When to start looking...

[Jadefeather7]

I have at least six months left of maternity leave but wondering when to start looking for a nanny. Thanks!

Start researching now. Get a good idea of the cost involved and how you will do payroll. Start looking around at what jobs are offered in your area, so you can get an idea of the salary that you need to offer. Decide how you will advertise the job and compose a great advert.
Expect things to get quiet around Christmas, so if a February or March start then you want to start advertising before Christmas, probably starting in November with the intention that you will make a final decision in January.
I have seen jobs for a March start advertised already but I'm not in a position to accept a job with a March start now and I'm not sure how many nannies would be able to decide now what they were doing in Feb/March.

Depends where you live. London is apparently hard to find a good nanny, but also so transient that six months out would be point. Most already employed nannies have a four week notice period, and an agency will turn around the search in 1-2 weeks depending how many you want to interview. If you're DIY on the search I would leave yourself a bit more time as it takes a long time sorting through the applicants - you'll end up getting emails from random blokes who claim to have childcare qualifications but can't provide them, no-shows, people who don't understand net v. gross (awful nightmare)...bottom line being I will never do the DIY search again but obviously agencies are very expensive.