You'll want plenty of time to find just the right day care setting. This is often a licensed center featuring rooms and staff specifically trained to your baby's age group. For instance, he'll probably start out in a room with other infants, move up to a toddler room, and so on. But along with that, care in a center may be less individualized, just because there may be more children per caregiver.
Centers also tend to be more expensive and less flexible in terms of scheduling.
Family home day care Your baby spends her day in more of a family setting, in a private home, usually with just a few other children. This can mean less chance that your baby will be exposed to illness, and more individualized attention from the caregiver. Costs of home day care are usually lower than those of a center, and scheduling is often more flexible. Negatives may be that the home day care isn't licensed, and if the caregiver or her children become ill, you have to find a back-up caregiver. Then, your baby stays in her familiar surroundings, and doesn't have to be exposed to the germs of other children.