The moment I found out I was pregnant, we immediately started to make several plans - selecting the name, nursery theme, and most importantly, where she would spend her days when I returned back to work.
Like most cities, daycares for infants have waitlists so it is important to begin searching early into the pregnancy. I did research online to capture questions to ask, scheduled tours, and hoped that we found one we loved. Fast forward 5 months, we adore the center she goes to and after having several conversations with friends who are expecting, here are some things I'd recommend to consider if you are looking!
Operating Hours - what time do they open and close? What holidays are they open or have adjusted hours? I know several friends who have faced their centers being closed many holidays and full weeks around the holiday. For our work schedule, it was important to have most of the days available with our varying work schedules.
Storage for Carseat/Stroller - we have a Doona and 2 car bases, so we were able to alternate our drop off and pick up by the day, while also having flexibility if something came up in either of our days. Our center has a closet to store our Doona or carseat.
Supplemental Activities - not only does our center have Spanish class and music class weekly for all ages (including the babies!), they also have holiday activities such as grandparent breakfast, parent breakfast, and a Halloween parade. It's nice to be able to interact with the staff and parents, but also observe my little one interact with her friends.
What They Provide - it didn't seem important when I was pregnant, but the fact that our center provides meals and snacks makes our mornings SO much easier. When I am food prepping and purchasing things, I only need to think about dinner and weekends. Also, they launder everything there and provide the crib sheets - I dropped off a few sleep sacks that they wash as well!
on another note, we few places we toured provided wipes or diapers, which we thought would be helpful because of the cost savings and effort to drop off more. We've tried several brands, and only Pamper diapers and water wipes work well for our little one, so it would have been tough if what they provided was something else.
Updates & Communication - our daycare uses "Procare", an app to upload photos, meals, diaper changes and naps. It is so helpful to see this information (especially the naps as we prepare for bedtime) but also I love to see the photos of her playing and doing activities while I'm at work!
Outside of this, there are things such as being quality rated, accredited, locally owned, the type of curriculum they follow, and other things that may be important as well. Typically the manager can share that information. For us, these were baseline requirements and expectations, which filtered our search down where the suggestions I listed made the difference.
One final note - always consider ways to say thank you to the teachers at your center! For each holiday, we create a gift bag for each of them. They do an amazing job caring for our little one and it is important to always recognize the hard work that goes into their job.