Questions to Ask Daycare Providers for Infants
Questions for comparing two or three places that would take your baby: staff consistency, whether her routine survives a group, what the whole thing really costs, and what current families say.
The questions
Open any question for the note
How many different adults would hold my baby in a typical week?
Why ask it
A better question than the ratio, because it captures floaters, closers and lunch cover. Three or four names is normal; a number the director cannot estimate means nobody is tracking who your baby knows.
If I write down her routine, which parts of it can you actually follow?
Why ask it
Invites an honest limit rather than a promise. "We can do the feeds, the naps will drift toward the room" is a more trustworthy answer than being told everything is possible.
What happens when three babies need something at the same time?
Why ask it
This is the real work of an infant room, and experienced staff answer it in specifics: who gets picked up first, who waits in a safe spot, who calls for help. Hesitating here suggests it is handled by improvisation.
How many people have left the infant room in the past year?
Why ask it
Turnover is the number most predictive of your experience and the one least likely to be volunteered. A count with reasons attached, maternity leave, a move, a firing, is a director being straight with you.
What is your licensed capacity for infants, and how many places are filled?
Why ask it
Tells you whether the room you are looking at today is the room she joins. A half-empty infant room feels calm on a tour and looks very different once it fills to licence.
Can I see your most recent licensing inspection report?
Why ask it
Nearly every centre has findings, so you are not looking for a clean sheet. You are looking for the same finding repeating year on year, and for whether they hand it over without tension.
What is the total weekly cost, and what do I pay for on top of it?
Why ask it
Diapers, wipes, formula, registration, a supply fee and holiday weeks add up to real money. Ask for the annual figure, because the weekly one hides closures you still pay for.
What days are you closed, and what happens when a caregiver calls in sick?
Why ask it
Closure days you pay for and cannot work through are part of the price. How they cover absence tells you whether the room runs short-staffed or pulls someone qualified in.
If we keep her home for a week, do we still pay, and does she keep her place?
Why ask it
Standard answers vary widely, and the honest version now saves an argument in flu season. Also ask how many holiday weeks, if any, are credited.
How do you record feeds, naps and changes, and can I see a filled-in sheet from today?
Why ask it
Anyone can show you a blank form. A completed one with real times on it shows whether the record is written as it happens or reconstructed at four o'clock.
What does your infant room do less well than you would like?
Why ask it
A director who names something real, an outdoor space that is too small, a room that is loud at lunchtime, is easier to trust on everything else. Being told there are no weaknesses is the answer to note.
Why did the last family with a baby here leave?
Why ask it
Most answers are mundane: a move, a parent going part-time, a grandparent taking over. A defensive or unclear answer is worth following up with current parents.
What do you do if a baby isn't gaining weight or seems behind?
Why ask it
You want to hear that they document, tell you early and stay out of diagnosis. Staff who either miss it or announce a conclusion are both problems, in opposite directions.
What if she cries most of the day for the first two weeks?
Why ask it
Some settling is normal and some is a sign this is not working yet. The useful answer includes at what point they would call you and what they would try before that.
How do you decide what to call me about during the day, and what waits until pick-up?
Why ask it
A bump, a refused bottle, a rash, a fever. Knowing the threshold means you will not spend the day flinching at your phone, and it prevents finding out at six about something from ten.
When a parent disagrees with how something was handled, what happens?
Why ask it
Ask for an example rather than a policy. A director who can describe a real complaint and what changed afterwards has a process; one who says it rarely comes up probably has no route for it.
Can I come by during the day without arranging it first?
Why ask it
Some restrictions are reasonable, especially around naps. An outright no to unannounced visits from a parent is unusual enough to ask about plainly.
Can I talk to two families who have babies in the room right now?
Why ask it
Current families, not selected testimonials or a family who left happily two years ago. Whether they can produce them at all is nearly as informative as what the parents say.
What would the first week look like for us, hour by hour?
Why ask it
Good places propose something graded: an hour, then a morning, then a full day. A place that expects a nine-hour first day has not thought about the baby or about you.
If we accept a place, what happens between now and her first day?
Why ask it
Deposits, forms, immunisation records, a home visit, a meeting with her caregiver. The order and the timelines tell you how organised the operation is before you have committed anything.
Comparing infant care options
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Compare on the things that are hard to change
- Staff consistency and turnover in the infant room, which no amount of goodwill from you can fix.
- Ratio and group size in the room, including the first and last hour of the day.
- Distance from your work, since it decides how quickly you can get there when they call.
- Total annual cost including closure weeks, not the advertised weekly rate.
- Whether the room moves babies up by age or by space, which decides how long she keeps her people.
How to run the visits so they are comparable
Visit at the same time of day
A room at 10am with everyone fed and rested is a different place from the same room at 4:30pm. Pick one hard hour and see each option in it.
Ask the same five questions everywhere
Turnover, ratio at closing, what happens when three babies need something at once, the total annual cost, and what they do less well. The differences between the answers are more useful than the answers.
Write it down in the car afterwards
By the third visit the rooms blend together. Note the specifics you saw, not your impression, since the impression will drift toward whoever was warmest to you.
What current parents can tell you that a tour cannot
- How often the familiar faces in the room have changed since their baby started.
- Whether the daily sheet matches what their baby seems to have actually done.
- What happened the first time they raised a problem.
- How pick-up runs at the end of the day, and whether anyone can tell them about the afternoon.
- What they would ask about if they were choosing again.
Deciding
Separate the building from the people
New paint, a bright playground and an app are easy to buy. A caregiver who has worked in the infant room for six years is not, and she matters more to your baby than the building does.
Take the waitlist seriously and early
Infant places are the scarcest kind of childcare in most areas, and lists often run months ahead. Get on more than one, and ask where you sit and how they move.
Notice what you were told versus what you were shown
Where a policy and the room disagree, believe the room. A stated safe sleep policy and a blanket in a crib are not two pieces of evidence, they are one.