To wonder what is best for a child, nursery or childminder??

[Hotmad]

I had in my mind that when I begrudgingly go back to work I would find a childminder for my DD who will be around 1 yr old.
A friend then told me that a nursery would be better as they would get more social integration there.

A good cm would probably be better, but from what I've seen, there isn't many. As far as I can tell mums choose to be cms so that they can stay at home with their pfb and get a little extra cash on the side. They can't give 2 hoots about your child.. Of course, this isn't true of all cms, but it's a fair reflection of what I've seen.

Gosh, we've hired (thinks) 4 childminders over the years and not one has been like that. They've all adored the children.

Personally i had a childminder from the age of 9 months till 2.5yrs and then a nursery till she was ready to start reception, i felt that a cm was important as at such a young age, i wanted a home from home environment and then as she got older a nursery for extra stimulation etc. This worked well for me and i was lucky to have a good not too expensive cm in london.

I went back to work full time but we employed a nanny who looked after him in our home. He was the only child she was responsible for. The thought of getting him up in the morning and taking him to a minder or nursery was not appealing. It also meant if he had a cold or anything the nanny would be at home with him.

The nannies had their own baby and nanny group and ours took him to all the activities a SAHM would. At 3 he had a couple of hours a day at the pre-school nursery attached to the primary school he was down for which increased to 3 hours at age 4.

I think if I couldn't have had a nanny I'd have gone for a minder as long as she didn't have too many to look after.

Our CM's were brilliant for social integration: it was like a larger sibling group than we could provide at home and they were taken to activities and meeting up with other CM's.

Both our CM's had older children (one was a grandmother) so being a CM was not about looking after pfb; it was a career they cared about doing well.

For us, the school run and generally being taken out and about in the local area felt more like a bonus than a drawback: by the time dd was three she knew far more about our local area than I did.

Nuuoholn m

Best for the child = a good childminder.

Best for the parent (in terms of sickness/holiday and possibly cost) = nursery.

Wow.
there are some shocking and inaccurate generalisations about both nurseries and childminders here.
Really ignorant sweeping statements.

We use a CM, and are very happy with that decsion, she is superb and my very active toddler goes on outings most days, has his own place to nap, a variety of activities (yesterday was 'rainbow' day), today he is going on a little local train trip to a cafe and the park. He has homecooked meals with a small group of other kids and gets a family environment. I dont doubt for a second how much our CM cares about the wellbeing of all her mindees. the affection is obvious. She absolutely puts his needs first.

If it had suited us we would have used a nursery, as it was my son is boisterous yet very sensitive, change is hard for him - and since he was there long days from the age of 12 months - for us a smaller setting with 100% continuity of carer was important to us.

We saw some fantastic local nurseries too and would have been happy with those had our circumstances / sons temperament been different.

theres good and bad settings, but honestly - go and look for yourself and trsut your instincts!!!

Also - can someone pleas etell me what is wrong with a school run? for many younger siblings its a reality daily with SAHP and in someways helps prepare them for their eventual schooling

OP - why is "more social integration" better? Personally I don't think small DC need to be over socialised. A gentle introduction to the world is more propitious.

A one year old really doesn't need social integration. A childminder is much better at that age as it's more like a family environment. Also things like nappy changes are done immediately as the childminder has less children to look after. When your child is two or older a nursery could suit as at that age they will start to play along side (not with) other children and will benefit more from social interaction than when they were a baby.

Up to three - childminder.

Depends on the child and the settings. My child go to an unparalleled nursery, the first and best of its kind. They would not get the same freedom or experiences at a childminder

Nursery. wouldn't change it for the world.

After 3 months in the nursery (she started at 10 months) there was a risk to close so I looked at some childminders and really didn't get a good impression, and these were highly rated... for example i asked about naps and they just plonked the baby in the pram, went out for the older ones and the babies had to sleep in the pram. ok once in a while but i wouldn't want it every day...

glad we stuck by the nursery and she loved it there

Agree with whodares. Childminder then nursery/ pre-school.

I didn't do that myself!!

I used nursery for ds1. Ds2 was nursery then preschool.

But I think childminder is best for babies through to 3. One to one care is the best.
After 3 nursery or preschool for the social integration.

When I was looking at options there was a thread on here about feeding jars of baby food, totally against it but as the thread moved along there were one or two things said by the op that made me uncomfortable and unfortunately I found out that the op is a childminder local to me. I didn't want to risk it. One of the nurseries was a bit too disorganised and couldn't even get the right department to call me back. My dd is now at nursery and loving it but the one I found is very good, big indoor and outdoor play areas, the different rooms do get to integrate because the nursery believes that children learn from each other, the younger strive to copy the older and the older learn empathy and to be aware of others. She gets lots of one on one attention and does all sorts of things like baking, messy play etc. They employ a chef and do all home cooked meals. My dd is outgoing and adventurous, wants to explore everything and climb everything her nursery allows her to do all that. If she was a quieter child it maybe wouldn't suit her quite as much.

I looked at both a settled on nursery near my work. Reasons? CM weren't that great in my area and if I asked anyone for a recommendation I always seemed to get a yeah they're OK. Found a nursery near work recommended by a colleague who said they're great, visited and fell in love with the place. DS been there since 9 months old and absolutely loves it. Quite a small nursery though so best of both worlds, reliable childcare (ie if staff off sick they have staff to cover) and all the personal touches of CM. All down to where you feel comfortable to leave them - before I found this one, some of the ones we went to I wouldn't leave my neighbours cat with them let alone my pfb!

Can anyone tell me a website that I could find local cm or nurseries? I googled it and a list comes up on net mums but not sure if that's general or not. Is there such a website that lists all registered childcare places?
Thank you for all your responses, had given me plenty of food for thought, I think I will check out or look at different cm and nurseries to see the vibe I get and see if I think I like.

A lot of posts on here refer to cm as one to one care - it isn't round here! I see easily 3 or 4 with each cm whereas a nursery for under 2 is 3:1 ratio.

Perhaps there isn't I right answer? Perhaps it depends on the personality of the child, and the quality of care available from local childminders or nurseries?

Personally, I'd have preferred a good childminder.

Hotmad I looked in my council website for both nurseries and childminder lists. then I looked at their websites and arranged visits

Its interesting reading the posts on here.

I'm intrigued by the idea that a CM is better for a baby as it replicates the home environment which is the best ting for a small child. I am currently on maternity leave and think it a real shame that my baby (almost 6 months) has to fit in with family live so much, on all school runs and to all activities the bigger ones do. I feel a bit guilty that his naps are so often interupted as we are in and out of the car/buggy or when I have to let him cry about being in his car seat as I have to drive to pick up others. Obviously the mummy cuddles/breastfeeding on demand and time with his siblings outweigh that now, but I'm not sure if I would feel the same if he wasn't with me and he had to do those things for the sake of other children.

He will be going to nursery at around 1. My ds went there for 2 years (2.5-school age) and still talks about it and still loves it when we bump into staff from there. It is mostly the same staff now and they are looking forward to the new baby coming.

DD is the only one who went to a CM at all, for school runs. There was a minor issue over her telling me one version of events and dd another, where I was confused as I'm pretty sure she lied to me. I wouldnt want to leave a baby with someone alone unless I knew and trusted them really well

Nursery nurses train for 2 years before they have the level 3 qualification that allows them to be left alone with children.
I dont know how long a childminder has to train for, but I think its brief.
Also under 2 years old the adult/ child ratio is 1:3 in a nursery so dont believe they are these baby farms where emotional needs cannot be met cuddles are plenty.

No they don't - you can be left alone with children without a level 3, and the NVQ can taken just a few months to do - it really isn't very rigorous.

Arethereany, Scottish childminders are max 3under 5 unless a specific variation is granted. Think England is similar. They can only have one under 1

Yes www.childcare.co.uk/

It lists every single one, there are more than you think!