Daycare / Mother's Helper ???

Hi, my DD is going to be 10 months old at the end of the month and up until now my MIL has been watching her. Just recently she has been having some health issues and now can't watch my DD. My brother has been helping out a bit and friends as well...but time has run out and I need to find either a part time daycare or a "mothers helper". Can anyone suggest where to start???

This is so stressful because my husband and I work full time and neither of us can really take time off or take the chance of losing our jobs or me even working part time.

Re: Daycare / Mother's Helper ???

where do you need daycare?

Re: Daycare / Mother's Helper ???

I live in Holbrook and my MIL lives in West Islip.

Re: Daycare / Mother's Helper ???

As far as daycare is concerned look up a list of centers in your area (i.e. yellow pages, google, etc) and call and VISIT.
Take recommendations from other moms in your area, but visit anyway and form your own decisions.

Here are some things I would look at when it comes to daycares. I had a nightmare with our first one, which I would be happy to help you avoid if you FM me. Some may disagree with these suggestions, but here it goes:
1) Make sure they are licensed. Although this is not a fool proof way to make sure they aren't a nightmare, it is reassuring to know that state standards need to be met and that there is someone watching over them.
2) Check with the state and see if they have any complaints.
3) When you go to visit:
a) make sure that teachers and students are always in ratio (for your DC the state standard is 4:1...4 babies to 1 teacher). This means that when a baby is being changed the teacher's back isn't turned away from the other children. In our old daycare the changing table faced the wall so every time a baby's diaper was changed the teachers back was to the others.
b) make sure they have a curriculum and ASK TO SEE IT IF ITS NOT POSTED. If your baby has to be away from you, they should be getting stimulated.
c) look at the babies in the classroom, are they sitting in a bouncy staring at the wall? How are they handled and spoken to by the teachers? There should be artwork of some sort on the walls, a good indicator that they actually do things with the babies (baby artwork usually has just handprints/footprints/paint smears). Our first daycare had nothing on the walls.
d) Are the kids happy?
e) is the place clean?
f) ask the teacher to talk you through the kids day
g) find out the sick and infection control policy
h) if you see any of this: bibs around neck of baby who's in CRIB, babies left for extended amounts of time in their crib awake/crying, pacis tied around the necks of babies, babies left alone without stimulation, babies in bouncies with a staff member compressing the bouncy seat so that the baby goes up and down on it, babies not strapped in appropriately to gear (or any other safety issue), RUN AWAY.
i) note the teachers reaction to a baby who does soemthing "wrong". Keep in mind your baby would be transitioning in a matter of months to the next classroom, so make sure you visit the other classrooms and meet the other teachers.
j) make sure you get a report at the end of the day that not only includes when naps/diaper changes/feedings were, but also what your child did that day
k) ask them how they keep track of feeding schedules. Our first daycare didn't feed our DS at 3 months for 6 hours one time. There is no excuse for that.
l) check out the security of the place. Make sure no one can just walk in.
m) make sure the classes are divided appropriately. Toddlers should be seperate from little infants

Some of these suggestions come from personal experience from our 1st nightmare daycare center, the rest comes from things observed/said by daycares I visited. I am thrilled with our current daycare and DS is always happy there, which is important, because you don't want them to be miserable or scared when you are not there. Since they can't talk, you want them to be safe and you want to be able to trust the people caring for your child. Also make sure the teachers and the director are welcoming to any feedback (good and bad), where you don't feel that you would worry if you complained about something.

Sorry so long, but I've BTDT.