Question

Has anyone actually switched daycare centers for their little one? If you have please tell me your reasons. My son will be attending a daycare center soon and I would like to know what I should watch out for. Thanks

Answer 1

Yes - when the home daycare lady left my son in a room to cry alone for over 2 hours and then told me he was “terrible” - he was 6 mths old. That was the last day he attended there! She is since out of business - thank goodness!  

Comments

@cozenage92 I had the same issue- she told me he would cry when she left the room.  

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Omg. I can’t. I hope you contacted dcfs.  

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Did she leave him Alone for 2+ hours? She’s lucky I only pulled him out and didn’t report her - shame on me for not reporting her!  

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@disuse I’m sick that I didn’t - I was a first time mom - didn’t know what to do except never send him back - I’m embarrassed about it now

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Ugh. Yeah. We all have those moments. It’s easy in retrospect to realize we should’ve done things different. Life lesson for sure!  

Answer 2

Food is a concern for me right now. And the app that they use only gives you an update at the end of the day. Most days they send photos which is nice but I was used to having access to the latest info such as what he ate and diaper changes etc in real time. I would ask about extra fees as well. I swear they told me summer camp would be 50 or less since my son is 2 next month but they just said its mandatory and $75. Goodluck!  

Comments

We moved and switched to a daycare here, love and miss the one we had before when he was a baby ☺️

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@simplify can I ask where your child is at now

Answer 3

Yep. Just switched the beginning of January. Teacher turnover and student/teacher ratio. which they were written up for last May. Be sure to look at the violations on the dcfs website. Plus, most of the centers cost around the same. I took a hard look at ROI and our new place offers so much more.  

Comments

@disuse can I ask where this was and what center your at now

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I’ll message you.  

Answer 4

We did. We liked our previous center alright but there was an issue with biting—our kid was getting bit multiple times a week. I know it’s the age (she was a toddler at the time) but we just felt like after months of this happening that it wasn’t going to be resolved and we decided to move her. If you ever have concerns at your daycare don’t hesitate to bring it up to the staff. A good place will work with you to figure out solutions. We kept getting “we can’t tell you what we’re doing but we’re handling it” over and over and weren’t happy with it.  

Comments

@dull4474 oh my gosh! Can I ask where that was and where your daughter is at now

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I’ll pm you, don’t want to name it publicly because it was a while ago and they could have improved since then.  

Answer 5

I sent you a PM. We moved him from home daycare to Kensington Naperville South.  

Answer 6

When my daughter was two we did switch daycare‘s. I noticed that the woman was constantly changing diapers and always had her back to the kids and I felt it was unsafe for me to even leave. Multiple times I had to take kids off of tables and stop them from hitting each other with objects. Plus she was always sick and one time I noticed the teacher went to call the front desk for help and nobody answered. There was a really sick kid there at the time and when I came back to pick up my daughter that really sick kid was still there. I had had enough and gave them my notice. We switched to a new place and it was great.  

Comments

@cosette6 omg I'm so sorry can I ask where that was and where your daughter is at now

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I'm in north Naperville so I don't think you'll be looking up there? If you are PM me.  

Answer 7

I just want to remind everyone (maybe some people just don’t know). that dcfs has a website were you can look up licensing- both in home and centers AND look up violations. The codes will tell you what the violations are for. Please, do your research. I know stuff can happen anywhere but let’s do our homework ladies!  

Answer 8

We switched bc in 6 weeks I had to leave work (in Oakbrook) and pick her up early from the center 6 times due to various reasons, and overall just decided an in home was a better fit for us

Answer 9

Yes the daycare center my son went to kept the kids in bright fluorescent lighting all day long including for naps. They said it was a DCFS rule but other daycares were not doing that and would dim the lights during naps. I just thought it was very strange and my son was not sleeping well (taking 15 min naps) so I decided to switch. We actually found a licensed home daycare that ended up working out much better and he slept great there.  

Comments

@nuts8577 oh wow! Can I ask what center this was

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@cresset42772 I’ll PM you

Answer 10

We've been to a few daycares in the last 5 years. The first kept sending my daughter home when she was an infant bc of extreme diaper rash. It wasn't diaper rash it was her eczema on her butt cheeks. I got a doctor's note even explaining it and they still said it was diaper rash. Like they knew better than the doctor. Then we were at a daycare center we loved but the owner retired. We were so sad. Found a knew one and they were horrible. I can go on and on about their negligence but it was just stuff like my daughter was potty trained but she peed on herself and no one noticed so when I picked her up she was already mostly dry and not noticing she had a 102 fever but she was radiating heat and looked so flushed. My daughter also starting crying at drop off and not the I miss you cry but the I am horrified cry bc she was getting hit repeatedly by another kid and the daycares response was well he hits everyone even us. I went nuts and said if it happened again I was going to but the teacher so she knows how it feels

Comments

@buddha unbelievable! Can you message me the names of the centers for future reference

Answer 11

We never switched. Goddard School on Theodore. So far so good.  

Answer 12

Look for cleanliness, for furniture (believe it or not, some places have stuff around about to break). Yes all are dcfs licensed. Make sure to pay attention to fluorescent lighting, in my opinion it's not healthy to be under that bright light all day long. Pay attention to music. Some places play very loud kids music throughout the day. Ratio is also important. Feeding/food. I can go on and on. Please do your research and visit a bunch of them before you make decision as it is an important one. I have been working with children for many years and have run into all kinds of things that as a parent myself I would be extra cautious.  

Answer 13

We left one because there was an issue with a kid constantly hurting my son . they promised they would separate them, they admitted to an extent that the child has issues and they were working on helping the other boy with his anger issues (the kid was 2). The day care facility was supposed to call us when something happened but rarely did. The final straw for us was when I picked my son up after no phone calls and he had a welt right under his eye. Half an inch higher and his eye would have been damaged. The same troublemaker hit him in the face with a toy.  

Comments

@journey7 omg I'm so sorry

Answer 14

How old is he?  

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@gavial 2

Answer 15

All I can tell you is when I was in daycare as a little kid it was always a bad experience except for one place on frontage road around the Hinsdale/ Darien area. listen to your kids and if you can have family only or a friend you trust watch your kids and listen to your kids cuz they will tell you how they really feel and what is going on.  

Answer 16

I think most importantly is to just listen to his body language. He should be excited to go. Obviously he might be sad at first to leave you but if he’s crying uncontrollably and won’t leave your size that’s all the signs you need. Not sure where he’s going but check out lighthouse. My kiddos grew up going there. I worked there part time and it was amazing.  

Comments

@gambado ty I actually like in the Downers grove area