How to use 15 free hours on second mat leave

[blueberrycherubandbump]

Hello, I'm due DC2 early next year and DC1 will be 2.5 years. Currently they go to nursery 3 days a week, which is eye wateringly expensive.

I'm wondering how to balance childcare and 2 DC once the baby is here. Do people just send kids for their free hours, or will 15 hours not be enough whilst caring for a newborn?

We're going to be stretched as it is financially whilst I'm on mat leave. So I don't think we'll afford more than 3 days regardless.

For me it was more about keeping DC1 in her routine, and keeping her nursery place that I needed her to have for when I went back to work.

So she still did her 2 full days. I didn't put her in any extra, but did have help from family, particularly in the early days / weeks of DC2.

When my second was born the school nursery (which was round the corner) only did 9-12 daily.

My DH is out 5am - 5pm ish every day.

I found that 3 hours gave me time to nip to the supermarket, clean a bit and most importantly nap.

It helped that the morning at nursery tired her out a bit which helped the afternoon.

I do think though that keeping your first in some kind of routine is the best.

Thanks, yes. I do worry about losing DC1s place as it'll need to return to the original once I'm off mat leave. Or we could potentially move to preschool. It's really tricky to know what to do.