Rota Type Childcare

[Ttc92]

Hi everyone!

I’m expecting our first child this September and whilst we can’t wait I’m quite a planner and like to have a plan!

I’m very lucky and am in a position to take the full 9 months maternity leave which I fully intend to do. However - once the time comes that I return to work I will be returning on a full time basis.

My mum works on a cyclical rota basis and will be minding our bundle on her days off. The rota is normally well planned in advance, generally it will be 3 weekdays on one week and 1 weekday on the next.

The days she is working, our baby will need to go to a crèche/babyminder.

I’m completely new to this - I’m not sure if crèches allow this type of care? If I know the days in advance am I able to just book in for those days or will I need to book a full time place regardless?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks !

Usually you would need to book the same days each week, as they will need to pay a staff member in line with ratios.

Thanks for coming back to me!

It’s so difficult to know what to do! I would like my baby to spend as much time as possible with my mum directly as opposed to going to a crèche for most of each week.

Normally it’s a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday one week and a Friday or the next week so that would mean my having to book 4 days each week!

Hi, nursery will not allow different days each week it has to be set days. Some childminders are able to offer childcare on a rota basis but be prepared to pay for a set number of hours each week even if not used as you are effectively asking someone to hold a full time space open for you for only a few days/hours each week. Personally I only offer set days and hours each week as I can’t not afford to hold a space open for someone that they are not paying for as in my experience people only want to pay when they have actually had care rather than pay to keep a space open for them. Which I totally understand but from a business point of view is not sustainable

The only alternative may be if you can find another parent who wants the opposite of your hours and you can share 1 place iyswim.

Some childminders may be able to be more flexible if they know they can fill the other hours that you would be leaving free, again, effectively sharing a place.

If you live near a hospital, it's worth seeing if they have a nursery. I used a nursery near to a hospital/fire HQ and police HQ so there were lots of shift workers around, and they had an incredibly flexible system where you could book your required days for the following month by the 21st (ish) of the previous month. They could only afford to operate like this because they had so many shift-worker parents using the nursery, so it all balanced out in the end.

You will probably have to pay for a full time placement.

Then if your mum wants to look after them it's just because she wants to and not because it saves you any money.

Lots of shift workers have to do this for their own children. I know someone who doesn't and as a result is constantly begging family and friends to look after their toddler as they won't pay for proper childcare.

If its 3 weekdays one week and 1 week day the next, are they the same or varying days?
If for example, she were to always work Mon to Wed week 1 and say Wednesday week 2,then the Thursday and Friday would be easy. But you'd still need to pay for the Monday to Wednesday every week!
The only other options would be a flexible nanny or babysitter who's say a student and willing to have flexibility.
Very few places are going to be willing to allocate a place and then not be paid weekly for it.

Oh and maybe look at hospital creches or nurseries.

Very few nurseries will allow that. If there are any near big shift employers (like a hospital) then they might.

A childminder may be more flexible, but may not.

All you can do is contact all the nurseries and childminders in your area and ask.

Bear in mind as well that mumsnet is full of posts from people who thought the grandparents would be doing childcare then find that can cause lots of problems - so best to have a backup plan.

It sounds like a lot for your Mum who is presumably working quite hard herself. I would book FT nursery and your mum could have her for fun when she wants to. Unlikely you'll get such a flexible nursery unless it is set up for shift workers.

Our nursery allow flexi days in that you can do 2 days a week and only have to give 1 weeks notice which 2 days he will attend, but you still have to pay for 2 days a week you cant do 2 days one week then 3 days the next for example unless its mitigating circumstances (eg I was called into work at short notice and asked the nursery if there was space available that day, they took him and I had to pay for the one off extra day)

My nursery has allowed me to be flexible like this a week A rota and a week B rota.
So don't let people say nurseries ONLY allow set days because mine offers flexibility.

As others said a rota is hard as will have to pay for the space eveey day regardless Id use it

Plus if your mum works so luck will she always want to look after her gc on the other days

You just need to ask at your local nursuries - I did send mine to one that accommodated shift patterns. We commited to two days per week that were set according to the rota we needed and on the weeks where we needed more we just booked in for an extra day.

It was a large nursery though and they said they would only do it while they had capacity as a set day or full time child would have got preference over us

As well as hospitals, try collages as the nursery attached to the collage I studied at had a lot of flexibility on places too.

Some nurseries are much more flexible than posters are suggesting - ours we tell them halfway through one month which days and times we want for the next month. We can also change it for free with a weeks notice, or with less notice but pay £1 extra per hour. Worth looking around.

Is there any way your mum could fix one (or even two) of her non-working days? You say it is usually Mon-Wed one week then Friday the next. If that Friday could be swapped to a Mon, Tue or Wed you could have a nursery place Mon-Wed and your mum Thurs&Fri (and your mum would still get two days to herself every other week).