I think you all know that Peanut started daycare right before 3 months. To prepare, I did what any other mom would do - I bought more stuff.
Here’s some of the stuff you should consider for your kid’s daycare needs.
Bottles.
Yes, I know, this one’s obvious. Since I’m breastfeeding, we decided to buy Medela bottles to fit my Medela pump. I love these bottles and have them in two different sizes. But after a couple of weeks, we started packing Peanut up with the Playtex drop-ins.
Because they’re really pretty amazing at cutting down on the spit-ups, super easy to put together, and warm up twice as fast. I won’t even get in to the clean-up.
Needless to say, you’ll need some of the drop-in bags.
Labels.
There are a bunch of kids at daycare, and regardless how special and unique you think you may be, chances are - someone else already has the same bottles, tops, etc. So label are a must.
I bought these inchbug labels for the bottles and sippy cups (the website). I have to tell you - I absolutely love them. They’re dishwasher safe, easy to slip on and off, and super cute. I bought 2 sets of 4.
In addition to the slip-on labels, I got some stickers from Etsy (Gloria’s stickers). These are also pretty durable in the dishwasher (this one has been through at least a couple of dozen times by now) and, again, they’re super cute. I use the stickers for all the loose parts and other miscellaneous pieces. They work great when you want to find the one missing cap (this happened to me).
Containers galore.
Once you’re in the “solid” food stages (honestly, I don’t really consider that food to be all that solid), you’ll want some baby Tupperware. These are different from adult Tupperware because they’re cuter (are you sensing a theme here?) and because you get to shop for some more stuff. I love these Take and Toss containers - they come in various sizes, are dishwasher safe (seriously though, I am always freaking out about germs), and cost very little.
Blankets and pacis.
These cotton blankets (gifts from the baby shower) are amazing for daycare - they’re lightweight, but warm enough to battle the A/C. And we’ve recently switched to the 6+ month pacifiers (because I was running out of things to buy…you are sensing sarcasm, no?).
Seahorse
Finally, Peanut absolutely loves her seahorse for naps. We actually just brought it to daycare on her very first day and left it there. It’s her snuggle toy, her comfort item, her lullaby.
What do you pack your kid for daycare?
Are you about to go back to work? Are you nervous?
Remember when I had to go back?
Well I don't have a kid in daycare, but I do work in daycare :) In the place that I work in we provide all the food during the day for every child, including the babies, however the parents have to bring in the bottles and formula every day. We also have a spare set of clothes for each child, and get the parents to send in diapers, wipes and cream whenever we need more. Other than that, what the parents send in varies from child to child, some of the children come in with their pacifiers or blankets, one of our children has his sleeping bag.
ReplyDeleteOh, I almost forgot, the most important thing for summer weather is getting parents to send in sunscreen and sun hats for when we go outside. {not that we're getting much sun in Ireland this summer :( }
We used Inchbug, too! We also have lots of bibs and extra clothes :)
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I saw this post I went out and bought some of those take along bowls. I love them! I am making Emma's food now so it's so easy to defrost the food in and take it with me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Emma has that Seahorse (in blue, not sure why we got the blue one at our shower...) and she loves it. She mainly uses it as a toy now but when she was little (wow, I say little like it was forever ago! She's supposed to still be little...)she always fell asleep to it.