Advice please: splitting childcare between two providers

[itwillbegrandsure]

So I'm back to work in four months and have begun the search for a childminder for my little boy. So far it looks like the majority of childminders I have found in my area only have availability 4 days a week. I'm going back full time so this may leave me with no option but to look into putting my son into nursery for the 5th day each week.

Are any of you ladies in a similar situation whereby your little ones childcare is split between two providers? How do they cope with the change? Do they adjust well?
AIBU to even be considering this?

There are no full time nursery spaces available (and we need the flexibility a childminder offers), thus the reason we're not opting to put him in nursery full time.

Mummy guilt is already setting in big time.

But surely lots of people use various relatives on different days?

It might take your dc a little longer to settle with the childcare he only has once a week, but otherwise it'll be fine.

I used childminder & nursery & my DD coped fine. She was older though - 3 when the free space came up - & it was an easy transition to mix the 2.

Is a request for condensed hours an option at work? That might help with the limited CM availability?

We used preschool and a childminder but dd was 3. It was fine!

We did both too, but again DS was older. It worked well - there are pros and cons to both, so in many ways, it was the best of both worlds.

We used preschool and a childminder but dd was 3. It was fine!

We've used all sorts of combinations over the years. Currently we use 2 different child minders and after school club. Kids are better at remembering it all than we are-and it gives more leeway with sickness etc.

We used 2 nurseries- one attached to DS primary school (afternoons only offered) and a private one which offered all day care on the days I worked. It was fine. He knew who he'd see on each day and what the deal was. He was about 3 1/2 at that point though.

Are you in my nick if the woods, OP? I moved out of Lonon to a village while on maternity leave and was taken aback to discover no local childminders offer Fridays at all. Apparently 'there's no demand' -- there certainly seems to be an assumption that women with young children are SAHM or work very part-time.

I arranged to work from home on Fridays for a while, but now DS is in reception, I use a childminder for wraparound care Mon-Thurs, and breakfast and after school club on Friday.

When I was moving from a 4 day week to full time it looked as though I might have to do this, as our childminder was full on the other day that we needed.

What she suggested was actually splitting the time 3/2 - as she said children found it very hard to settle somewhere when it was only one day a week, but 2 days made it easier.

Might be worth considering?

(We actually moved house around the same time, so ended up changing childminder completely)

We also have a 3 year old who's in preschool 4 mornings and also cared for by a childminder (unfortunately said childminder only looks after older children so cannot take my son just yet) and she copes fine.

My DS will have just turned 1 and it will be his first time away from me thus the worry!

I split my childcare. At first through necessity like you then though choice.

The children liked it because each child preferred a different provider so they each got a bit of what they liked best. Eldest said the split made it feel more like pleasant childcare and less like substitute home, which made him feel happier about it.

Also v v handy when one was sick or on holiday, the other often picked up the slack if they could.

Don't think it's much different from my DD going to nursery one day, grans one day and nanas two days and then latterly private nursery two days, school nursery three half days and split with nana and gran the remaining time. Chaos, but she was fine with it! (I hope)

For a time we had a nanny who took them to nursery school for 9 - noon each day so that was a mixture when they were nearly 3. For those two years she did a bit of housework in those 3 hours or had a rest. The boys coped with both but that was a slightly different set up or getting used to 3 hours of nursery school a day before big school at rising 5.

My son is now 3 and at nursery three days a week but when I went back to work when he was 9 months we had a nanny two days a week and he went to nursery one day a week. It worked really well and he adapted fine with the change.

I haven't done it as I'm part time, but I definitely would consider it. I think a 3/2 split would be better than a 4/1, as a pp suggested.

DS2 did from being a baby. He had friends at both settings, and it worked for us. It seemed that everywhere he went, someone knew him! Don't fret, they are adaptable creatures?