Nursery sessions

[springchicken123]

I currently work part time and my nearly 2yo goes to nursery on those days (mon tue and thur). We are due our second in a few months and I am wondering what to do with the 2yo nursery sessions. We definitely want to keep him in but have the following considerations:

1. I have health issues so really need to pace myself best I can with 2 young children

2. do we stick to 3 days but change them to mon, wed and fri? Dh and I can potentially do one run each. Will the two (week) days with both be really full on?

3. do we change to 5 half days so each day is the same routine iyswim? Mornings or afternoon?

4. I've always had the 2yo in a strict routine with naps and i want to do the same again so if we choose option 3 then pick up or drop off (depending on if we choose morning or afternoon) will be in the middle of the lunchtime nap. How will this work??

Please share any thoughts and ideas. Just thinking ahead and I will need to give nursery notice to change the sessions as they are busy.

Bump

I think a lot of it is personal preference. My 1st and 2nd did 2 short days (9-3) at nursery when I was on maternity leave which kept their places for when I went back to work and gave me time with the baby by themselves.

I think the honest answer re:naps is that everything is a lot more fluid with subsequent children. I had my third the year the eldest started reception and he napped in the buggy at 9am and 3pm every day because there was no other real option!

bump

It’s a bit rude to ignore an answer given and just rebump.

Personally, half day sessions are the work of the devil! All the stress of getting out on time every day, bags packed every day etc and no sooner are you in the house and sorted, it's time to think about pick up!!

Personally, I could cope with 2 on Mondays as I'd had DH around (and a decent lie in) over the weekend.

We did a Tues and Thurs as nursery days and it worked a treat for us.

Oh and once the baby was reliably napping in the afternoon, I did add a 1/2 day Friday afternoon session as it was my time to blitz house / bins / laundry to get a head start for the weekend so we got chill time instead.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat yup!

@PotteringAlong apologies didn't mean to offend, just wanted some more opinions

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat lighten up a bit!

Definitely go for longer days and not half day sessions. My older one was in school when #2 was born and even then having to run out at 8:30 and again at 3 made for a very short day. Especially once they start solids, you’re pretty much doing the school run, nap, lunch and back out the door again. It’s hard to fit in any sort of groups or classes unless they are very local to you.

Thanks, it sounds like 2/3 full days is the best option then. Either the or Thursday, or mon/wed/fri.

I don't want the older one to feel neglected at all so do you think 3 days will be a bit much? He currently goes 3 days and suppose he won't really know that I'm at home with the baby opposed to at work so it's more me who needs to get my head around it/ make my peace with it??

DS goes to nursery full time. I'm having DC2 in a few weeks and DS will continue to go to nursery full time. Reasons;

• his life is about to change massively, nursery will keep some normality for him.
• he loves nursery, seems silly to change it for no reason.
• those first few months with a newborn are hard. I'm not going to be able to give DS the attention he needs at home.
• once we're in to a routine I can always change it, take him out for days etc.
• need some rest for my own health.
• allows 1 to 1 time with new one.

My plan is to afte a few months, once in a routine and recovered to spend 2 days taking both out.

I wouldn't do half days, by the time you get home and you've had a brew it's almost time to collect again and you can guarantee the baby classes you like this time will finish just after you need to have collected DC by.

Also consider when you go back to work. Will it be the same hours you do now? If it is, will nursery be able to swap and change again?

@mortifiedmama all good points, yes I will probably go back 3 days ...