Help - finding it impossible to get care and I have to go back to work soon. Any ideas?

[meb2006]

Help please. Am I right to start panicking. I am in Brentwood/Shenfield Essex and returning to work in April. Despite being on the waiting lists for the nurseries that take under 2?s for quite some time my daughter is not going to have a place at nursery by the time I need to go back to work (bar one that I have visited which was so bad there is no way I would send her there). I have contacted all the childminders given to me on a list by the council and despite speaking to some fantastically helpful childminders (several of who sounded very good and with whom I would be more then happy to leave my daughter) currently there are no vacancies and there are unlikely to be any in the immediate future. Several said the position would probably change in September.
There is no flexibility as I have to go back to work ? am I panicking unnecessarily yet or not? Any other suggestions? I can take her to a nursery near work as I have a long commute in rush hour and it is just not feasible. I don?t really want a nanny out of choice predominantly because we are currently living with friends and it is not our house. Any thoughts?

Could one of the nurseries that you do like take her for part of the week, and a childminder or somebody else fill in for the rest? I started with a nursery one day a week, childminder 3 days and my mum (I know not an option for everyone) for the other day, and gradually increased with nursery days as they became available.

what about a nanny share and maybe take your child to the other families house which would get round the problem

What about looking at childminders a bit further away, maybe near or on your way to work? The nanny share idea is good. You could look for potential families on sharingcare.co.uk or on gumtree.com. Just look through the nanny ads and contact parents and ask if they migh tlike to do a share.