Get your sticks out ladies.....
Because I'm afraid I'm one of those people who has serious misgivings about babies and very tiny children (much under 3) doing 60 hours a week in group childcare.
Comes from working in FE - used to teach on nursery nursing courses. My perception was that for every bright, kind, creative student on the course there was one who was rough and thick. I think some of the girls on the course I taught on had been badly parented themselves and were simply not mature enough to be building constructive, stable, trusting relationships with other people's small children. And stable, trusting relationships are what babies and tiny children need. And yes - almost all the students got jobs after graduating.
The teacher who was in charge of the course used to come back from doing placement observations practically crying about the bad practice she'd seen. Because she was only there to observe the students the nurseries never made any special accomodation for her, so basically she saw what was going on warts and all.
I think there are good nurseries - well managed and with low staff turnovers, but there are lots of nurseries with very high staff turnovers. And - don't shoot me - while there are outstanding staff doing amazing jobs with other people's children (my own sister is a nursery teacher and is soooooo lovely and kind) , there are also lots of Vicky Pollards out there working in nurseries I'm afraid - poorly educated, poorly parented young women...... people I really wouldn't want to be spending more time raising my child than me!
On a personal note - against my better judgement and in a moment of desperation I put my first child in an expensive nursery which was part of a well known chain, when she was one. I took her out after turning up to collect her one day and being told that she had very bad nappy rash. As her bum had been fine when I'd dropped her off that morning I was puzzled. Took her home and had a look - her bum was actually blistered and weeping. I realised she must have been sitting in a shitty, wet nappy for several hours and felt very cross. Later that night when I was in bed I started to think about what had happened and it suddenly dawned on me that the reason why she'd sat in a dirty nappy for two or three hours was because no adult had gone anywhere near her for that time. They hadn't picked her up, kissed her, sat her on their lap, hugged her. I thought about her time at home with me and how different that was - how casual hugs and kisses are part of the common currency of our relationship, and it made me feel so sad that she could go hours and hours at nursery every day without being touched and held.
Decided afterwards that I'd not put another of my children in group childcare until they were old enough to tell me how they felt about what they were doing when they weren't with me - ie until they were at least 3.