It's my impression from observations of my own and my friends situations that if you can have someone come to your home or share with one other family, that is optimal when the baby is this young. This goes not only for minimizing vulnerability to illness, but also for maximizing one on one contact time. At this age, social contact with other children is less important than nurturance by an adult and protection from infection.

Towards that end, I found Bananas on Telegraph Ave in Oakland to be a valuable resource for both information and connection to childcare providers, both part and full time. Bananas requires that any childcare providers they endorse take a series of classes and they keep track of feedback given to them on caregivers. The two people I employed before Chris started preschool both came through Bananas and they were wonderful. Beth Chesterman