Short-term childcare in London - what are my options?

[DontBeBlueBeARainbow]

I've got a 9 month old DS and have looked after him up until now. I'm returning to work in April and he will be looked after by his nainai. But a month or so before I'm doing a training course in London (away from home) and I have no idea what to do with DS.

Is it possible to find short-term childcare which won't break the bank? He's still BF, although I'm thinking of cutting down soon, but a bit worried about that too, as he feeds quite a lot.

Any advice would be appreciated.

How long is the course? is it weekdays or weekend too? And do you need nighttime childcare too?

Sitters? or not sure where you live but there is My Creche in North London.

Is a nainai his granny or his nanny.

The course is 2 weeks, but with the weekend off. So Mon-Fri x2. Just daytime, but potentially long days.

His nainai is his granny, but she won't be able to come with us, i don't think any of my family will be willing either.

You might be able to find a nursery where one of their usual children is on hols so they have a temp space? More likely though it will be something like Sitters, or advertise on childcare.co.uk, for a 2 week nanny or babysitter.

Whereabouts in London is the course - there are a few other ad hoc creches like the pp suggested but only in specific areas

You might be able to find a childminder who's willing to be a stop-gap. I know our previous cm took on children on a very short-term basis/ to help out for a few weeks if she had the space and she felt the child would fit in her setting.

Contact the local council family information services in the borough you're doing the course as they'll have a list of local childminders.

And don't worry too much about the breastfeeding thing - four months is ages away and he'll most likely have dropped feeds a lot by then anyway.

Honestly, I would concentrate on weaning him off BF before the course and your options will be substantially better. And cheaper. A temp nanny in central london is approx £15-20 per hour plus expenses.

I would plan to leave him at home with a temp nanny and your partner unless you are a single parent. A nanny will typically have a baby fed, bathed and ready for bed by 6pm. Your partner will have to give an evening feed by bottle and do bedtime. Yes there may be broken nights but any decent parent will need to start stepping up in any case once you are back at work too and in my experience it can be really constructive to be completely away and leave them at the coal face if you've been the main care giver through your mat leave.

You will have your best chance of completing an intensive course successfully if you can get your head down and sleep / study in a hotel Mon-Fri.