Nanny share and nursery....would you?

[ReadingTeaLeaves]

DS has been in nursery for a while. It has been a real hit. The staff are lovely, love him and he loves them. He's still young (under 1) but learning social skills and clearly loves all the different toys and activities that are on offer.

I've always been a little unsure about having him in nursery full time. I understand that very young boys, in particular, benefit from more one-to-one attention. I suspect it would be very good for him in some developmental areas particularly language.

Couldn't afford a nanny and wasn't able to find a childminder I liked when originally looking at childcare.

Have recently been approached by a friend interested in nanny sharing - I think we can make this work financially. Always thought I'd be up for this. But love the nursery, and want to keep him in nursery so it would be a case of possibly mixing the two up - half the week with nursery and half with the nanny. However, nursery has been so good I'm now wondering whether this could be a big mistake and risks mucking up the bit that works well.

Am I risking mucking up a good arrangement by doing this? Will the mix of routines during the week be tough for him (he's very adaptable)? Or have other people made this arrangement work and found it to be successful?

Thanks!

I am a nanny and my last employer done this I did three days and the nursery had her two days which worked really well.

Try listing the reasons why you want a nanny. That may help you.
For example, nurseries close at a given time, where as a nanny can work till later. Do your working hours make it a struggle to pick up from nursery on time?

I know lots of mums that do it successfully. Most did nursery days and two with nanny or two and two though.

Thanks all. Would be 2 and 2.
Nannynick - good idea. I'll do that for sure.

I think it's a good idea to do 2 days at nursery and 3 with the nanny. Then he gets the best of both worlds :)

The only thing is, if you are only using the nanny share for half of the week, can your friend afford to do it?

I would rather have a nanny share than nursery, but as he's already there and you are happy with it, I wouldn't want to pull him out completely unless I was very sure of the new nanny.