Childcare fell through need some advice

[Cheeseandapple]

Help! I am returning to work after mat leave in 3 weeks. I had a childminder in place for 3 days a week but she told me this week that she can't do it anymore. I'm back to the drawing board but urgently need to sort something permanent out.
I've found a childminder. She seems to be the only one with space in my area as I've messaged all the Ofsted registered ones. She only has one other kid with her on one of the days and no other children for two of the days. I'm slightly worried about that a. Because I want my DC with other children, learning to play etc and b. Because it strikes me as odd that all childminders are at capacity and she's here with 1 child for just 2 days a week.
So I'm also considering an au pair but worried I've got the wrong end of the stick and my DCwho is 11 months is too young?

Please share your sage advice and experience. I've got no idea what to do.

DD went to a nursery from ages 1-6. She goes to a great childminder now but actually think she would still prefer the equivalent to a nursery for her age group.
She made great relationships with the staff at both nurseries.

Honestly, I think an au pair is the worst solution. No qualifications and probably inexperienced, with no supervision. This isn’t what au pairs are for - for sole care of a baby you would need a nanny.

I have 3 children and have tried all of these options over the years.
Personally for me, a good nursery gets my vote every time.

Sorry previous post should have said childminder for the moment, not au pair. I'm really torn. If we put her in nursery she'd be there 7-6 until at least Sept but possibly longer. The only one with those hours is massive over 109 children, but Ofsted outstanding and seems very good.

Feels like the choice is between two extremes. Either 1:1 with minimal interaction with other children or much larger ratio with loads of other children. She's a really sociable baby, loves company of other babies and very happy with other adults. She's never spent more than 4ish hours away from me so I'm not sure about how she is after that time frame.

I'm now erring towards nursery, thinking about how sociable she is. I'd hate to deprive her of that.

Thanks for all taking the time to respond.

Her dad is in the loop and very much involved in this decision but like me cant take time off work regularly.

But those 109 children won’t all be roaming around at once in s big room with only 2 or 3 nursery nurses keeping an eye on them. It’s highly unlikely that they will all even be in on the same day. Many will be part time, some will be term time only. They will be in several age specific rooms, with appropriate child:staff ratios. The children will be allocated key workers. There rill be a limited number of staff who work in each room. Nurseries are not huge anonymous baby-zoos!

DD starts nursery in 4 weeks - she'll be 9.5 months and there for 4 days a week 7.15-4.45 so they're long days BUT I much preferred it over a childminder and I'd definitely prefer it over a CM with only 1 child and evidence of a TV being used.

You say that the nursery is huge but she'll be in a much smaller baby room until she's 2/3 where the ratios are 1 to 3.

An au pair is only really an option once your youngest can get free nursery hours as they are limited to the number of hours. A nanny however could be an option

I struggled with the nursery/childminder debate for months with dd before I went back to work.

In the end I chose nursery. Dd was quite quiet and shy and I did worry I had made the wrong choice, but she has flourished. She loves going now, and the range of activities and sensory areas swung it for me. The childminder was amazing, but she just didn’t have the scope to offer what the nursery could.

If your dd is sociable it could really work for her. It’s worth having a taster session and seeing how she gets on.

I'm not going to get into the nursery or childminder debate as it's horses for courses. But if you have any misgivings/feelings of doubt about someone, don't leave your baby with them. There's likely to be perfectly valid reasons why she has spaces but those first few days back to work after maternity leave, leaving the most precious person in your world in someone else's care is hard enough, just imagine how it will feel if you don't feel 100% happy about them.

Look into nurseries before you decide for sure, OP

My DD went to a huge nursery, over 150 children, but as a pp says, not all on the same day. When she started at 11 months, she was in a baby room of 10 with 3 or 4 staff.
She loved every single minute of her 3.5 years there and I didn't feel worried about her, not even for a minute. The breadth of activities and experiences they had was staggering, and the wide range of meals she ate and enjoyed bowled me over too!

NI would go for nursery, because short of the whole place closing, your childcare won't 'fall through' because the childminder is ill, or has a domestic crisis, or wants to go on holiday. My DC were very happy at nursery and learned so much from other children. I was also happier with the idea of there being multiple adults.

I would always vote childminder. My DD has an ofsted outstanding childminder. One summer holiday 6 of her children left (2 moving onto school and siblings moving house and others were teachers with hols off)
She had a few months with just my DD and occasionally 1 other and during that time she taught DD how to swim, they went to the zoo and farms, dance classes etc - DD had the most amazing time.
Only having one child is not a deal breaker there could be many reasons for it and it could be a huge advantage for you!
Personally I don’t like nurseries for under 2s but wouldn’t judge anyone who used one.

In your situation I would go for the nursery. Big nursery means lots of staff and facilities. Money for an on-site chef etc...

The ratios stay the same and your child will be cared for in a small group.

My DC went to nursery until 3 because I don’t trust lone workers particularly and especially not when their charges can’t articulate what’s going on. But I appreciate that’s my ‘issue’ and not all people think like me!

I used to work in a private nursery,1 part of the nursery took children from 6 weeks old.

I can promise you OP all of the children no matter what they're age were taken really good care of.

We all devolped really good relationships with the children and they're parents and we all grew to love the children we worked with.

Years later 2 of my own DC went into a private nursery because I worked and was attending college and I'm so over protective but hand on heart I can say that my DC were so well looked after and the young lady who looked after my DC formed a really lovely bond with them,she loved them and they loved her and they had such good care whilst they were there.