Hi
I've got a 2 months baby and planning to return to work in July (approx). We have no family locally so would need child care. My husband works permanent nights Mon-Fri 22-6 and I work as a nurse but do long days 8-20.30 three days a week, then once a month 4 days a week. What i want to know is, when do I need to start looking for someone? Are there waiting lists? I also don't know if we should have a nanny or take her to a childminder. I thought of working Mondays so my husband can have her during the day as he will start work at night. Then I can work Wednesdays and Saturdays so we need someone for her 7-14 then my husband can be with her until he goes to work. So it's only 2 days really when we would need childcare. Except for 1 week a month, I would have to work Monday, Wednesday, Friday long day plus Saturday night shift. Actually, that's also 2 days as I would be home during the day Saturday. Are these enough hours for a nanny? If we have a nanny that comes to the house I wouldn't have to wake baby up early to drop her off on my way to work. What do nannies do? Do they do ironing, hoovering etc as well or just look after kids? Are they more expensive then a childminder? I've looked on childcare.co.uk, childminders all seem to charge roughly £4 per hour (in Ipswich) so it would cost us approx £230 a month for a cm, that's not too bad, is it? I'm very worried about leaving her with someone though, she won't even be a year yet. If she goes to a cm there will be other kids, probably older, what if the cm focses on them and leaves her? How will I know if something os wrong? Please help!