Chose daycare over sending the baby to my parents' place and the guilt trip has been next level
Maternity leave ended, and the "obvious" solution in my family was sending the baby to my parents in Indore while we both kept working in Mumbai. I couldn't do it, didn't want to miss the daily stuff, so we found a daycare 10 minutes from home instead. You'd think I'd chosen to abandon her from some of the reactions.
Three months in, it's working. She has a routine, a genuinely lovely primary caregiver there, and I get to do drop-off and pick-up most days. Not saying grandparent care is worse, for a lot of families it's clearly wonderful, just saying daycare isn't the lesser option it gets painted as either. It's about what actually fits your setup.
If you're evaluating daycares: ask about the caregiver-to-baby ratio directly, anything above 1:4 for infants is worth questioning, ask their sick-child policy before you need it not after, and don't skip actually watching a normal hour there unannounced if they'll let you, not just the polished tour. CCTV access if they offer it is a nice bonus but not a substitute for actually checking the place out yourself first.