London commuting with a 1 year old

[ironic]

I work in central London with a 45 minute commute by overground and tube. Am I mad to be considering using the nursery at my place of work?
My baby is only 3 months old so I have no idea what a one year old is like and whether the travel would be a nightmare.
The main reason I need to consider it is that I work a shift with a late start/late finish - around 10am to 7pm.
I can’t find any other nurseries and very few childminders that stay open that late.
Anyone got any experiences of a similar commute that has worked or been disastrous? Also is it nice/comforting or distracting to have your baby at your place of work?

If you can start your commute at 9.20am I reckon you will be all right as most people will have gone or be waiting for 9.30am. I know from my various commutes that's one of the times I tend to be able to get seats.

The only other option you have is start work at 7.30-8am and get your kid on the train/tube around 7am. I have seen young children on my commutes into different parts of central London. Generally they are on the trains and tubes before 7.30, and normally 7am if they are in a pushchair. Starting that early means you can leave around 4pm.

You cannot work without childcare or another adult to distract your child, and forget trying to.

Is the nursery at your place of work also discounted?

Will you be returning full time? Taking a baby on a 45 minute commute twice a day, 5 times a week is a v different prospect to having to it 2/3 times a week.

There are real advantages to using an on-site nursery. Ours is much cheaper and it means if he's ill or there are any issues I can be there very quickly, which is helpful.

Are you going to have a buggy and stuff? I wouldn't dream of it anyway. Trains are rammo there's pollution and often aggression when there's cancellations. Also, are there stairs in your station? How are you actually supposed to spend quality time when you get home?
Good luck whatever you decide

It’s doable if you’re travelling after 9 and after 1900. It might be busy some days if there are delays on earlier trains in the morning, and I expect some people will huff and puff about having to get out of your way if you’re taking up room with a pram, but sod them. Steps are an issue though, as is volume of stuff to be carried - some nurseries let you leave clothes and nappies etc there, others want a fresh bag every day.
I would have loved a workplace nursery as I was always concerned about delays meaning I was late either to work or to collect. When I’m at work I tend to be focused on that and not think about my kids. I think you’d need that mental separation, not popping down to see how they are etc, which would be disruptive on both sides.

You can give it a shot but if I'm totally honest I think that will be an absolutely nightmare.. Even if you're avoiding peak rush hour it will still be busy and so stressful for you doing this every day on your own. I'd be investigating all possible alternative options to be able to get childcare closer to home. I think workplace childcare is brilliant IF you're able to drive to work.

Also - while they might not advertise it on their website - lots of nurseries effectively provide extended hours if you ask. Ours will allow people to do every drop off / late pickup and just pay the nursery workers directly as if they were babysitting.

*early

That’s all really good food for thought, thank you. I hadn’t even thought about stairs, nursery bags etc.
It would only be 3 days a week but still hugely daunting. I did one journey in rush hour a few weeks ago to attend a hospital appointment with a baby carrier and it was hellish. He screamed the train down and I had to get off almost every stop to calm him down/feed him again. Took about 2.5 hours to get home.
It’s not that the nursery is particularly cheaper just that it would suit my hours which are non negotiable.
As for quality time with him in the evenings, I’m not going to be getting that whether the nursery is close to home or work.
I’m thinking it might be back to the drawing board/investigating nanny shares which I’ve always thought we can’t really afford but maybe there is a way.
Would love to be a Sahm till school age in all honesty but can’t see myself getting back into the same career if I jump off the treadmill

Take a day off and do a test run. It would have been do-able for me even with a long commute as lesser-used train lines, travelling late etc. The only other thing to consider is when you have to stay late with work will your partner be able to pick up your kid from your workplace.

Agree, do a trial run. It sounds like a very good option for you so I'd suggest trying everything can to make the journey work

Agree do a trial run and see how it goes. Just reading back my comment it sounded a bit harsh which was not intended! I just know that I wouldn’t have been able to handle my commute into London with my son at that age.. you might be calmer and more patient than me though! As they get older they are easier to distract from meltdowns (hello iPad) but they will still happen, especially at end of day when they’re tired.. add that onto the physical stress of having to haul the pushchair, increasingly heavier baby and bags etc up and down stairs and onto packed tubes etc.. it’s making me sweat just thinking about it. Also as your child gets older they might be less willing to sit in the pushchair so you’ll either have them screaming to get out or you’d have to do the whole thing with a toddler on foot (further cold sweat!!) I use a Nursery near home and I actually have come to enjoy my commute as an opportunity to wind down from the Nursery run rush, read a paper, pick up my breakfast on the the way and then arrive at the office in a much more composed state than if I’d had to wrangle my toddler along for the journey.

Sorry I don’t mean this to sound like I’m throwing a lot of problems at you but I know how much hassle it can be to arrange and change childcare so just sharing my thoughts so you can put into the mix before you make your decision!