To still send DC1 to nursery whilst on mat leave with DC2

[coffeeforone]

Just thinking ahead as it’s early days and I’m due late summer. If I can afford it, I’d like to still send DS to nursery whilst on mat leave as I think it will be good for him and I think it would be nice to have some time with just the newborn in the early days. He currently goes full time. What do you think would be a reasonable amount of nursery time for him when I am on mat leave? As much as I can afford? Or just the minimum two half days they offer, or something in between??

Its entirely up to you. I know some who keep their children doing 4 days a week, others who do 2-3 days, and those who have no nursery because they cant afford it.

I'd keep him to as much of the same routine as he's in now - then it's no different.

I did it. My daughter wasn't in nursery much (I'm lucky to have family support) buy she went the same days all the way through my maternity leave with my son. She enjoyed it, it kept her routine, gave her a change of scenery and gave me time alone with my new baby.

Perfectly normal. DS carries on with his usual 3 days when dd came along. Paid for by childcare vouchers and 15 hrs funding.

As much as you can afford

i'm going to. DC does 3 days and I'll probably drop down to 2 but not immediately!

DC1 kept same nursery routine when DC2 came along, we could afford it, DC2 enjoyed it and baby and I got some bonding time too.

DC1 kept same nursery routine when DC2 came along, we could afford it, DC2 enjoyed it and baby and I got some bonding time too.

Thanks for the replies. I’m not sure we’ll be able to keep exactly the same routine for him once I’m only getting SMP, as my income will drop significantly, but I will do the sums and see what is possible. I just wanted to see if it was the done thing to keep them going as much as possible. I don’t get free hours yet as DS is not 3 until next summer, so there is the cost to think, but also what is best for DS.

We did as much as we could afford.

Sometimes I chose to keep the eldest home with me or if I was taking the baby somewhere I thought he’d enjoy, I took him too.

But mostly if I’d had a sleepless night, or if baby was teething or cluster feeding or whatever it was great to know DS1 was off having fun and being looked after and I could focus on the baby.

I sent DS1 3 days a week while on mat leave with DS2. It was great and he loved still seeing his friends.

Thanks Liskee I might do 3 days - was the 3 days a week a reduction from 5 days?

Having recently gone from 1 to 2 dc, my older one still goes to her gran's 2 days a week as she had been doing when I was working. As much as I love them both, it's an absolute godsend. They're both very young as we have a small age gap so getting both in and out of the car then into the pram etc is a mission and I'd find it pretty hard having them both on my own 5 days a week.

On the days when I just have one, I can easily pop to the shops, go for a coffee, get housework done or take the baby to a baby group. And as my HV said, keeping the older ones routine as much as you can means they don't associate the new arrival with lots of change for them.

Just my experience, but if you can afford it I'd recommend keeping some childcare arrangements for the older one.

Try and stick to the same routine if you can. We took DC1 out of nursery when DC2 was born as I was on maternity and it saved us money and it's nice for children not to go to nursery....

In hindsight I really regret stopping nursery. It really disrupted DC1's routine, it was another major change for them to deal with on top of the new sibling - it would have been nice for them to have had something that stayed the same after the baby came along.

Try and stick to the same routine if you can. We took DC1 out of nursery when DC2 was born as I was on maternity and it saved us money and it's nice for children not to go to nursery....

In hindsight I really regret stopping nursery. It really disrupted DC1's routine, it was another major change for them to deal with on top of the new sibling - it would have been nice for them to have had something that stayed the same after the baby came along.

Definitely keep him in nursery - personally I wouldn't want my child to be in full time nursery if I wasn't working - that's time with them you won't ever get back - and frankly babies are pretty dull! I actually missed my toddler when I had a baby - and found the days without him when I just had the newborn more boring..

I would send him 2 or 3 days a week ...maternity leave is a precious opportunity to spend time with both kids before you go back to work again later, so as long as you can do some nursery time I would also remember it's nice to enjoy time with the older one while you have the opportunity - once they are at school that's it for 15 years...no more days in the park!