Infant-Toddler care has never been easy work. It is physically demanding, emotionally complex, and expensive to provide. For many providers, the hardest part has not been the work itself – it has been trying to make the numbers work without sacrificing quality, staff, or personal well-being. 

Rising labor costs, workforce instability, public preschool expansion, and family mobility require a new model grounded in unit‑level profitability from the outset. 

Zero to Five Montana has developed this resource to explain why Infant‑Toddler care must be financially viable at the individual child level, how to localize data to identify real opportunities, and how to build comprehensive budgets that accurately determine cost per child. 

Sustainability does not come from one fix. It comes from aligning pricing, enrollment, expenses, and revenue sources in realistic ways – the resources below aim to  help give clarity around making solid business decisions.