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Settling in is the first step to getting it right in the baby room. The transition into nursery can be an exciting and stressful time for babies, families, and educators alike, so having a robust system in place to make the transition as smooth as possible is essential. In this blog post, we learn about how Busy Bees staggers settling in to facilitate a smooth transition into nursery and offer questions nurseries can reflect on throughout the settling in process.

Why is Busy Bees taking a staggered approach to settling in?

When Busy Bees opened their newest nursery, Odyssey, they had a lot of enquiries from families wanting their baby to start immediately. However, to keep babies’ and educators’ wellbeing at the centre of settling in, Busy Bees opted to stagger each family’s start date. Taking a staggered approach to settling in supports several things:

• Baby wellbeing: Babies can have consistent one-to-one support as they settle in to nursery as baby room educators will have more capacity to respond to their emotions as they arise. It is also possible to stay consistent with the rhythms of the day and maintain a calm environment for already settled babies.
• Educator wellbeing: It can be draining for baby room educators to juggle the emotions and needs of multiple settling, distressed babies at once. When one or two babies are introduced at a time, settling in becomes an intentional, managed process where educators feel proud of the environment they create and the relationships they nurture with babies and families.
• Attachment: Educators can form a strong bond with the new baby, helping them form a secure attachment which is foundational to all learning and care in the baby room.
• Relationships with families: Educators can spend more time with families to get to know them and their home routines.
• Calm environments: A calm environment is necessary for keeping babies happy and engaged in stimulating experiences. This is much harder to achieve with multiple babies settling at once, which can create a noisy and chaotic baby room.

What does Busy Bees’ reflect on when staggering settling in?

While they have a standard template of three settle sessions over the course of a month, this is often adapted based on the child. Busy Bees believes that staggering settling in is a fluid process, and deciding the best time for a new baby and family to start should be responsive to several elements:

• The nature of the baby room: Are the majority of the babies in the room settled? Will it disrupt the routine, or are the current babies in a strong enough rhythm to where it’s safe to introduce someone new?
• Staffing: How many educators and babies are in the room that day? If you have two staff and six babies, having two babies settling at once may be too overwhelming.
• The new baby: Is this the first time the new baby will be away from their family, or have they had sleepovers at a relative’s house? How have they done in settle sessions so far? Depending on how much support a new baby will need to feel happy and safe, it will affect how settling in is staggered.
• Family needs: When does the family need their baby to start? If it’s soon, how can you meet this need while maintaining a smooth and positive transition for the baby and family?

How does Busy Bees support staggered settling in?

It’s important that settling in is an intentional, carefully managed process with ample support for babies, families, and educators. Below, Busy Bees shares some of the supports they have in place:

Supporting babies: Educators include materials the new baby may be interested in at home so they have stimulating and familiar resources. Educators can also prepare family photos and talking tins with their loved one’s voices to comfort them when they miss their family.

Supporting families: Busy Bees has parent partnership groups to support new families in the baby room with any questions they may have. Educators also keep lines of communication open with families throughout the day, sending pictures and messages to keep them updated on their baby’s progress.

Supporting educators: Throughout the settling in process, it’s important that managers ask baby room educators the best times to schedule settle sessions so they fit seamlessly with the daily routine. It’s also essential to have a strong team dynamic where the manager or extra staff can support settle sessions and keep the regular routine of the settled babies ticking along.

What questions should we ask ourselves?

• Take some time to consider the nature of your baby room, staffing, and the new baby’s and family’s needs. With these elements in mind, how can you restructure your settling in process to stagger entry?
• The answer to the above will look different based on the day, the baby, and the family settling in. Can you build time for reflecting on these elements into your ‘pre-settle’ planning time to ensure you’re responsive to the dynamic nature of settling in in your baby room?
• What supports would be helpful to offer babies, families, and educators in your baby room so they have a smooth settling in process?