Q&A: Packing for Daycare

I get quite a few emails from friends and readers asking my opinion or advice on things baby.  Not that I pretend to have all the answers, but I do read lots of baby blogs and articles, plus I am creative and organized so sometimes I come up with something that works pretty good.

Since I am typing out emails to people, I thought I would share some of the answers with you just in case you want to hear my 2 cents.  Here is the first post of my new Q&A series:

Any advice on packing the baby’s stuff for daycare, aka “school?”

I personally have 2 different bags for the baby.  Ones is my stylish diaper bag, packed will all the essentials for an outing.   The other is just a school bag, which goes with her, and stays in her cubby, at school.  In my mind they are 2 different things with different needs.  My diaper bag is always packed with what I need and if it went to school, I might not know what they used and what needs to be refilled.  So I keep a separate bag for school.

The school bag is a Land’s End canvas bag with her name on it.  I keep 2 changes of clothes, trash bags for dirty ones, samples of lotion and other creams (only over the counter stuff, I have to have a note for anything prescription) and a can of ready made formula in there.  I bring diapers to school in bulk, and I take her bottles pre-mixed everyday.  The ready made formula is just in case something random happens to one of her bottles at school, or she gets super hungry one day.

I drop her off, and The Husband picks her up.  He brings her bag, along with the empty bottles, home everyday and I start the cycle over.  Anything they used, I fill up for the next day.  He also brings home her daily activity sheet, so I know when she last ate and slept.  If your baby goes to a home care that doesn’t do daily sheets, I highly recommend them.  That way you know how she ate, slept, what activities they did and if she is having regular diapers.  If you want to see a copy of the sheet my school provides, just email me.



I also just bought some Mabel's Labels to label her bottles and lids with, so I can't wait to see how they work.  I have some regular labels on there now from my label maker, but since I sterilize in the microwave, they are getting burned and peeling.  Ick.