Best age to start daycare

The short answer

We run infant and toddler rooms, and parents ask us this every week. The honest answer is that the research does not point to one ideal age. What it points to is the quality of the room and the number of hours. So the best age to start daycare is usually the age your family needs care, in the best program you can get a spot in, for no more hours than you need.

In practice most families start at one of three points: around 12 weeks when leave ends, somewhere between 12 and 18 months when a toddler spot opens, or at 2 to 3 years when preschool-style programs become an option. Each one has a different cost, a different waitlist and a different first week.

What actually sets the start date

Leave runs out first

The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for the birth of a child and to care for the newborn within one year of birth. It is unpaid, but the job is protected. To qualify you must have worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before leave, and work at a site with at least 50 employees within 75 miles.

That is why so many infant starts land at about three months. The American Academy of Pediatrics supports at least 12 weeks of paid leave for parents of newborns, but federal law only guarantees the unpaid version. Some states run their own paid leave programs; check yours.

The youngest age a program will take

Many centers and licensed homes enroll infants from about six weeks. Others wait until 8 or 12 weeks, and some do not take children under a year at all. That is a program decision, and in some states the licensing rule sets a floor. Ask each program its minimum age on the first call.

Infant spots are the scarcest in the building

This is the constraint parents underestimate. Infant rooms run the tightest staffing in childcare, commonly one teacher to three or four babies with small group caps, so they hold the fewest children and cost the most to run. Our guide to infant daycare ratio rules walks through the arithmetic. The result is that many programs keep only one infant room, and it fills from the waitlist long before a baby is born.

It also means infant care is the most expensive age band to buy. Before you pick a start date, see how much daycare costs by age and run your own numbers in the daycare cost calculator. With two children under school age, a nanny can come closer than you would expect; the daycare vs nanny cost comparison lays out that sum.

The 2-month shots

On the CDC child schedule as currently posted, the 2-month visit carries first doses of DTaP, polio (IPV), Hib, pneumococcal vaccine and rotavirus. Programs ask for an immunization record at enrollment, and what they must collect is a state rule. A start date just after the 2-month visit means the record is easier to complete and your baby has had their first round before joining a room of other children.

What the research says

The study most people mean when they say "the research" is the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. It enrolled 1,364 children at 10 sites across the US in 1991 and followed them from one month old into their teens. Its findings booklet for parents, published in 2006, is still the clearest summary.

• "Children who were cared for exclusively by their mothers did not develop differently than those who were also cared for by others."
• Quality, quantity and type of care were "modestly, but not strongly" linked to development. Higher quality care went with somewhat better language and cognitive development.
• More hours went with somewhat more behavior problems. Children who averaged 30 or more hours a week were somewhat more likely to show problem behaviors at age 4 and in kindergarten, by caregiver report. Hours were not related to cognitive or language skills before school.
• Parent and family characteristics were more strongly linked to development than anything about child care.

One finding speaks to infants directly: for young children whose mothers showed low sensitivity in observed play, more than 10 hours of care a week raised the risk of insecure attachment. For everyone else, care hours alone did not. The booklet does not name an ideal starting age. In the study's own sample, the majority of children began some care by 6 months.

The AAP's guidance matches what we see at the door: "Most infants, up to 7 months of age, adjust well to good child care. Older infants may get upset when left with strangers." A four-month-old usually settles in days. A ten-month-old in the middle of stranger anxiety may take a few weeks.

Start-age timeline

What changes at each common starting point, from the child's side and from the program's.

Room transitions and age bands vary by program and by state licensing rule. Ask each program when its rooms change.

If you are weighing a home program against a preschool for an older toddler, our in-home daycare vs preschool comparison covers how those two settings differ.

Signs your child and the program are ready

Readiness runs both ways. A baby can be ready while the program is not, and that second list is the one parents skip.

The AAP also suggests that center-based infant and toddler programs be visited by a health professional at least once a month under the national standard. It is a fair question to ask on a tour.

Planning the first month

Work back from your start date. Join waitlists early and follow up each month; programs fill from the families who stay in touch. When a spot is offered, the enrollment packet comes next, and a program using an enrollment form will ask for the immunization record, emergency contacts and feeding plan up front.

Book a phase-in week if you can: two short days, two half days, then full days. The AAP notes that starting care is often harder on the parent than on the child, and a soft start helps both. It also suggests asking the program about the best time of month or year to begin.

Expect the first winter to be rough. Babies new to group care catch more colds, so read the program's daycare sick policy before day one and line up backup care for the days your child has to stay home.