Pregnant and Worried

Well congrats on the soon to be bundle of joy!Its never to early to start thinking about who will care for your baby. I worked night with my 2 older kids and my kids didnt go into the daycare system until they hit about 3 and I sent them to a preschool. When my last child was born I worked for a mortgage broker and I ended up taking an extended leave, one due to the fact it slowed down so much and they couldnt afford to bring me back and two because I just couldnt find a daycare I felt comfortable with for my little guy, I really didnt like the Tutor Time when I checked it out, but that was about 20 months ago. I think home daycares are great for infants,(I am a home daycare provider so I of course will lean that way ) :) if you decided on the right provider the one on one attention an infant gets is great. Not saying large centers are bad, I just personally never found one I liked or if I did they really wanted some crazy amount that would leave me with nothing at payday and there wouldnt be a reason to really work. The frusteration led me to stay home and open my own home daycare. You just need to go with your gut when you meet someone. Go on a few interviews and check out centers and then go to a few home daycares. I do have a small home daycare in North Phoenix and I know of around 3 more if you would like a small list to get you going. If you check under the local business section here you will see many home daycares as well. Good Luck and congrats again, babies really are little miracles.

I don't know if Valley Child Care has a center in your area, but I absolutely love them.

My church will be opening a BRAND NEW child care facility in Scottsdale in August. It's called Oasis Child Enrichment Center and will provide care for Infant to pre-K. It will be faith based and a wonderful loving environment for any child there. It's located on 56th Street just south of Greenway - ###-###-#### at Oasis Community Church. Every LICENSED childcare facility has to adhere to VERY STRICT regulations, and can be closed down if they don't. My suggestion is that, wherever you choose, a) let it be licensed, and b) call the Department of Human Services and ask for a rule book so that you will be informed of what is and is not acceptable at a childcare facility, giving you the ability to report a facility that is not following guidelines properly. Knowledge is truly power in this situation.
Tutor Time is VERY expensive, and only takes children 12 months and up, by the way. Good luck, and don't stress, you have plenty of time to find the right place.

The best thing for you to try is to take a tour a several different daycares. They should smell clean, but not have an overwelming smell of cleanser. The staff should be kind and openly caring they should feel like friends, but as a mother alway trust your gut if somthing tells you there is somthing shady about the staff or just one person there probably is. You should be able to stop by unanounced though out the day. Keep your eye out for any safety hazards. They should have cameras throught out exsept in the areas where they change diapers. And number one ASK QUESTIONS even if your think it is a silly question ask anyway. You can always check with the better business beuroe (that is spelled wrong) and you can call cummunity resorce and referal and they will give you a few places to check out. I was very nervous about taking my girls to daycare, but I found this place on 43rd ave and northern, behind sonic, that I really liked and my girls loved it there. They even gave me a paper every day that said what they ate, what time they ate, when they took a nap and for how long, and it even had their general mood for the day. I really hope you have a wonderful pregnancy and congrats.