Going to look at a nursery before the child is born...

[ClaraTyrone]

I phoned a nursery this evening that me and DH like. It has outstanding on its ofsted reviews and we have or hearts set on it a little.

I phoned them this morning to see if I could look around. The woman asked me how old my child was. I explained that they weren't due for another few weeks and that I wanted to come in and speak to someone about details. How far in advance we need to book a spot. What their availability is likely to be as I need to arrange going part time with work as soon as possible. Etc etc. I thought I was being organised...

She told me there's no point in me looking around before the child is born. I should wait until after. I explained that I also wanted to talk to someone face to face about certain things, as explained above, and again she told me to wait until baby is born.

Baby is due in a few weeks and I'm not going to be able to take a huge time off work. We will need to put baby in nursery for a day or two a week about 3 months after they are born. I'll work two days a week and have 5 days off with the baby.

Still, she told me to wait until baby is born. I phoned another nursery I wanted to look at and they said of course I can look around and that it is best to do it as early as possible.

WIBU to want to have a look and ask them a couple of questions? I was made to feel like a fool. She even laughed when I told her baby wasn't born yet. Hmmph

I’d say you got a taste of what the staff at that nursery are like and saved yourself a trip - go with somewhere else

@Cloudyapples it's really put me off!

I would also go somewhere else. I booked the nursery before my child was born even though she didn’t start until she was about 11 months - i just wanted one less thing to worry about. Nursery were absolutely fine about it and made me feel so much at ease with sending her when the time came.

I don’t think it’s unusual. I provisionally put myself down for the waiting list before my baby was born and she didn’t start until 1. In some areas you have to. I think you need to stress that you would be looking for entry within the next 3 months and are wanting to organise a place ASAP.

The thing is, we may actually get a childminder for the first few months until they are 1 and then put them in nursery, but we are still undecided. Hence why I want to look around. So it may well be the case that we don't need it for over a year, I just wanted to be organised. I feel really gutted about how rude she seemed on the phone.

Avoid that nursery! It’s a perfectly sensible thing to do, no need to try book visits and go trapising through with a newborn.

What Cloudy said. It’s very normal to look around before baby is born, particularly if the nursery is oversubscribed and/or you’re planning on returning to work quickly.

In my experience, it is totally normal to book a space before the baby is born. In fact, when my first was born, if you hadn't paid the first months fees as a deposit prior to the 20 week scan you had no chance of getting a place at 1yo. Things are a lot better now locally, but it's still quite normal to book while pregnant, especially if you need a space before a year.

YANBu, particularly if you're in a big city where certain days won't be available. I reckon you've had a lucky escape to find out they're crap now! Outstanding seems the holy grail, but I'd look at the reports in more details- I visited an outstanding and a good, bit had a better feeling about the good and loved the little anecdotes in the ofsted report

We looked round just after my 20 week scan looking for a 2day/week place at six months and half the ones I phoned we were too late!

That's odd! I was encouraged to book before my child was born as the waiting list was so long! They were so good at answering my questions too. I'd avoid this place

I'm going to go and look around next week but ask to speak to a manager. It wasn't a manager I spoke to today as I know the managers name. I'm going to let them know that whoever I spoke to put me off and that they will end up losing out because of it. That their staff need training in their telephone skills!