Where can I leave my 1year old baby?

[doart3]

Hi! (first time poster here)

I am about to be a father, and me and my wife are looking for places where to put our baby after her first year. My wife will have around one year of maternity leave, but after that we have no idea where to put the baby while we work.

Can you please help us?
We need to figure out even, what to google. Childcare? Nurseries? Nannies?
We live in London, and want to know where to leave our child in her first year.

Congratulations on your baby! You can look at nurseries (which would be a dedicated childcare centre), a nanny (someone to come to your house and care for your baby there) or a childminder (you would take your child to someone else’s house for them to care for with other children). They all have benefits and difficulties depending on your situation. You need to figure out which option would be the best fit for your work schedule, location, budget and personal preference for how you want your child to spent their days. If you’re in London you should probably start looking quite soon to ensure you can get a spot as they can fill up quickly.

Registered Childminder - your local authority will have a list, contact Family Information Service.
A childminder cares for children of various ages in their [the childminders] home.

Nursery - caring for various number of children often split into age groups though I have worked in some delightful nurseries which only have two rooms, one for babies and one for 2-5's.

A nanny is hugely costly for care of one child. So this is unlikely to be an option unless you need care at times that group care providers do not offer, such as very early morning and/or late evening, or weekend care.

thank you!

I saw some websites of nurseries, but some don't seem to have place for babies, only +2. Also what are the schedules fo these nurseries? Some say 9h00 to 4h30?
How can anyone work on that schedule?

A private day nursery will usually be open for hours that suit working, so 8 till 6pm. Some offer an earlier drop off, such as 7.30, for an additional fee.

Sometimes pre-schools are called nurseries but these can be just term time only and shorter hours as you've seen. It can confusing to work out what kind of nursery they are.

It is quite confusing, freaking out a bit here.

Can't figure out what is what, all the prices go to 3K per term. How can anyone have a baby and go to work with a normal average salary? Even 2 salaries?

A good nursery will be expensive, as will nannies and childminders.

You can get "tax free childcare" from the government which will help a little. Plus when they are 3 years old (in fact from the start of the school term following their 3rd birthday) you will get 30 funded hours of childcare. That will really help to reduce the costs.

Private nurseries, which open 7.30-6pm usually, are about £50 per day. You just have to be skint for a few years!

My DC’s nursery in London was open 7.30am - 6.30pm but cost around £75 per child per day. There are cheaper nurseries. Childminders are generally cheaper, at least in my area.

There are massive regional variations. We paid £4.50 an hour for a childminder (Midlands). She worked 6-5.30 but had DD from 8-5. We paid for the hours we booked, whereas nursery is a fixed rate per day or half day, so we probably saved a bit there. I was happier with DD being in more of a home environment when she was little, but by the time she was 3 1/2 I started to think she needed a bigger group setting to get her ready for school, as she doesn't like noisy groups and I didn't want school to be too much change all at once. Other children have gone straight from our CM to schoo,and settled in fine, but I thought DD needed a step in between. The CM had about 4 children at a time. They went out to groups and parks as well as doing all sorts of activities at her house. She would often get together with another CM and her mindees.

I'm in Hertfordshire and pay £73 a day for 7.30-6.30 (we tend to do 8-6 though). There will be massive regional variations on cost. It would be worth you looking at your local children centre's website or local council for a list of registered childcare providers. The list should have ofsted ratings on too.

The benefit to a nursery is that it's always open, a nanny would be your employer and can be ill/ take holiday. The downside (I found) is that it's a little daunting leaving your 1 year old there for the first time. You should go and visit several nurseries and childminders (if you go with that option) and go with the one you feel at ease in. Congratulations!

Wow, this forum is amazing.

Thank you all.

Can you tell me a bit where to read about the tax free childcare?
Any nice, but not break the bank child cares in central/West London? Just to check what is a good average.
Any idea when I should start looking/visiting, and when should I register?

Thank you all again.

Nurseries and Childminders are both registered by the same body (Ofsted) and work to the same standards (EYFS) they may well have the same inspector too.
Both setting shave adults who are trained and have first aid security checks etc. Childminders are smaller with a home environment but may well have dedicated playrooms set up just like a nursery and may have up to 4 staff (you also get childcare on domestic premises that is bigger but still in a home).
Its best to visit some of each and see what feels right for you, long term if you find the right Childminder you may be using them through to senior school at 11 and beyond.
You can use all the schemes to pay for both setting types. Typically Childminders are more flexible and often cheaper.

West London varies enormously In Kensington private nurseries can be mega expensive and care for celebrities children. In Ealing child-minders are £8ish and hour and in Hillingdon between £4 and £8 depending if your north or south.

If your or your partner’s employer offer childcare vouchers (which are a tax-effiecient way to pay for nursery etc.) then the thing I didn’t realise is that you can start claiming them as soon as your child is born (i.e. you don’t have to wait until you are actually paying for childcare). You can rack up voucher credit during your wife’s mat leave, and cover more of the costs when you need to start paying nursery bills.