So confused between nursery and childminder

[BeKookySheep]

I am looking for childcare options for my second DC from September. Elder DC attends preschool which only accepts kids from 18 months old. Baby would need childcare from 11 months old when I go back to work. DS went to nursery from 14 months and he was constantly sick. We hated that nursery as they were just so money minded, absolutely awful, no consideration for Children and very filthy. We moved him to preschool and we all love it, he absolutely loves it and staff are lovely.
We also want to use the 30 funded hours for baby. Spoke to few childminder and we will be going for viewing soon. We have got no experience of childminders and only know about nursery.
One of my concerns about nursery is that there are so many young children together catching bugs constantly which was so miserable while childminder will have less children so hopefully less bugs and it's bit cheaper as well compared to nursery.
Please share your experience and any other factors I need to think about. Thanks

In my experience, yes nursery is hell at first with bugs etc but the children that go to nursery often end up less likely to pick up bugs etc when they’re at school as it builds up an immune system.

@mummysmagicmedicine thank you. It was really difficult with my DS when he started nursery so I am considering childminder this time and it would be more of a home environment. Don't know what could be downside

I used my lovely childminder from 9 months and she became like family to us, she was a bigger childminder so she employed two people and had about 12 children per session - lots of home based play, visits and flexibility, it really was a home from home.
I worked in a preschool setting at the time so we split our time in her preschool year as I wanted DD to experience a bigger setting in preparation for Reception, so we did half and half childminder/preschool and it was perfect for us.
I don’t think there’s any right or wrong though to be honest, I’d go by how you feel when you visit each setting.
One thing I considered with bigger nurseries was if the staff change round a lot, how does that affect the bond a very young child forms with their carer? With a childminder it’s going to be one person consistently throughout, which I liked.
I know I was very lucky, like I say, out childminder became like family and friends who used childminders would often say the same thing.

If you don't like the nursery, could you go for a different one? Or take a look at the childminders and see whether that's more your thing.
DC1 went to nursery when he was 8 months old. We needed somewhere close to my work, reliable and term-time only. We looked at several nurseries (including a really posh one with sensory shower, forest area, mud kitchen and what not...massive baby room, though,...took up the entire top floor) and eventually went for a tiny one a few minutes from my work. What swung it for me was that when we went to look around, one of the little ones in the baby room was crying. The lady showing us round just swooped him up, cuddled him and then carried him around with her for the rest of the tour. I liked that. I want my baby to feel like there's someone there, who will cuddle them when they are upset. DC1 settled in really quickly. It was also run by two qualified teachers.

DC2 will start nursery in June. I've just been to get the paperwork sorted. There are 8 under 3s in the room and they've got four members of staff. The baby room has a separate outdoor area, which is nice. Again, DC2 was just picked up when she crawled over to the lady and then carried around a bit to meet the office staff and have a look at toys. She's not shy with new people, thankfully.

It's normal for them to get ill and catch everything going at the beginning. Luckily, that meant that while DC1 was practically sick constantly for the first three months of nursery, he hasn't been sick much since. I'm also starting DC1 two months before I return to work to hopefully get the bugs sorted while I'm still at home.

Main downside in my opinion is the lack of cover if the childminder is on holiday, or ill

It very much depends on the nursery. If comparing to one you describe that was dirty and not child oriented then I would go for child minder. But if you have a good nursery option then I’d consider that as an option. Good ones are often more expensive than child minders but we’ve always had a good experience and you get what you pay for. Ours has an on site chef preparing all the meals, they get breakfast lunch and dinner plus two snacks which are all freshly prepared and healthy, different rooms tailored to different ages and stages, a big garden again with different areas for different ages, extra curricular classes that are included, parent and family events, kids kitchen and cooking classes and vegetable garden where kids help to grow vegetables and cook with them. Plus it doesn’t close for staff holidays or staff sickness, it’s always open unless your kid is sick.

These threads usually become dumpster fires with some people convinced nursery is child abuse, but I will say the socialising aspect for our children has been great. They’ve made some good friends they see on the weekends.

We went childminder and am VERY glad we did. She only had three children plus her daughter after school. She’s still a friend now and my children (youngest is 15) are really fond of her. She provided a nurturing environment - both my two went to preschool and 3 but she did pick ups on the day she had them, it was perfect.

For various reasons we used several nurseries of varying quality of care and one childminder. The latter was far, far better in every way. We were super lucky to meet her. DC2 went to preschool when CM changed jobs when DC2 was age 3.

the main problems across all the nurseries were constant DC illnesses and high staff turnover.

I have heard from many people positives of childminder. So, hoping to find a good one soon.

If you're hoping to go to the preschool nursery, then I'd go with a childminder for 7 months. The inconveniences of a childminder can be lived with for that timeframe.

DS went to a childminder when I first went back to work. She was a pain in the arse and obviously hadn’t looked after a young baby for a while. After a couple of months she messaged me to say she couldn’t look after DS any more with immediate effect as it was too time consuming.

After having a bit of a panic, I found a lovely nursery where DS absolutely thrived. Yes we had various bugs and normal childhood illnesses but it meant by the time he started school he was rarely ill. Apparently I have never been able to cook as well as the nursery cook whose puddings are still spoken about to this day. DS is mid twenties!

We’ve preferred a CM for our children and they’ve loved it.

Please be aware though that illnesses still spread even in a smaller group, often the babies will have siblings in pre school or schools catching bugs.

CM’s have to be as strict with infection control as nurseries are. Once you’ve been the victim of having to take time off because of another parent bringing children in sick and infecting yours or even the CM getting sick too and having to take time off you understand why they need to control infection and the impact it has on others.

Just for you to be aware of that.

Overall the main disadvantage of childminder is when that one person is ill or on holiday, then you have to sort other childcare. Otherwise we used one childminder from when our son was 9 months until he was 10 and there were really no downsides. I suppose the other thing would be, there are less children so potentially they could be different ages from your child whereas in a nursery they will be with other kids about their age, but that is only a downside if you want it to be, it could be an upside because your kid may develop faster with an older child to copy, than if his room were all doing the same thing.

I used a nursery for my Ds then became a childminder ..

childminders definitely can be cheaper , the ratios are lower . I definitely have had sickness bugs still go through our house .

i found it is easier to follow their intents in smaller groups .

we used groups , went to local parks , did school run - my mindees were very comfortable playing on the playground, going to school was very normal ,

we definitely. Could adapt easily . If we had loads of colds we could have a chill day playing at home .

both nurseries and cm follow EYFS .

i think looking at the environment and staff that meet your child is important .

ask the questions . How long outside ? With c/m how do they manage the education of different ages .

how they manage sleep ?

again c/minders do have holidays , often have no cover if sick or their own children are sick but often do longer hours than nursery .

Ask about additional expenses to funding - it varies a lot.

trust your gut feelings . I personally have declined parents who I feel our values are very different and how I manage their children would be very different to how I worked . You need to do the same .

if you look at the Ofsted report read it .. The rating is one score . The report tells you why . If outstanding read the report too but check when they were last inspected.

And most cms are very are very aware of this. I give out holiday dates for the whole year and can't remember the last time I was off sick, years ago. My threshold is very high for not working since I dont get sick pay!

I’ve had one child go to nursery and one to childminder, liked both but the main points of comparison are

• Childminder kid definitely gets less bugs
• Childminder generally less flexible- nursery you could drop off pretty much anytime between 7-9 and pick up when you want, childminder has set times. Naps also tend to be a bit all over the place especially in the holidays when she’s taking older kids out and about
• childminder goes out and about much more
• nursery do more “educational” activities
• nursery is more expensive
• I like that childminder has a mix of ages rather than just being in a “baby room”

Food and bonding both seemed equally good between them as we used a really good nursery with low staff turnover

one thing to consider - it's likely to be a baptism of snot whenever they start attending somewhere with larger groups, and schools get pushy about attendance whereas nursery don't, so could be better to get the horror of the first few months of constant illness out of the way earlier.
(although as far as I know, schools can't actually do anything until they're over 5, so for a lot it doesn't 'matter' in the first half of reception anyway)

Our DD was with a childminder first and then for the preschool year at nursery. There was no difference in terms of illness. She caught at either place anything that was up for grabs. The only difference was that she hated the CM, as she was the oldest and was bored with baby rattles, but absolutely loved Nursery from year one. Wait until school starts. It’s the pits. Filthy is an understatement. So you will be doing it anyway. I don’t think that you can protect them from it. Just think about LOs wonderful Antibodies when they are 10 years old.

This. They’re going to get ill at some point whether it’s now or when they’re at school. My DD is in Y3 now and started at school at 3 in the preschool nursery. In almost 5 years she’s only had 9 days off school poorly and that is including when she had chicken pox. I know some children just have better immune systems than others however I do put it down to her picking up all the bugs at the private nursery when she was younger.

Also if you’re wanting a start in September you need to decide now really, you’ll probably find some childminders and nurseries will already be full. I saw on social media our local nursery is full until April 2026. The nursery my DS goes to we’ve been asked already to notify them if our child is leaving to start at a school nursery as they’re turning children away.