Nursery vs. Childminder for a 1 year old?

[londonerinleith]

This feels ridiculous because I HAVEN'T EVEN HAD THE BABY YET, but apparently nurseries in my area have huge waiting lists so I have to put my name down now if I want a space in 14 months time when I go back to work (currently unborn baby will just be turning 1 by then).

We'll probably need childcare for 3 days a week. Does anyone have advice on whether a nursery or child minder is the better option for such a young child? I know it'll depend on the quality of either, but if anyone has experience of how they tend to compare, would be good to hear it!

We used nursery for both of ours. This was was for reliability. Nursery's don't take holidays or of take time off sick. Both DCs are doing well and the staff are really nice and caring.

Visit a few and go with your gut feeling. What is right for one family won't work for another.

What we found is that nurseries want you to register a long time in advance, but childminders won't commit more than a few months in advance (because if they do they risk having an empty space that they're holding for you - it's much easier for nurseries to anticipate their demand). So we booked a nursery place but then interviewed childminders closer to the time, and ultimately went for one of them. I'm glad we left our options open in this way - I felt so differently about things once he was here and a reality not a bump, but on the other hand it was enormously reassuring to know he had a space at nursery if we needed it. I think I would have found it impossible to usefully interview childminders before I had an actual child whose personality I could discuss.

Yes. I’d go for hedging your bets with the best nursery you can find right now, then looking at CM’s closer to the time.

N & CM are very very different, so it just depends what you value most?

Personally I’d go for the ‘home from home’ and more like 1:1 care that you get with a CM, but others prefer N because there are fewer holiday days etc. Depending on their situation CM’s are more likely to take a mildly poorly child than a nursery and be more flexible around things.

Save as much as you can so you have more choice about when you go back too (unless that’s not an issue of course!).

We used a childminder as it felt right for us, having seen a few nurseries and spoken to a few childminders.

They won't commit to giving you a place until a few months or weeks before you need it, though, which can be tricky- you may get lucky- we did.

Really pleased with the choice we made and in a year and a half of childcare I think the childminder was illfor two days, but had an arrangement with a friend that I knew (another minder) so they covered each other- it was fine.
Good luck in your decision making!

Some good advice to think about there - thanks all!

Just on the ‘nurseries don’t have sick days’ point - for me that’s a 6 of one argument because if your DC vomits/has fever/virus then nursery won’t have them so you will have to have childcare at home to cover in the same way as if nanny or CM is sick. And there are a lot of bugs flying around nurseries! For me, the closer to 1:1 care you can have, the better, but by the time they get to 2+ yrs then social interaction in a nursery setting is great.

Ds went into a nursery from 6 months old. We needed reliable care as we both work full time, and we needed him in a setting that would be open from half 7 am - half 6 pm. We couldn't get that with a childminder. He's is just over 2 and a half, and he's a very bubbly sociable child. I'm really glad we put him in nursery as he's always been around other kids, and we don't really know any people with kids!

As there’s no such thing as a 'generic' nursery orCM, it’s impossible to assert that one type of childcare is intrinsically better than another. You can’t shortcut the hard work of meeting several and judging according to their individual provisions and your specific needs.

I see the same generalisations repeated constantly on MN, and I can think of specific cases that disprove almost every one. For example, in my area, the nurseries close more often than CMs.

@ sleepwhenidie

If I’m reading your post correctly, you’re saying your CM takes in sick children. She should not be doing this, particularly in the case of diarrhoea/vomiting. She is in breach of regulations if she exposes others to the risk of infection.

Like pp, there is no real generic 'CM do this/nurseries do that' as they are so different.

Mine are teens now. I went for a CM with both of them.

I wanted a small group homely setting.
My CM went out everyday to the woods, the beach, the park etc.
It annoys when people say they don't want a CM as they want their dcs to mix with others. My CM had a regular CM'ing group she attended. It was amazing. A really bonded group. They did big Xmas and Halloween parties and summer picnics.

My CM is now a good family friend. Her dd is now my DD's best friend at 16. They've basically grown up together.

I was lucky, I found a CM who I had a great feeling about and I was right.

I know plenty of teens who went to nursery who are happy and settled too.

Horses for courses.

I went for nursery.
I felt it was more reliable for my two DC. My youngest was 6months eldest was 1.5. They loved it and they thrived being around other children and learnt how to get into a good routine.
Personal choice but definitely better for us.

People have very preconceived ideas of each type of setting in reality they provide the same care in different ways. Go and see several of each type one will feel right.
Don't be swayed by generalisations like socialisation (children can be socialised in any setting including with a sahm) needing to cover sick time (like most self employed childminders in general don't lightly take sick days so often it doesn't cause a problem with many having back up, my daughters nursery closed last week because of a staff member being taken ill at set up) nurseries being stuck in all day (most go out visiting local shops, parks libraries).
Most opinions will be based on comments like my 2 year old is so confident now forgetting that a child in any setting (or home) develops confidence and communication skills and its not just about it being a nursery or a childminder. Or people who made snap judgments on what they believed and never tried the other option or even visited them.
The best option is a good setting with loving caring staff/or cm, and good experiences, the best option for your child may not fit with your needs for work so go with a list of questions - how many sick days, holidays, is there cover,