To ask at what age you put your child in nursery?

[chuckb4ss]

Was it part time or full time, and did you feel it was beneficial for your child?

I've read that research shows babies should be with their primary caregiver for the first few years in order to create a secure, healthy attachment, but I simply cannot last that long!

I said I’d never put my children in nursery! But my eldest went at 18 months - and just loved it. Part time, to cover my work hours and shared care with my mum.
DC2 was 9 months and went very part time when I went back to work, until she was a little older and then her days gradually increased. DC3 was almost 2 when she started, my hours had changed by then so I was home more. She went to nursery because dc2 was there, and not for childcare reasons - I just felt it was beneficial for them.
All mine stayed until a few days before they started reception class.
Considering I always said no child of mine would go - they all loved it, and were very happy there.

Mine didn't go to nursery regularly until 3, I was a sahm. However the older 2 went to a child minder ad hoc as I was very ill in my 3rd pregnancy. After that I had a mother's help until dd2 was 2.6 (still ill from pregnancy, I don't do pregnancy well!). After that, we had a nanny until dd2 was 3.6 when we used the free hours and I went back to studying.

Put your child in Nursery is an odd way of putting it.
Makes it sound so negative. Like you have putting them away in a cupboard or something

I don't know what research you are reading, but all my understanding of child development is that children benfit from secure attachments, not that they need to spend 24/7 with one parent.

I went back to work after 3 months, with each of my 3, as that was the maternity leave that we had when they were born, and someone had to earn money, in order to house and feed them. Which seemed quite important to me.
As it happens, I chose a Childminder, as that seemed preferable to me, but that is personal choice and there are regular threads on here about the pros and cons of Nursery versus Childminder.
All my dc have grown into kind, funny, loving, secure, confident adults despite having the opportunity to mix with people other than me and their Dad.
Amazing.

13 months for 1 full day and 1/2 a day.

www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/long-term-study-following-4500-children-links-childcare-better-outcomes

I’ve seen quite a few studies which show the benefit of early childcare environments, this is quite a solid report

Hope the link works!

12 months 1 morning a week with a childminder (with grandparents for 2 days at this age too). Nursery 2 mornings a week from 2yrs, then 3 mornings at 3yrs.

11months for 5 days a week

12 months, full time, both times.

I don't think it was beneficial to them, but neither do I think it harmed them. I wanted to go back to work and I am not a natural parent.

16 months initially for 2 half days a week, but after a month that wasn't working out so changed to full days after a month.
I thought it was too early, only did it partly due to covid and feeling she wasn't getting enough socialising.
She has now been there just 2 months and she does really like it. Always keen to go in, likes the staff, seems to come home really confident. Next time I would send the child a bit sooner, although would still try to keep them at home till 1 probably. I think it's important to have a good quality nursery with keen and committed staff though - all the research shows that it's the quality of the childcare that is important rather than whether or not they attend. There is a lot of poor quality provision in the UK and Ofsted reports don't really give any useful insight.

Couple mornings a week from 2 1/2
Upped it gradually until they were three days a week 9-3 the year before staring reception Term time only .

My first went at 10 months and 2nd at 1. Both 3 full days a week. They have thrived there, it's done wonders for them.

Mine all went to a childminder from six months - that was the maximum time you could have off on maternity leave.

9 months i couldn't afford a whole year of mat leave. She has never been full time and has always loved nursery

You have to do what's right for you and your family.
My little one will be going 2.5 days aged 3 x

Full time from 4 months.

And by "I don't think it was beneficial to them, but neither do I think it harmed them." I mean developmentally and emotionally they are not scarred by it nor are they at an advantage to their stay at home peers. They both enjoyed it but they were the kind of kids that enjoyed any sort of activity.

@backforgood you sound very defensive..do you regret sending them so young? Appreciate you may not have had any choice.but 3 months is pretty normal in many countries. The UK has extremely generous maternity leave!

Ours started in the September before her third bday. Initially 15 hours (3 afternoons) a week, going up to 30 hours (usually two full days, two half-days) when we were eligible for the free hours. It works for us. She was a bit whingy about going at first, but settled fairly quickly. Now she looks forward to it and it's pretty clear that if we tried to keep her home at the moment because of COVID she would give us no end of grief.

I don't think it harms our relationship with her, although I sometimes miss having time during the week to do things together - whether that was going to little clubs and groups or heading off to explore somewhere. That may be a lockdown regret as much as a nursery regret, though.

Mine will be going when she is 13 months old. Full time 9-5. Unfortunately part time places are hard to get and I need to study and my husband works from home full time. No family anywhere near us unfortunately. I’m sad about it but I think my baby will enjoy it as she is probably quite bored being cooped up at home.

10 months one day a week but took her out at 13 months because of Coronavirus. In hindsight I think she was too young.

I think dd in particular thrived by being with people who loved being with very young children and who weren't constantly stressed with juggling everything.

DC1 3months, full time. Mat leave was very short 20yrs ago. I got 18wks on full pay, DC1 was late so a month was "wasted" waiting as I finished at 38wks. She was fine, I was not.

DC2 11yrs ago - 11m, 4 days a week and term time and only for 5m until DC3 was born.

DC3 10 years ago 2.5ys.

3 of my DC were 3yrs part time
The other one didn't go to school

I miss them being small.

All 3 at 9 months for 3 days 9-5. My partner and I then split having a day off mon- fri to spend with them. Great balance.

Aged 2 , basically when I knew the staff couldn't just leave them crying in a bouncy chair all day.