a week and two full days at the new nursery. He was a bit unsettled for the first week or so, and i remember disturbed nights for about a fortnight (I guess he was having nightmares, but can't tell at that age), but it did soon settle down. We moved him again at 2 years old, because we were moving house. Again, it went fine - no disturbed nights this time!!

Miranda - that was more what I was expecting... sleepless night for a few weeks but I am expecting lots of heartbreaking tears every morning too.

I moved ds to a new nursery at 15mths because I had a disagreement with one of the staff, and given that ds was going to be with her for another 12 months I didn't want him to be 'picked on'. She refused to look after him because she thought he had Hand, Foot & Mouth regardless of what the GP said (it def. wasn't, he was teething and had chewed his thumb raw). The transition to the new nursery went without a hitch, but again I wasn't happy because they didn't seem to be encouraging him to do anything, so I moved him again just before his 2nd birthday - again this move went without a hitch - luckily we (ds & I) were much happier with the 3rd nursery. With each change we just did it in one go so that ds didn't get confused.