Nursery vs Childminder & when is too young to start?

Hi all are they any good childminders you recommend near SE20?

I chose to take my DS to nursery rather than a childminder. He was 4 months at the time, and I felt more confident with him in an environment where there was more than one adult around. There were another 3 full time babies in that nursery and the key workers (ration 1 to 2) were absolutely lovely. My DS was a very happy baby and has turned out a very social, easily adaptable child. He's 8yo now. I am sure cm can be just as good, but my experience with a good nursery was fantastic. As with everything, you have to do a lot of research and put your name down early (I registered him when I was 2 months pregnant). Some of the nurseries I visited were horrible.

If you know of any really good, well thought of community playgroups (the kind where you leave the children, NOT mother and toddler type ones) then I'd call up and ask the manager if she can recommend a good local childminder. They'll see plenty, because of the free hours nursery places for 3 year olds. And they will see how the CM is when parents aren't there, as well as how the child responds to that CM. If they say someone is lovely, then they probably are.

I trust my DS' nursery manager's opinion completely. She is genuinely someone who loves and is interested in kids, and the atmosphere in the playgroup really reflects that. It's how we intend to get a CM, her recommendation. And she'll hear all the local gossip on who's good, who interacts well with the kids, etc etc as well.

molly - books, we have more children's books on site than the local library has, so we rotate them from our own collection. Food/shopping is delivered.

Mandy - I was suprised that any private nursery has a bigger budget than council nurseries, as private nurseries can rely only on the fees the charge to cover all their costs, whereas LA nurseries have money from any fees, plus their budget form the council.

Rita and Holy yes - definitely - as I said, it just depends where you are and what nurseries are like. The nursery my daughter is at won Best Independent Nursery of the Year last year so perhaps I am spoilt in the facilities / training / staff ratios that they have - other nurseries may not be like that but thats precisely the point - the OP might find a fab nursery / childminder / nanny which is exactly why generalisations don't work! Its no use having someone sing the praises of a wonderful nursery in South Manchester if she's based in London!

Rita I'm not saying you're wrong (forgive me if you thought that), I'm just saying everyone's experience is different and its down to personal choice based on the options the OP has available. I just wanted to point out to the OP that my experience of private nurseries (and admittedly I've only ever used 3) is different to yours.

Hi there, baby will settle within any caring settled environment. Think this mud slinging of cm v nursery is unhelpful as obviously good and bad on both sides.

If I were you I would do lots of visits and get as many references as possible and then decide. Good luck.

Re costs... I charge £65 per day (all inclusive), which is average for my area. The 2 most local nurseries are £70 and £90 per day (all inclusive). I am SW London.

Speaking as a CM... do your homework... go out and meet some local childminders and visit nurseries. Go with your gut feel.

I am a CM who focuses on the under 3s, I do not do school runs. Even though I am registered to look after older children I do not out of choice, so all meals/resources/outings etc. ate geared towards the little ones. I am always full and inundated with inquiries.. I think this is a boon.

pixie witch - here it is 3 pound to 3.50 an hour for either nurseries and childminders. Most would include all nappies, 3 meals including lunch home cooked and sun cream/hats etc. It would be around 30 - 35 pounds for the day.

I am really surprised to nurseries taking children out once evry half term.Dont they go to the library every week? How do you get books out and change them? Also how do you do your shopping for snack?

We take them out in rotation at least every couple of days shop, forest schools,park library etc. The different age groups take their own groups.

It depends where you are. I'm in the SE, but outside London. Childminders here are £4.50-£5.50 per hour.

Half days in nursery are generally a lot more than half the whole day amount. The total cost varies. One local day nursery is £35 a day 8-6. Another is term-time only, 8.45-3.15pm and costs £2510 per term.

Mandy when I said they don't take them out I didn't mean outside, I meant out on trips, out into the community.

I would expect even the worst nurseries to have an outside play area that the children could have access to more or less everyday.

Are you sure Mandy? I've never come across a private nursery that has the budget for anything like as high wages or as much training as a LA nursery. LA nurseries tend to have much higher staff to child ratio, level 3 qualified workers are paid £18-21k compared to £13-14k in private nurseries. Much more access to training for staff (eg. I have been able to do 4 courses this academic year through the LA) and are able to get extra funding for children with additional needs, visits from SALTs, physiotherapists etc.

When you get the list of CMs ignore what it says about vacancies. Even if it says it's updated recently, they're often wrong as situations change, so just contact any you think are possibilities. They will soon tell you if they are fully booked for months to come. I'd visit nurseries now, yes. If you can afford it, it may also be worth putting down a deposit even if you're not totally sure. The amounts they ask for vary.

A 1.5 day a week nanny is not impossible. Lots of people want one 3 days a week, so some have 2 'spare' days.

Recommendations are really tough with DC1 , as you don'tt yet have the networks of other parents . don't forget CMs and nurseries have OFSTED reports, although there's no substitute for visiting, asking questions and your own instincts.

Am quite surprised to hear people saying that nurseries don't take the children out - that is the exact opposite of my experience. When my eldest were at nursery there were 3 separate play areas and the children were out there as much as possible - as they went into the toddler room (at 18months / 2 yrs from memory) they were assigned all in one waterproof suits, we had to leave wellies / warm clothing there and even if it was raining / cold etc, they were outside. They were next to a farm with a llama, they went there every day to see the animals etc.

It just goes to show OP that everyone has a different view - as others have said, visit as many as you can, get recommendations.

I disagree that government funded nurseries offer better care than private nurseries, in my opinion, the level of funding they receive is miniscule compared to private nurseries so yes, there is a profit element at private nurseries but also a very big pot for resources, training, extra activities that a government funded nursery simply can't compete with.

It's quite rare for nurseries to be able to take children out daily - most nurseries will want to have a much higher staff:child ratio on trips out than they do in nursery for example. In my nursery we tend to do 1 per half term.

That's fab, but not representative of the majority of nurseries. I'm only advising the OP look at the 'general terms' of nurseries vs childminders. I'm sure there are childminders who never go out. I think you will find in 'general' that childminders/nannies get out and about more than nurseries.

HolyNo, "For example, even very good nurseries rarely take the children out. Do you want your baby to spend all their time in one room, looking at the same 4 walls, same 3/4/5 other babies?"

The nursery we used took the children out at least once almost every day - they only stayed in if the weather was totally foul. They went to the library, to feed ducks, to the bakery, to the park (despite having outside space at the nursery anyway) - all sorts of things.