i worked in day cares in college about 4 years total. one was title 20 (low income) one was moderate, and one was high end( Montessori). all three had pros and cons, but all three has the same standards set by the state (Ohio in this instance).

one good indicator if the place is really clean, is how clean the inside the refrigerator is. when J&FS comes in they inspect everything, and the refrigerator is one of them. most places only do it before a scheduled inspection, but good places make you 'wipe down' every week. also call the local J&DS for your area and ask questions. check out your mom groups and see what they say about local places.

i would advise being a first timer of DC, go with one located close to work, and pick your ped if you can, close to work. if the DC calls and says LO is sick, you can call the ped and get in and out all on your lunch possibly. and maybe not have to leave work for the whole day.

another suggestion is make friends with other moms in your kids class. they will tell you if DD is sick and wont be in, and giving you a heads up on illness coming your way. also, save about 3 days of vacation for a week after LO starts school. LO will get sick and if LO is only 6 weeks, you will want to be there, even if its your mom helping :).

I haven't had a bad experience with d/c, but have heard of others that have had to frequently switch individual sitters.  The day care I used was very strict about who was let back in the areas where the classrooms were.  Parents made a short list of who was allowed to pickup/drop off and each had their own PIN number.   I felt safer knowing not just anyone was allowed access to the children.  Also, I would make sure the facility sticks to a low child/teacher ratio.  It is easy for kids to get overlooked if the teacher is overwhelmed.
I would also check to make sure the facility keeps up to date on product recalls.  With so many toys and equipment around at a day care it would be a good thing to keep track of.

Good luck with your search, and of course with your baby!   :)

I've only ever used formal daycare. Two suggestions:

1) Look at the toys available in the room. When I walked through the infant room of my current daycare, I asked where the swings and bouncers were. They told me, "we don't use those kind of toys here. If a child is awake we believe it is our job to interact with them." GOOD ANSWER! Also, the condition and variety of the equipment and toys will give you an idea if the center invests in stuff for the kids.

2). Ask what their training or policy is for when their staff gets upset or emotional. Even professionals may get to a point where they need to step away. Do they have a plan for this? It should always be ok for a staff member to ask for help.

I worked in daycare and as a nanny for many years - lots of great advice here! A few things I thought of:

In a center environment, ask about the turnover rate, and/or ask individual workers how long they have been there. Generally speaking, quality staff members will only stick around a quality program (there is such a need for daycare that it's not worth staying in a lousy environment since the pay and benefits are rarely out-of-this-world). It's tough for little ones to have to adjust to staff changes every few weeks. Also ask about the experience or education of the teachers, especially the lead ones. Find out what their system is for keeping your informed about your little one's day - do they keep a chart, or have primary caregivers? (Meaning one staff member is always responsible for your child's meals, diapers, and other important routines.)

For family day cares or nannies, background check like crazy, and definitely get plenty of references. Find out if your idea of what your child's typical day should be like meshes with the type of routine the caregiver prefers, and be sure they can support your choices (binky or no, things like that). Also think about using a formal contract to agree to the specifics of your arrangement.

In general, you can always come up with a list of what-if scenarios to see how the caregivers would handle various problems or situations. Also, it saddens me to say it, but when it comes to child care you do often get what you pay for in my experience. Lastly, I cannot say enough - please have a reliable back-up plan!! Caregivers and children get sick, centers have power outages, day cares are closed on holidays you have to work, etc. Have a plan in place so that someone can take over care of your child in the event of a snafu like this. It's so much less drama and stress if you do!

Good luck, there are great people out there and it sounds like you'll find them since you are already so committed! :)

Thanks everyone! These are great! I'm going to be using all of these ideas. The thought of giving my kid to someone else for most of the day terrifies me a bit but I know there IS good care out there if I can find it and monitor it. Thanks again! And of course...keep em coming!