Sending My Baby to Daycare

I went back to work when my first son was 6 weeks old. I was teaching at a university and the semester began when it began, so I left him at home with a nanny. He took a bottle just fine, voraciously drank anything we handed him.

My second son never took a bottle. What a stinker! But he just never, ever did. By that point, I was working part-time from home as a freelance writer, so another nanny stayed with my boys upstairs and I’d have to stop what I was doing every few hours to nurse. It was disruptive and unproductive. At times, I felt like it was more frustrating than just not working at all. As soon as he turned a year old, I went back to teaching so I could get some work done outside the home.

Not sure what would happen with my third son and back to working from home, I arranged for a nanny to come to our house to take care of my wee babe and my toddler. (My first-born child is now in school all day! I can’t believe it.) I tried to ease back to work, but my sons pretend our basement office is an elevator and try as she might, our nanny just can’t keep a pair of boys quiet enough for me to conduct a research interview over the phone. Nobody could achieve such a thing without tranquilizers.

Things were confusing for my toddler–sometimes it’s ok to talk to me while I’m nursing the baby, but sometimes he needs to be quiet and play peacefully and not go in the elevator. Also, who was really in charge while Mommy was home but not available?

By the time Oren was 4 months old, I knew we needed another arrangement.

Since my third son is another eager bottle drinker and I need to work, even though it’s only 2 days per week, I sent the younger boys to daycare.

The first day, I agonized packing their bags. Would the baby miss me terribly? Should I sleep with his blanket under my pillow so it smelled like me? How many outfits should I pack? How many ounces of milk? I texted the daycare owner throughout the day.

When I came to pick the boys up, I got the following report: Oren only napped for 15 minutes, drank all of his milk, and his brother hit him in the head. So basically, just like a day at home!

I haven’t looked back since. In fact, I might have gleefully skipped home to my “elevator” after putting the biggest brother on the bus this morning. My boys are all off in places where they are being lovingly, attentively cared for out of my earshot. I’m home in my office working peacefully, and then we’re reunited and our typical chaos ensues.

I will concede that pumping every two hours is pretty annoying, but of course my child needs to eat and now that I have my hands-free pumping bra it’s barely disruptive. What a wonderful feeling, to know I’m able to continue working, my sons are taken care of, and my youngest is still drinking milk biologically designed just for him.

I give daycare an A+.

Have you sent your breastfed baby to daycare and loved it? Leave a comment to share your story.