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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To feel so guilty sending 15 month old 3 days a week to nursery?

153 replies

Saladleaf · 03/11/2025 12:14

I am currently SAHM to DS and have had a job offer for 3 days per week when he will be 15 months. We have found a nice and not full nursery nearby.

I'm struggling a lot with guilt at the idea of him going 3 days per week for 9 or even 10 hours a day. It feels so long, and I feel so anxious that he is too young to be in nursery for this many days. Me working means we will be able to afford to buy a house and move closer to my family and he will then be able to only do 2 days at nursery and one with my DM. I don't really enjoy the monotony of being a SAHM currently and find it very hard having no break. I want to go back to work part time as it will give me a balance of feeling like my old self and being a mum, but I just feel so selfish and awful for sending him to nursery where I know he will be upset. He is attached to me and doesn't like strangers, he cries when someone he doesn't know speaks or touches him and reaches for me. I've looked at childminders in my area and I don't feel comfortable with any of them, for various reasons. We can't afford a nanny, it would take every penny I earn.

I'm hoping for some positive stories here or thoughts. Everything I see online says that nursery under 2.5 / 3 is not positive for a baby and I worry 3 full days a week is far too much. I feel like a terrible mum and so guilty every time I look at him :(

OP posts:
Cinai · 03/11/2025 12:38

How about trying for a couple of weeks and see how it goes, whether he settles? Mine started nursery at 12 months and he seems to really enjoy it. He’s there from 8.30-3.30 because I noticed that he is quite tired by then. You could maybe look into getting a nanny for just a couple of hours to shorten his nursery days?

InveterateWineDrinker · 03/11/2025 12:32

I was a SAHP to both of our DCs, but put them in nursery for a couple of half days a week - not because we needed the child care but because we felt it important for their socialisation and development. I knew full well that different environments and different people would help stimulate them a lot better than I could at home.

Saladleaf · 03/11/2025 12:26

Bump!

OP posts: