Going back to work soon. How do I help my VERY clingy 1 year old with the transition?

I would start introducing her to the daycare now, but in a gradual way. Talk to the owner and explain the situation and ask if you can "visit" with your daughter once or twice a week to start for an hour or so, and stay with her there, but hang back as much as she'll let you and encoourage her interaction with the staff and other children so she starts to become comfortable with these people, with the confidence in knowing mommy is still right there. Then hang back more and more until you can leave the room for awhile, even if it may be only 15 min or so before you come back. This will help show her that mommy always comes back and in the meantime she is okay with her new friends.I would do that for the first week or two. Then start leaving for longer until you can leave her for the entire hour, and work from there until you can leave her for two hours, etc. After she gets used to being at the daycare by herself and is okay with you leaving for 30 min to an hour she will probably be fine with longer amounts of time. It sounds like a long tedious process, but I really don't think it will take more than a few weeks before she is comfortable enough to be on her own. Good Luck!