In the majority of American families, both parents are employed, necessitating the need for infant daycare. Particularly when trusting your infant to a daycare, quality childcare is at the top of the list for any working parent. It can be difficult to trust your infant with someone new but having the right questions at your disposal can make all the difference.
Most Important Questions
- One of the most important questions sets to cover is regarding the proprietor’s training and education: are they trained in CPR and First Aid? Have all staff members taken child care classes? Aside from references and previous positions, some questions can help you to shine a light on how they might deal with difficult situations that arise with your infant.
- Asking how they have handled a difficult situation such as a baby crying uncontrollably, or a childcare emergency can give you an insight into their character and patience level. Getting an idea of their flexibility and daily routines will also help you to make sure they are the right fit for your family.
- Information on their license and accreditation and exactly who will be allowed to be around your child are important points to cover. Emergency procedures and plans and how they would plan to notify you in case of an emergency are good topics to cover as well. Asking about their closings and policies for late pickups will also help you to plan accordingly if anything comes up on your end unexpectedly.
- The child to caregiver ratio is one of the most important to ask, as it tells you how much attention your infant will receive. Ask how they handle breast milk or formula bottle preparation and what the schedule of a typical day for the center looks like. Security measures were taken by the center, and the licensure and accreditation information are also crucial points to cover.
- Infants reach many milestones in the first year of their lives. How will the center track any milestones reached while they are spending time with your child? You can ask what programs are in place at the center to track and support infants reaching milestones such as transitioning from a bottle or crawling for the first time.
- If allergies are common in your family, you’ll want to check in with the center about how they watch out for signs of an allergy. How do they handle allergies of other children at the center?
- Finally, it’s a good idea to get a sense of their policies. Can you drop by whenever you’d like to breastfeed or just check in? What are their policies regarding illnesses and immunizations? How often do they sanitize the materials used by the center? Do they take the children out of the center and how would they transport your child?
Having the right questions at your disposal can help ease the process and give you more confidence and comfort.
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Top Daycare Centers was started with a simple mission - To help parents like us find the safest, most reliable and trusted daycare and child care centers and services near your area.
4 Comments
Your advice to ask them about their training and education as well as how they handle difficult situations or emergencies would be important. When choosing one, it might be a good idea to research local infant care centers so you can find any answers to these questions in order to narrow down your options. Once you’ve done this, you’d probably want to call and set up an appointment so you can visit the center and meet the staff in order to ask questions and discuss your child to determine which one can best care for them.
I like your suggestion to ask how they handle difficult situations to help you determine their level of patience and character. I recently had a baby but will need to start working again soon, so my husband and I are trying to find the right infant care service to use. I can see how asking about difficult situations would provide valuable information, so thanks for sharing that tip!
Thanks for the tips on what to ask potential child care providers. I am trying to find the right child care center for my son since I have to go back to work soon. I will have to make sure to ask them about the caregiver to child ratio like you suggested.
I like your suggestion to ask about the security practices of the daycare provider in addition to the ratio of children to caregivers. I need to find an infant and toddler childcare service for my new daughter before I need to return to work next month. Asking your suggested questions should make it easier to find a childcare service I can trust!