I didn't really have much of a choice of what to do, there is only one daycare in our town and I don't know anyone well enough to send them to a home based daycare. But, since I knew ahead of time she would be going by the time she was 11 months old for 3 days a week, I actually asked to get her in at 8 months one morning a week. It was pretty bad at first, they literally did not know what to do with her and ended up putting up a playpen in the main room and letting her play by herself or take her out and swing in the yard to calm down. They were very good at going at her pace with things.
It took probably 6-8 months before she would happily run in when I dropped them off, now she loves going because she knows their routine and it's a fun place to be, in fact sometimes when DH comes to get them and she is snuggling with a worker she will pitch a fit that she has to go home!