Clueless and don't want to cause offence

[LionsnTigersnBears]

I've got a 13 week old dd & i'm starting to think about childcare options for when I go back to work. Not sure whether will be going back after Christmas or can hold out financially until March. Either way I'll be looking for all day care at least 3 maybe 4 days a week depending. In order to make it less of a wrench for dd I was thinking of starting her off on a day a week starting soon (tbh I could also do with a day a week to get other things sorted & as we have no family where we live and dh works mad hours a 2 hour commute each way away ....well.... you can imagine). DD is fascinated by other children (she's currently an only child so I'd like her to be in an environment with other babies & not on her own, but at 3 months I'm worried that she'll not get the attention she needs). Am I looking for a childminder or a nursery? And would a childminder/nursery be able to offer a place for such a small amount of time initially?

Hope someone can help with this. I'm totally clueless and I've got to get my stupid act together!!!

Why not check out both to see what you think. Most nurseries ask for a minimum of 2 days but I would go and have a look around what is on offer, ask other mums for any recomendations. But I would start now so you know what places are available.
Personally I prefer a childminder for young babies, but then I am one.

A cm is limited to the number of under 5's he/she can have, so your baby will definitely get loads of attention with a (good) cm. A nursery is also a good option, but I feel a cm for a young baby is better - just more personal/individual. and at home - more comfortable :)

Hi I'm new to the forum.
I think a good cm is the best option for young babies, as starexpat says- more personal and homely.

A good CM will offer a settling in period in any case. You may be lucky and find one who you really click with, who has an under 1 space opening up just as you need and whose current under 1 is only there a few days a week, which means you might be able to get your day a week very soon!

On balance I would prefer a CM for a tiny one, but there are excellent, small nurseries out there so go and look at both. You might find you hate all your local CMs and fine a fab nursery, or the other way round.

Thanks everyone! Looks like the consensus is childminder. I've been looking on childcare.co.uk - is this a good site?

google childrens informations ervice for your area, it should let you search by postcode.

My dd went to day nursery from 11 months and thrived there, but I think i would have been concerned about her ebing there from 3 months

Childcare.co.uk is a great site. Where in the country are you?

Hi, my daughter (now 2y 2m) started at nursery two mornings a week when she was 3.5 months, my two older children were already there, so I was very confident with the quality of the childcare. Even so, I was quite nervous because she was much younger than when the others had started there.

I never had a single problem with her there, she was fine, I liked the fact that there was a member of staff for every three babies (at least) and there were only 6 babies in each room. I wouldn't like my three month old sharing the attention of a childminder who would also be looking after older children, and also having to run around doing school drop offs etc etc, nursery was very calm, and all the toys in the baby room were geared towards babies under a year.

If you can find a really good childminder then great, but I prefer to "spread the risk" of having somebody who just can't give a baby enough attention by knowing that there are 2-3 members of staff looking after her. My daughter is now in the toddler room at nursery and absolutely loves it because she has grown up with it, she goes part-time but does go in every day now.

Helen xxx