Can't Find Affordable Childcare in London. At Wit's End.

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I've been looking for a cm in haringey for months and have been through lists from both haringey and islington council. i did find a great cm but she's now moving out of london so i'm back at square one...and i just can't find anyone to replace her! all the good ones seem to be full and none of the others i've seen have been quite right (none able/willing to show ofsted reports for eg). And they're suddenly much more expensive! The cm we were going to use was £35/day now they all seem to be £50-£60.
I'm now looking at p/t nanny but not sure i can afford the £75+/day and have had no joy finding a nanny share.
I don't want to use a nursery as dd is under 1 and I don't think they're the best place for babies.
I just don't know what do do next. Is there a trick I'm missing?! Why is it so difficult to find affordable childcare?!

No, childcare in London is horrendously expensive and difficult to find the right person.

Have you tried - simplychildcare magazine which specialises in nanny shares

• gumtree.com (with loads of childcare adverts from foreign nannies - ozzies, east europeans etc..) I found our fabby Ozzie nanny through them.

hi kaz 33, yes, tried/am registered on various site for shares etc. one thing with gumtree i'm not sure about is how qualifications from other countries compare to ours. also, the experienced/qualified nannies are out of my price range. i suppose i'll just have to keep looking. it's so time consuming/depressing. i really wish i didn't have to live in london. this whole city seems to operate on the assumption that everyone is a high earner.

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hi happymum, we're in n4, so right on border with n19. subs to a few sites about ten days ago - will have to check which ones i'm registered with! maybe i should just cheer up and be patient - just starting to loose my optimism!

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ooh. just checked out simply childcare and looks promising! thanks both for tip. I knew MNers would know of something I didn't! i feel cheered! thank you.

i think n5 and n7 best for me though both a bit of a time consuming trip at drop off/pick up time (i have a one hour commute to work so need to be speedy with drops either end of day). the nearer finsbury park tube the better for me.
islington seems so much better served than haringey. one of the cms explained it's cos Islington put £ into training etc and so have better provision. haringey is woeful. took me over half an hour to get an updated list out of them today cos the CIS no longer takes calls - they all go to a call centre?!