Childcare options - HELP! I don't know where to start!

[1Catherine1]

OH and I work full time. I work Monday-Friday term time and am out between 8am and 4pm. My OH works Wednesday-Sunday 3pm to 1am.

My DD isn't due until March and I won't be looking for childcare until September but I have been wondering how we are going to manage and how I go about finding appropriate childcare.

I originally thought that since the house is only empty for less than 2 hours a day I would only be looking for childcare for 2 hours a day for 3 days a week. It then dawned on me that a child is not a cat and doesn't just need someone in the house but needs company and being looked after. Although my OH will be home after I go to work at 8am it would be unreasonable of me to expect him to be up already looking after DD.

So I guess it looks like I need to find childcare for the start and end of my working day to allow my OH to get some sleep, get to work on time and spend some time with DD inbetween. This seems like an impossible request. I can't afford full time childcare for 3 whole days a week (and from the little I know it seems I would end up paying for the full week anyway) and also that would mean she and her dad would get little time together.

Anyway... I'm waffling... I really need suggestions on where to start. I have no family in the area to fill in the gaps and going part time isn't an option for either of us. I don't even know where to start looking for appropriate childcare.

Any suggestions or advice welcome!

OK, here are some questions. Sorry if they are obvious, but just to get them out of the way!

• Is there any way you can change the hours of either of your jobs?
• Would either of you be happy to look for a different job?
• What time could you reasonable expect your DH to get up?

FWIW although your needs are slightly unusual, I think it's not impossible at all!

FWIW when DS first went into childcare, we needed a CM who could be very flexible as DP was working freelance at the time, and so his days and hors varied from week to week. People told us it was impossible and we'd have to pay for days we didn't use, but we left ourselves a long time to find someone, and we were prepared to travel to find the right person, which we did.

What could work for you is a CM or a nanny share.

Personally, our experiences with CMs have been brilliant. For younger children, I think you can't beat a good CM.

For you I imagine it would work like this. On the days you both work (Weds - Fri?) you get up with DD and take her to CMs. DP picks her up after he gets up, and then drops here back there before work. You pick her up on the way back from work.

So I guess she would be there something like 7ish-10am, then 2-5pm, three days a week (depending of course on how far the CM is from your work and when your DP gets up).

7 is quite early for a CM to start, but not impossible IMO.

We used this site to find both of the fabulous CMs we've had. www.childcare.co.uk

Do ask to see their OFSTED report. The quality of CMs varies enormously IMO, but there are some brilliantly professional ones out there.

HTH

What's your budget for childcare? Can either/both of you get childcare vouchers with work and are you eligible for tax credits?

3 days childcare is perfectly possible to find - more and more people work PT - but I think you'd end up paying on a sessional basis so effectively a full day as you need someone roughly 8-4 (7-5 to be safe if you're covering your commute, which you will be unless you find childcare next door to work!). I don't think the gap in the middle would fly unpaid as a CM wouldn't be able to get anyone to fill that space and would lose the income they could have had from a whole day client.

From the hours and other threads I've seen you on I think you're a teacher? If so, what will you do about parents evenings etc which fall Wednesday - Friday? How often is that situation likely to arise? Wpuld you be able to get home between to settle DC with a sitter?

You might be looking at childcare Wed-Fri term time only? Quite a few Childminders do term time only contracts (although some charge a retainer for holidays). There are some nurseries that are only open in term times, but may not be able to do the hours you need.

I always used to take my DD with me to parents evenings.

Is there any way your dh can change his hours slightly from 5pm to 3am? That way you could drop baby at the cm's in the morning and then he can collect about 2.45ish spend a bit of time with baby and then hand baby over to you.

Seems a bit pointless to me for him to collect baby in the afternoon just to drop them back there before he goes to work because ime babies usually nap after lunch so he wouldn't get much time with her anyway.

I would keep it as simple as possible and have a childminder on Wed, Thur and Fri for 8am-4pm (or whatever the hours would be so that you take and collect).

That way your DH does care on Monday and Tuesday. That remains the same every week and he can thus plan that those are his childcare days.
Wednesday/Thurs/Fri he gets to have a lay-in and go to the gym or whatever before going to work.

You are not taking into account how tired you will be caring for a baby (they don't tend to sleep that well you know). Try to have an arrangement with DH with regard to who wakes in the night to tend to baby. Even by 6 months old, your nights could still be very disturbed.
As DH would be getting a bit more sleep than you, as baby would be with childminder on some days. Maybe he could do a lot of the night feeding.

As others have said, if your OH is happy to cover Mondays & Tuesdays, he will probably have enough time with your DD on those days, and you should look for full day care on Wed-Fri, so he can get sleep and do other jobs (housework? paperwork? shopping?) on the few hours he has on those days.
Three days per week of childcare shouldn't be hard to find, although you need relatively early hours.
Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. Probably right about keeping it simple and finding full day childminder for 3 days a week. I'm sure my OH wouldn't mind pitching in around the house on his free morning and he will still have full days with DD so won't feel like he's missing out.

I am indeed a teacher and the school has a nursery on site although for 3 days a week it works out at £115 per week. I kinda thought that was rather expensive but as a work colleague pointed out the convenience could out-weight the price drawbacks since I would be able to check on her during the day and spend time with her at work.

I think you'd be better with 3 afternoon sessions at a nursery. Afternoon sessions tend to be much cheaper than mornings and full days. You'd still need to pay for the school holidays though.
There may be another nursery near your school.

That nursery sounds good value to me. And practical too.

£115 a week is just under 40 a day, which for 10 hours care a day is pretty good value, plus it sounds very practical!

Would that be term time only if it's on site? A standard nursery may work out more expensive once you factor in school holidays.

No, its a all year round nursery since its actually situated in the leisure centre that shares our school grounds. So that would mean paying 50% of the cost out of term time as a retainer. Afternoon sessions would be impractical as I would work in the morning still and it would still require OH to get up with her in the morning and trek up to my workplace to drop her off. So far it seems the best option though so I think I'll have to do some financial juggling to see if I can afford it.

A 50% retainer out of term time is a pretty good deal, although I'd still look for a childminder who does termtime only contracts as it may work out more economical in the end.

How in demand are places at this nursery? Do you like it? Is it worth putting a deposit down to secure the place there?

Whereabouts in the country are you based, as CM costs vary hugely?

Ah just stalked your profile. Surrey has a pretty wide variation in CM costs but it's an area where they seem fairly plentiful! Whether you'd get

I calculate (based on a 40 week school year) that the nursery would be nearly £5,300 pa, including the 12 weeks holiday on 50% retainer.

If you wanted a term-time only childminder (40 weeks of 3 days of 10 hours) then they'd need to charge £4.40/hour to compete which you may or may not find near where you are.

Gah, that'll teach my to type in bits.

Whether you'd get a CM near you, within your budget who you like and has an under 1 space to start the September and does term-time only contracts I don't know.

I live in Surrey and work in Hampshire (20 minutes away). Looking at childminders near my school gives me a cost of £85 per week using the childcare site given above. The nursery isn't anything special just more convenient than anything else. It's adequate for what I need. I'm not sure about the demand but when I spoke to the woman in there she didn't mention anything about booking early.

I suspect you are quite near me as I live in Surrey but Hampshire and Berkshire are both very close.

Is Berkshire close for you as well?

Childminders in this area are typically 4.50/5 an hour.

If you are in my area and Sunningdale/Sunninghill is in an ok travel distance on way back from work / way to DH's work - then using a Crèche may be an option. Would certainly be a lot cheaper as you would only need say 2.30pm-4.30pm Wed,Thur,Fri - though that would assume that DH is ok to look after baby during the day Mon-Fri.

September is a way off yet so you have plenty of time to look at your options and see what is possible. You could start asking around local childminders to see who might be able to take a 6 month old come September and get on their waiting list.