What to pack for daycare
A checklist for babies, toddlers and preschoolers, the first-day forms Texas and California require, the labeling and food rules centers have to follow, and what to leave at home. Pick your child’s age and state below, tick items off as you pack, or print it.
Updated Oct 12, 2026.
Daycare packing checklist
Daycare packing checklist · · daycarerecord.com/what-to-pack-for-daycare/
Every day
Food and drink
Nap time
Health
Paperwork for the first day
Label everything with your child’s name. Then ask the center what it provides: many supply cribs, cots, meals or diapers, and some want only their own brand of wipes or cream.
First-day forms: Texas and California
The paperwork matters as much as the bag: centers can be cited when it’s missing, and it’s how staff reach you and get your child care in an emergency. Ask for the enrollment packet early, since a doctor’s visit may take a few weeks to schedule.
| Texas | California | |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency and pickup information | Admission information before the first day: emergency contacts, everyone allowed to pick up, your child’s doctor, emergency medical authorization, special care needs, allergies (§746.605) | LIC 700 (identification and emergency information) and LIC 627 (consent for emergency medical treatment); the child’s record must hold emergency contacts, doctors, allergies and that consent (§101221). The center gives you LIC 995, Notification of Parents’ Rights. |
| Health check | A health statement from a health-care professional who examined your child in the past year, on file within one week of starting; not needed for a child in pre-K or school elsewhere (§746.611) | A medical assessment by or under a physician (LIC 701), including a TB test, no more than a year old, before or within 30 days of starting; not needed for a child in elementary school (§101220). Some centers also use LIC 702, a health history you fill out. |
| Immunizations | Up-to-date immunization record, or a valid exemption (§746.613) | Immunization record. Medical exemptions are allowed, but since 2016 California hasn’t accepted personal-belief exemptions for child care (Health and Safety Code §120335). |
| Babies | Written feeding instructions, signed and dated, for a baby not yet eating table food, reviewed with you every 30 days (§746.2421) | For a child under 2 in an infant program: a needs and services plan and a feeding plan, completed with the director before the first day, plus the LIC 9227 sleeping plan for a baby under 12 months (§101419.2, §101427) |
| Food allergies | For a diagnosed food allergy, a food allergy emergency plan signed and dated by you and your child’s health-care professional (§746.3819) | Allergies and dietary restrictions go in the child’s record; ask the center for its allergy plan form. |
| Medicine | Your authorization for each medicine (written or electronic, or by phone for a single dose; it lasts up to a year), in the original container labeled with your child’s full name and the date you bring it (§746.3803, §746.3805). Diaper cream, sunscreen and insect repellent don’t count as medication, but creams must be labeled with your child’s name. | LIC 9221, Parent Consent for Administration of Medications. Medicine must keep its original label and be marked with your child’s name and the date (§101226(e)). Some centers don’t give medicine at all. |
| Vision and hearing | Screening results for a child who is 4 or older, within 120 days of starting (Texas DSHS) | — |
Other states: ask the center for its enrollment packet; most ask for emergency contacts, an immunization record and a health form.
Labels and food: what the rules say
- Texas: bottles and training cups must be labeled with your baby’s first name and last initial (§746.2419), creams and lotions with your child’s name; toothbrushes with your child’s full name; and centers label each crib and each cot or mat. Babies may not walk around with or sleep with a bottle or cup.
- California: breast milk or formula you bring must already be in bottles, labeled with your baby’s name and the current date. Bottles, dishes and food containers from home carry the same label; food not eaten within 72 hours of the label date is thrown out, and if you forget food, the center must feed your baby (§101427). Centers can’t serve honey or corn syrup to babies.
- Everywhere: label clothes, bags, cups, pacifiers and nap things. Laundry-safe labels or a permanent marker on the tag both work.
Leave these at home
- Blankets, pillows, bumpers, stuffed animals or positioners in a crib. Texas allows only a fitted sheet and mattress cover in the crib of a baby under 12 months, and California requires cribs to be free of loose items, blankets and pillows included, for any child still in one. Safe sleep at daycare →
- Swaddles. California doesn’t allow swaddling in child care; Texas needs a sleep exception form signed by a health-care professional.
- Weighted sleep sacks, swaddles or blankets. The American Academy of Pediatrics says nothing weighted should be on or near a sleeping baby.
- Teething necklaces and bracelets. The FDA has warned that amber and other teething jewelry can choke or strangle a baby.
- Teething gels with benzocaine or lidocaine, and homeopathic teething tablets. The FDA advises against them for teething.
- Pacifier clips, cords, plush pacifier toys or anything around the neck at nap time. Nothing should be attached to a pacifier during sleep, and a cord is a strangulation risk.
- Medicine without the center’s form. Centers can’t give it without your permission, normally in writing.
- Foods the center bans, such as nuts at a nut-free center. Ask for the list before you pack lunch.
- Toys with small parts, valuables and anything you’d hate to lose.
Sources: American Academy of Pediatrics, a parent’s guide to safe sleep; FDA, safely soothing teething pain; 22 CCR §101439.1(f).
What the inspection records show
In Texas, children’s records are among the rules inspectors cite most. These are citations at centers licensed today under the rules behind this checklist:
Texas, since October 2021
| What was missing or wrong | Citations | Centers |
|---|---|---|
| Immunization records missing or out of date | 2,499 | 1,806 |
| Admission information missing (emergency contacts, medical authorization and more) | 2,443 | 1,508 |
| Infant feeding instructions missing, unsigned or not updated every 30 days | 1,683 | 1,329 |
| No health statement from a health-care professional | 1,628 | 1,267 |
| Food allergy emergency plan missing or unsigned | 1,294 | 1,093 |
| Bottles, cups, creams, cribs or nap mats not labeled | 953 | 766 |
| Medicine without a signed authorization, not in its labeled container, or expired | 518 | 430 |
| Something besides a fitted sheet in a baby’s crib | 498 | 459 |
| Vision and hearing screening records missing | 96 | 84 |
California, since February 2021
| What was missing or wrong | Citations | Centers |
|---|---|---|
| Medication rules (consent, labels, expired medicine, records) | 572 | 491 |
| Child’s record incomplete (emergency contacts, consent for treatment and more) | 517 | 418 |
| No medical assessment (LIC 701) or TB test | 477 | 411 |
| Infant needs and services plan or sleeping plan (LIC 9227) missing or not updated | 362 | 285 |
| Immunization records missing or incomplete | 246 | 218 |
| Infant feeding rules (feeding plan, bottle labels and handling) | 167 | 140 |
The takeaway for parents: hand in every form, ask the center to confirm it has them, and update them when a phone number, medicine or allergy changes. You can see whether a center has been cited for any of these on its page on Daycare Record.
Ask the center before the first day
What do you provide: diapers, wipes, cream, formula, meals, snacks, crib sheets, cots, bedding?
How many diapers and changes of clothes do you want on hand, and where do they go?
How should bottles, breast milk and food be labeled and packed, and what can’t come from home?
Do you allow a sleep sack, a pacifier or a comfort item at nap time, and at what age?
Which forms do you need, and by when? Can I have the packet now?
How do you handle sunscreen, diaper cream and medicine, and which permission forms do you use?
Where do labeled items go each day, and how do you send home soiled clothes?
Common questions
What should I pack for daycare for a baby?
Diapers and wipes, diaper cream, two or three changes of clothes, labeled bottles with breast milk or formula, pacifiers, bibs and a fitted crib sheet if the center asks. Nothing else goes in a baby’s crib: no blankets, pillows or stuffed animals before 12 months. Bring the first-day forms too, including the feeding instructions (Texas) or feeding plan (California).
What should I pack for daycare for a toddler?
Diapers or training pants, two or three changes of clothes, shoes that stay on, weather gear, a labeled cup, lunch and snacks if the center doesn’t provide meals, a cot sheet and small blanket, and a comfort item for nap if allowed.
How many changes of clothes should I send to daycare?
Two or three full outfits, socks included, is a good rule of thumb for babies and toddlers, with more during potty training. Ask what your center wants on hand, and replace them as they come home dirty.
Do I need to label everything for daycare?
Yes. In Texas, bottles and training cups must carry your baby’s first name and last initial; in California, bottles, breast milk and food from home must be labeled with your baby’s name and the current date. Label clothes, bags and nap things too.
Can I send a blanket to daycare?
Not for a baby under 12 months: Texas allows only a fitted sheet and mattress cover in the crib, and California requires cribs free of loose items. Toddlers and preschoolers usually can bring a small blanket for their cot; ask the center.
What paperwork does daycare need?
In Texas: admission information with emergency contacts and medical authorization, an immunization record or exemption, a health statement within a week of starting, feeding instructions for babies, and vision and hearing results for 4-year-olds. In California: LIC 700, LIC 627, a physician’s report (LIC 701) within 30 days, an immunization record, and for babies a needs and services plan, feeding plan and LIC 9227 sleeping plan.
Can I send my child’s medicine to daycare?
Yes, with the center’s signed permission form, in the original labeled container. Centers can’t give medicine without your written permission.
Should I send sunscreen to daycare?
Usually yes, for outdoor play, with the center’s permission form. Ask your child’s doctor about sunscreen for a baby under 6 months.
Sources: Texas: 26 Texas Administrative Code §746.605, 746.611, 746.613, 746.2409, 746.2415, 746.2419, 746.2421, 746.2428, 746.3321, 746.3501, 746.3801, 746.3803, 746.3805, 746.3819 and 746.4503 (Cornell LII); Texas DSHS vision and hearing screening schedule; California: Title 22, California Code of Regulations §101218.1, 101220, 101221, 101226, 101239.1, 101419.2, 101427, 101430 and 101439.1 (Cornell LII); CDSS forms LIC 627, 700, 701, 702, 995, 9221 and 9227; California Department of Education, SB 277 bulletin; American Academy of Pediatrics (HealthyChildren.org), safe sleep; FDA, safely soothing teething pain; Texas Health and Human Services and California Department of Social Services inspection records.