Need Tips on Gradual Entry For a 11 month old!!

[Brooke91]

So I have a 11 month old starting today came for an hour this morning.. Cried for the first 20 minutes on and off.. But after that it was great he was watching the other kids play and was just starting to get up and play with his own toys, when mom showed up to get him.( the hour was over)

I'm just not sure how many hours he should be staying. I don't think an hour is long enough.. But I'm not sure mom will be comfortable starting him full time till June. Seeing as she starts work full time June 11 and wants to spend as much time with him before she starts back..

Help roughly how many hours should I have him over for and also should I start transitioning him to only 1 nap in the afternoon when the others go down.. Or should I keep him at 2 naps?? Or should I be asking his mom?

[monkeymama]

I usually start kids off full time all day...they transition faster that way. However, if parents want a slower transition I have done half days before. An hour spent there is nothing. All it is, in my opinion, is disrupting the day. Does very little to help the transition. The biggest thing is making sure he is on a consistent schedule at home, is napping and eating at the same time he would at your house. I like kids to be at 1 nap but if not I do the transition slowly over a few weeks at my house. Make sure he is comfortable eating finger foods, drinking from a sippy and self soothing. All those things make transition much easier. Good luck!

[gramma]

I agree with monkeymama. I prefer to jump in with both feet. Transitioning slowly only seems to prolong the misery. Starting kids slowly is usually because mom cant let go. try to urge her to start him the week before she starts works so that he is comfortable before she has to sit at work wondering.

[Judy Trickett]

I don't do gradual entry either - it just delays the inevitable - a full day without mom. I do the cold Turkey approach here and kids transition much faster that way.

When you gradual entry it just screws with the kid, IMO. So, the first day he stays until just after morning snack. Well, the next day as soon as snack is over what do you think that kid is thinking? He's thinking it's time for him to go HOME! And then he doesn't. Then lunch comes and finally his mom shows up. Day three, lunch time comes and goes and, once again, he anticipates going home again but ...NOPE....that day he is expected to stay until after naptime. So he frets and is upset because his "clock" is set and he tells time by what is happening and no one comes to take him home at the time he expected that to happen.

[Momof4]

Full days from the beginning and full time as fast as possible - I agree!

[zoomama]

i agree with the others. i generally don't even take children on a p/t basis, but i did accept one little girl for 4 full days/week. i won't do partial days at all, though. the first few days may be a bit more difficult for the little one when they have to quit mom cold turkey, but overall, far less painful for everyone. i also ask parents to do a quick drop off. hard on parents, but MUCH easier on child and me!!

[Crayola kiddies]

Full days are definitely easier

[Brooke91]

Okie. So I've got the little one coming for half days for the next 2 weeks.. Then after that he starts full time.. He will be 12 months by then.. I am wondering, how others kids adjusted to daycare. The other kids all have fun and don't fuss alot, granted they ate older.. When do you think thevlittkeone will be comfortable crawling around and exploring?

And also he seems to fret whenever we move to a different part of the house and to outside??

[mimi]

He will quickly learn the routine of your daycare and not fret when another activity starts as he will have learned to anticipate what comes next thus eliminating that anxiety. Newbies will start to feel comfortable exploring as long as they can keep you in their sight and will often come back for a cuddle of reassurance and then go off and play again.
The only reason I may do half day transitions is if I have a nervous mom, but I only do a few days before they start full time and I am firm about quick drop offs.

[playfelt]

If mom doesn't go back to work till June 11 I would say it is too soon to consider integration because it has to happen over and over for it to become familiar to the child and the parents - integration is for the parent not the child - it is so mom can gradually wean herself off her dependency on the child and realize she has to go to work, etc.

The week before care is to start child does integration and comes at what would be the mom's normal drop off time as in they are practicing and adjusting the morning routine at the same time. Mon child stays for an hour, Tues child stays two hours or till morning nap but goes home to nap, Wed child stays morning and has snack and nap but goes home before lunch, Thurs child stays till just after lunch, Fri child stays the full day.

[Trace of Angels]

I guess I am the odd man out......I have always done slow transitions and introduced children to daycare slowly and in all my kids I have never had the "cry all day" except for the only one I didn't do that for..........but that's just my opinion, it's always worked in my favour. When I worked in licensed centre care we did the cold turkey and I would say at least 75% of them cried all day for anywhere from 1-6 weeks.