Quick answer: The most useful questions to ask when touring a daycare cover six things: licensing and inspection reports, how many babies each caregiver looks after, staff training and background checks, safe sleep, illness and medication rules, and how your baby’s day is reported to you. Write the answers down so you can compare centers later.
A daycare tour goes fast. You are listening to a director, watching a room full of babies and picturing your own child in it, all at once. A written list keeps you from forgetting the one thing you most wanted to know.
This guide from First-Year Family Organizers gathers the questions that federal child care guidance and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) point parents toward, with a focus on infant rooms.
What questions should you ask when touring a daycare?
The questions to ask when touring a daycare fall into six groups: licensing, staffing, health and safety, daily care, communication and policies. Ask the same questions at every center and write down each answer, because the details blur together after two or three visits and a side-by-side comparison only works when you have notes.
- Licensing: Is the center licensed? Are there any outstanding violations? Is it accredited or working toward accreditation?
- Ratios: How many babies are in the infant room, and how many adults are with them all day, including at opening and closing?
- Staff: What training do the director and teachers have? How long have the infant room teachers worked here? Who covers when a teacher is out?
- Background checks: Who is checked, and how often? ChildCare.gov says programs must request checks before a staff member is hired and at least once every five years.
- CPR and first aid: Are the caregivers in the infant room trained in child CPR and first aid?
- Safe sleep: Where and how do babies sleep? Is there a written safe sleep policy?
- Feeding: How are bottles labeled and stored? How do you support breastfeeding and pumped milk?
- Illness and medication: When does a child have to stay home? How is medication stored and given?
- Allergies: What written procedures keep a child away from a known allergen?
- Security: Are visitors screened or asked for identification, so only approved adults can enter and pick up children?
- Emergencies: What is the emergency plan, and how will you reach me?
- Daily reports: How will I find out about feedings, diapers, naps and mood each day?
- Visits: Can families drop in unannounced?
- Handbook: May I take home the family handbook with fees, closures and the discipline policy?
Many of these come straight from the “Look, Listen, and Ask” tip sheet for child care centers on ChildCare.gov, the federal government’s child care site, and from the AAP’s guidance on choosing a child care center.
What should you check before you tour a daycare?
Before you tour a daycare, look up three things: its licensing status, its inspection reports and its quality rating. ChildCare.gov recommends this step before you visit, so you can see whether a program has broken health and safety requirements, how any problems were fixed, and whether a valid complaint was filed against it.
Each state posts these records in its own online child care search tool. Then call or email with the basics: ChildCare.gov suggests asking whether the program has space for your child, what its hours are and when you can visit.
What staff-to-child ratio should an infant room have?
An infant room should have one caregiver for every three babies and no more than six babies in the group, according to the recommended ratios published on ChildCare.gov and by the AAP. These are expert recommendations for child care centers; your state’s legal requirement may be different.
| Age group | Recommended staff-to-child ratio | Recommended maximum group size |
|---|---|---|
| Infants (under 12 months) | 1 adult to 3 babies | 6 |
| Toddlers (13 to 35 months) | 1 adult to 4 children | 8 |
Ask what the ratio is in the infant room, then count for yourself while you stand there. Ask what happens during staff breaks, early drop-off and late pickup.
ChildCare.gov’s tip sheet adds that fewer children per adult is better and that low staff turnover is important, so ask how long the infant teachers have been in that room.
What should you look and listen for during a daycare tour?
During a daycare tour, look at how caregivers treat the babies and listen to how the room sounds. ChildCare.gov’s tip sheet says to watch whether teachers stay close to infants, holding, feeding and playing with them, and to listen for a gentle, playful tone and plenty of talking during care.
What to look for in a daycare infant room, from the same tip sheet:
- Each infant has a labeled crib.
- Babies spend most of their play time on the floor, not in swings, seats or other restrictive devices.
- Bottles are labeled with a name and date and kept in a refrigerator.
- The diapering surface is disinfected after each use, and hands are washed before and after.
- Teachers and children wash their hands often.
- Teachers can see every child from wherever they stand.
The AAP adds one more thing to confirm: children are supervised by sight and sound at all times, even when they are sleeping.
What should you ask about safe sleep, feeding and illness at daycare?
Ask how babies are put down to sleep, how bottles and breast milk are handled, and what the rules are for sick children and medication. According to the NIH Safe to Sleep campaign, babies should be placed on their backs for every sleep, including naps, on a firm, flat surface with nothing else in the sleep area.
Ask to see the written safe sleep policy, and look into the cribs. For feeding, the AAP’s child care checklist suggests asking whether babies get one-on-one feeding time, whether the center has a policy against bottle propping, and how staff document how much and how often each baby drinks.
For illness, ask for the written policy. ChildCare.gov notes that child care health requirements cover immunizations, handling sick children, and storing and giving medication. Find out when your baby must stay home and how you will be called.
For questions about your own baby’s health needs, ask your pediatrician first.
How do you compare daycares after the tours?
Compare daycares by putting your notes from each tour side by side and weighing the facts against how each visit felt. ChildCare.gov suggests asking yourself whether you felt welcome, whether the children seemed happy and engaged, and whether you are confident your child will be happy and safe there.
A missing answer is worth a follow-up call. Once you choose, the paperwork begins. Our guides to the babysitter information sheet and the baby emergency binder cover what caregivers need from you in writing.
Keep caregiver details in one place. The Daycare & Babysitter Information Binder is an organizational workbook for the information you hand to the people who care for your baby. It includes 12 paired arrival and care-session records. It is not an official record, and its pages do not grant consent or authorization.
Frequently asked questions about daycare tours
When should you start touring daycares for an infant?
Start as early as you can. ChildCare.gov suggests asking each program whether it has space for your child before you schedule a visit, so you only tour centers that could actually take your baby.
How many daycares should you tour?
ChildCare.gov recommends visiting several programs so you have something to compare. Use the same list of questions at each one so your notes line up.
Can you drop in at a daycare unannounced?
Ask each center directly. ChildCare.gov’s tip sheet lists whether families may visit unannounced as a question for every tour, and the answer tells you how open the program is with parents.
What is a red flag on a daycare tour?
Take note if the center cannot tell you its ratio, will not show you a written safe sleep or illness policy, or has unresolved violations in its inspection reports. Look those reports up in your state’s child care search tool before you visit.
Sources
- ChildCare.gov: Simple Steps for Finding and Choosing Child Care
- ChildCare.gov: Look, Listen, and Ask: Tips for Choosing a Quality Child Care Center (PDF)
- ChildCare.gov: Ratios and Group Sizes
- ChildCare.gov: Staff Background Checks
- ChildCare.gov: Health and Safety Requirements
- HealthyChildren.org (AAP): Choosing a Child Care Center
- HealthyChildren.org (AAP): Your Child Care Checklist
- NIH Safe to Sleep: Ways to Reduce Baby’s Risk
This article is for general information and organization. It is not medical advice. Always follow the guidance of your child’s pediatrician and care team.
