I feel sad. I want to delay putting my lo in childcare as much as possible. I want her to have a free childhood. But me and my husband are both working. Being a sahm mom is not an option because of financial issues. My mom who is her current caretaker when I'm at work told me that she wants me to send my kid to childcare asap. If not, find a babysitter elsewhere. I don't understand why she can't wait a few more months. The way she talks about my lo is like she's a burden. We give her the same amount of money she earns when she was working, for taking care of my lo. And we don't even ask her to do anything (house chores Etc) or buy anything. Just to take care of lo. I feel so guilty. I feel like I'm robbing my child of a carefree childhood. She has to start school so early (my mom asked me to put her in childcare at 18 mths) and won't stop till she starts working in adulthood. I just wish I can become a sahm and look after her myself. I teared looking at her after I pat her to sleep. If any of you have any positive words to share, please do. I need them right now.

Hey mummy, don't be disheartened! I had the same dilemma as you did several times - whether to put my son in infantcare when I went to school, and then subsequently whether to put him in childcare so I can go to work. For me, my parents were also the ones who wanted me to put him in childcare (so I could get a full-time job after graduation) while I was hesitant because I wanted to spend as much time as I could with him - especially when I already missed so many milestones while in school (he was almost 18 months old when I graduated). In the end, we ultimately settled down and decided to put him in childcare after he turned 2 years old - he had his first week in Oct! I'd say that if you're worried about play time, they don't have structured lessons yet - and learning is through play :) In fact, it's mostly free play because their attention span is only 10-15 minutes at this point! They also have different activities planned out throughout the week, festive celebrations and even excursions/outings (with parent's approval of course) so no worry about that :) I was unsure whether I should've sent him to childcare, but now, I'm really glad I did because he learned so much - he's more independent and expressive now, and his social skills are a lot better too :>