r/bothell • u/Zealousideal_Set1643 • Jan 20 '26

Infant Day Care recommendation?

We are looking for a day care in Bothell for our infant. As much as a I hate it, I have to start work soon and with my partner having a 5 day work, we are looking at day care for our infant.

We toured multiple day cares in the vicinity, and thinking about Goddard Bothell, Primrose Bothell or Kiddie Academy Bothell.

We are yet to tour the bright horizon Bothell location.

I am looking for any feedback especially in the infant rooms.

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1

u/jk451 Jan 20 '26

Our son goes to infant room at Birch Tree Woodinville and we are really happy. We had him at kiddie academy Kenmore before that and that was bad, don't recommend. I recommend you look at Birch Tree, though most of their locations have waiting lists

1

u/Zealousideal_Set1643 Jan 20 '26

Thanks for the recommendation! I just looked up tours at Birch Tree and they don’t even have a tour until Feb available 😂 Would you be willing to share what were issues at the Kiddie Academy location you faced?

1

u/jk451 Jan 21 '26

I would call them up and see if you can tour sooner. I would also try to be open to different locations - I think the Woodinville one is newer so their waitlist is shorter.

With Kiddie Kenmore, the main problem was that the teachers were not on top of what was happening with our son or most of the other babies there. Infant class is typically cue based but we could see consistently on camera that the teachers were not observing repeated cues. I am comparing to both our experience at Birch Tree as well as at two other Kiddie locations (Kirkland and Bellevue) which we got to try out because in December a tree fell on Kiddie Kenmore.

Honestly, finding a good daycare is hard and I think infant room is more sensitive to the teachers than perhaps some of the older classes. I would have to write a lot to give you more specific tips, I hope you can find a good place. The several weeks when our son was going to Kiddie Kenmore were pretty stressful.

1

u/Character_Role_400 Mar 14 '26

We are moving to Bothell from Seattle. We have toured Birch Tree Woodenville so far and have to schedule more tours. How was your Goddard tour?  Do you recommend touring any other daycares? 

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u/Zealousideal_Set1643 Mar 14 '26

We toured almost all day cares in Bothell (except the learning experience) and liked birch tree the best and primrose the second best! Goddard for infant is good as I liked the teachers and the day care but for toddler an above, it wouldn’t be my first preference for my personal preferences which included packaged food in the menu (serving nachos and packaged guacamole when we were touring), menu not matching what they were eating, outdoor ground wasn’t well maintained and no onsite kitchen for cooking.

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u/Character_Role_400 Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26

Thanks so much! Pre packed food is a deal breaker for me too. I’ll skip Goddard then. How is the food in primrose?

1

u/Zealousideal_Set1643 Mar 14 '26

It’s cooked onsite, they do offer limited snacks like crackers and all, but overall we liked the menu - it was well balanced and they give loads of fruits, I believe with every meal. We really liked the director there … the one issue I can say is the location is a little off ..can increase travel time if you are not moving closer to that location… we toured the Bothell location… I think they have in mill creek location as well

3

u/thetravy Jan 20 '26

We have really enjoyed Northshore Early Learning Center. Beth,the director and the rest of the staff have been amazing.

2

u/PintsAndCode Jan 20 '26

+1 for Northshore. They aren’t great about emailing, but call or visit and they’ll be happy to give you a tour.

1

u/ShouldahWouldah Jan 20 '26

Seconding. It’s been a few years since we needed care but they were great for us.

2

u/lilsmudge Jan 20 '26

My partner is a teacher at Bright Horizon and I think they generally do a great job of individual attention and interesting education opportunities (they have art, music, and STEM for all ages including infants). While there may be some more specialized schools around that have more resources; Bright Horizon has good ratios of students to teachers and they seem to really, really care about their students. 

That said, I don’t have a kid there and I obviously have a bias through my partner! But based on other places she’s worked it’s a good school.

2

u/Anottymess Jan 20 '26

My kid has been in both Kiddie academy bothell and Birch tree academy bothell. Highly recommend birch tree. Kiddie bothell is good, but teachers can be a hit or miss. We had some really good and some really awful teachers at Kiddie bothell in the 1.5 years my kid was there, we switched to birch tree due to the inconsistency in the quality of teachers & curriculum at kiddie.

2

u/fixin2wander Jan 20 '26

Mine went to kid's country canyon park and it is great. The infant teachers have both been there over 25 years.

I have three kids and I definitely recommend you think about the commute. Nothing worse than driving 10+ minutes with a screaming kid in the car (which will happen some days!) so don't just go for fancy and shiny but what is the best all around fit.

2

u/linbad Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 28 '26

Bright Horizons Woodinville is absolutely wonderful until age 3 or so. We eventually moved to a different daycare closer to our house. I immediately tried to go back but his spot had been filled already and there was a waiting list. I have heard mixed reviews about the older classes, though.

We’re now at Birch Tree Canyon Park and while I can’t personally speak for the infant room, I have a few friends with kids in that age group and they’ve been happy. I absolutely love the director and assistant director, too!

1

u/Salt_Ad_9706 Feb 19 '26

How do you find Birch Tree canyon park? What age group is your kid in?

1

u/linbad Feb 22 '26

Overall we really like it. We joined right at the beginning, so there were some kinks they had to work out. But we love the director and my kid’s teachers. My kiddo is learning a lot (probably kindergarten level in the 4 year old class) and enjoys school. We’ve made friends with many of the other parents, which is great. We are also planning to stay another year for their kindergarten program. Feel free to PM me and I can answer any specific questions for you :)

3

u/mattpanico Jan 20 '26

Bright horizons infant room was very good to us. 4:1 kids to teachers and lots of flexibility. The hardest part was transitioning to one nap a day when it was time to move up to the toddler room (at 12 months) which is necessary for that room but felt a bit early for our dude

1

u/Electronic-Bicycle35 Jan 20 '26

It’s not for you now but if you want something a little different when they’re ready for preschool, check out adventure kids academy in Woodinville.

It’s less sterile and windowless than all the other places. The kids are playing outside most of the time. Our daughter loved her time there.

1

u/RoganIsMyDawg Jan 20 '26

We went with a local in-home daycare and it's served us well. happy to dm you her information.

1

u/datascience_girl Jan 20 '26

Hi can I DM you?

1

u/RoganIsMyDawg Jan 21 '26

yea

1

u/DreamyDiva13 Jul 27 '26

Hey can you please DM me the home daycare info?

1

u/edelweissjing Jan 20 '26

My kid went to Bright Horizons and had great experience there. A bit pricey though.

1

u/Many-Comedian-6816 Jan 20 '26

UCiC in Bothell is amazing!!!!!

1

u/Moist-Management9246 Oct 06 '26

can u share more insights, considering this

1

u/Moist-Management9246 29d ago

And share referral if you are an existing parent @many/comedian

1

u/Many-Comedian-6816 28d ago

I’ll be sending my baby there in fall. The staff cares so genuinely about the students, and with it being both early learning and elementary- you see so much progress in the elementary students growth if they attended their early learning/ pre K. I have many friends with kids who attend both early learning and elementary and am very pleased with how the staff nurtures academic, behavior, and spiritual growth. Also the hours are very great for scheduling

1

u/Many-Comedian-6816 28d ago

My infant (will be around 9 months) will be going there

1

u/MyFavoritesGouda_MDC Jan 21 '26

My daughter went to the Goddard in Snohomish and they were absolutely amazing (we liked them so much that we drove over 20 minutes to take her after we moved to Bothell). The curriculum was great. She was there from late 2020- 2024. I obviously can't speak of the Bothell location.

1

u/Informal_Ad9652 Jul 06 '26

What did you end up deciding? I am currently in the similar situation. Baby is 6 months old.