Is it advise able to send lo to infant care? Any recommendation of infant care? How early do we need to start queuing for infant care / care child?

I registered for my gal (now 3yo) for a place at the ifc when I was 4 weeks pregnant. Yes, that's like almost immediately after Clearblue gives us the go-ahead. We knew we only have this option since I need to go back to work after 3months of maternity leave. Hence, my gal started ifc when she was slightly below 3 months. Pros and Cons, having a child at ifc. Cons: More susceptible to common diseases like flu, cough or even hfmd. So if your company can provide insurance for your dependants, just purchase it! Pros: Like many shared, the child will get to be more independent at a faster rate, like self feed, soothe, etc. Less issues with separation anxiety too. I don't go for "branded" ifc. I chose one that is convenient for us to pick her up after work without rushing to a great extent (since I have an older kid in after school care). My First Skool and PCF are the more common neighborhood childcare with ifc facilities. The fees are also friendlier to your pocket but do expect that the child to teacher ratio may be maxed out at such places. Hence, your child may not get loads of individual attention.

My little on has been at IFC from 3 months - I am really Glad we did it. We are both full time working parents, so we don't get to spend much time except weekends with her. So I credit a lot of her academic development to her infant care. At 17 months now she's really friendly with no stranger anxiety and she's talkative and is able to do things a lot of kids her age can't. like she's comfortable being centre of stage and presenting to people (as school does show and tell), dancing and singing (she is able to sing along to twinkle twinkle and show the actions of head, shoulders, knees and toes song), running, jumping, climbing and she speaks English but understands English, Bahasa indonesia and mandarin well. She goes to a Montessori infant care school.

Mm ... I got 4 kids and 3 of them are from Infant Care. Yes, the cons is definitely that they will fall sick during the 1st 3-6 mths as they are exposed to more viruses in the centre as there are so many students. However, the cons are much more. They can learn really lots of things and learn the different skills. When they reach toddler level, it is also easily for both as they are already used to the routine. You should try to get an infant care most convenient for you. I queued as early as when the baby is born as we would need the Birth Cert number for registration.

Most of my friends only send their children to infant care because they have to return to work. For the SAHM, they usually only send their children to preschool for learning and exposure to other children. I guess it's up to your needs and requirements. Heard that for popular infant/child care centres, the waitlist could be longer than 1 year. So best to call up early if you are considering one. :)

I'm a strong advocate of IFC becos have seen at least my child's centre doing a fantastic job in caring for her. Use discretion when choosing. U can tour the centre to roughly see how they handle children. Agree that they will fall sick more often but make sure you get the necessary immunisation done. We queued when my wife was 2 months pregnant! Very scary wait.

It depends on which area you are staying. Popular area like Punggol needs to be enrolled early due to overwhelming new babies. Look around for reviews and visit the centre. Make a reservation If you are keen in that school now.

If u are a working mum, ifc is recommended. They are exposed to many activities and are able to learn many things there.