5 mornings or 3 full days?

[oflancs]

I would really appreciate some advice from second (or third, fourth...) time parents! I am due my second any day now and my first child is nearly two. Would it be better for him/me (probably mainly my sanity!) to have 3 full days of childcare or 5 mornings while I am on maternity leave with the little one? Thanks in advance 😊

I’ve only got one but I’d definitely pick the three full days. That way you have full days with him on the other two for days out when this crap is over.
Plus you’ll lose a bit of your “time off” with getting to and from nursery for drop off and pick up.
Thing that might sway it for me is the food set up. Assuming full days are three meals and half days are two I’d go for full days but if they don’t give them dinner/tea on a full day I’d be thinking more about the halves.

3 full days. Unless childcare is literally next door. My 3yo did 5 mornings at preschool about 100m away, the nursery run really cut into down time/ alone time.

Also 3 days gives 4 fewer opportunities for school run to be disrupted by a nappy explosion!

I'd go for 3 whole days. Much more relaxing, where as with 5 mornings you'll get home or go out somewhere and be clock watching so you dont miss pick up!

3 full days for sure!

Definitely the 3 full days, the nursery runs will take a surprisingly long time and you won't be able to get much done in a morning.

I'm in the same boat and am plumping for 2 (or 3) full days. From memory I reasoned that by the time you get back from nursery drop off, change/feed baby a hundred times etc it'll be time to go back to pick up toddler. Ideally I want to sometimes do something/go somewhere (lockdown allowing) with baby while my 2 year old is at nursery. Plus she was going full time pre-covid and loves it so that's also a factor.

3 days now with the hope that you'll be able to switch to mornings when DC goes to school.

3 full days so you don't have to be rushing out of the door 5 days a week, and navigating lunch etc against a midday pick up.

I’m another one who would go for full days. My DD did two full days and one half when I was on maternity leave. The half day felt pointless from my point of view when it came to actually getting anything done, and she hated coming home when everyone else was settling down for lunch so she ended up changing to a third full day!

It meant we had two full days to see friends, go to soft play, go to the grandparents etc. If it was just a half day I felt like I was constantly clock watching and rushing around.

3 full days. You should get some time when baby naps to look after yourself a bit. Means the days off you can go places ir visit friends and family if you want to.

DD1 did 2.5 days. DD2 did 5 mornings (these were their free preschool hours). The 2.5 days suited our family a lot better. We then had more time to do other stuff like day trips. Less to-ing and fro-ing and clock watching. Before they were 3, they just did two mornings which were very beneficial for all of us.

Ditto three full days. You’ll feel like you’re forever coming and going with half days imho.

Three full days - do not underestimate the faff of getting them out and collecting them (plus possibly packing lunches). Mornings only would be mainly these things and then about 5 seconds to yourself in between. Three full days are blissful.

Thanks for all the replies. Just to add that these are two different childcare establishments. Sorry I should have explained this.

Option A is a day nursery 3 full days per week open 08:00-18:30 but I would never send him for as long as that, so we are paying for time we wouldn't use. It is a 10-15 minute walk away. Obviously mainly used by working parents. More expensive. Decent standard of care but next to a busy road and not much outdoor time.

Option B is a lovely little nursery in a much more rural location literally a stones throw from our house (no more than a 2 minute walk). Lots of outdoor time. Really nice environment. I prefer it to be honest and want to send him there but trying to work out if it's going to mean I have a rubbish maternity leave and will find it too much with two little ones at home alone every afternoon. He would go 5 mornings 09:00-12:30.

Obviously the option A I would have to do two full days alone with two little ones which might feel even less manageable?!

Thanks for all the helpful advice.

Watching with interest. My 2 year old currently does 2 mornings and 1 full day a week but I’m wondering if 2 full days would be better? (Second baby due in September). He will have to change to 2 full days when I go back to work anyway 🤔

I was going to say 3 days but in this situation I would do 5 mornings at the one you prefer which is a stone's throw away and has more outdoor time. My son found long days too long and if I'd had that option, and it had lots of outdoor time I would have taken it.

Also, you can do days out after pick up since you have no afternoon school run. I found places got so much less busy at about 3 and had some lovely afternoons at farms etc.

Also from a kids' point of view, it's a nice structure to the day.

With the update, I would go for the one near your house.

I would have said 3 full days but if you prefer the other nursery then go with that. My toddler was doing 3 full days pre-pandemic and it worked out quite nicely. The only thing with the mornings 5 days a week is that you will always have to be home to collect so it cuts your day in half. I'd maybe do 4 mornings so you have one full day when you can go out and do something without worrying about getting back for pick up.

I would still go with option A, assuming they are similar price wise.

3 full days then your mornings are not permanently held up because you need to be at the nursery to grab eldest. Nothing more annoying than having to leave a group early because you need to be elsewhere. Also gives your eldest a chance to have a proper routine at nursery and you might find he settles easier.

Think about what you want to do with the time that elder DC is away. If you want to take baby to groups, for example, is there going to be enough time? Or is it going to be a case of drop off DC1, fanny about at home for 30 minutes, go to group, have to leave group 10 minutes early for pick up? Cos that's not very relaxing!

If your life is going to be more drop off DC1, go for a little walk with DC2, home for nap time and a bit of mumsnetting, sit in the garden etc, then pick up DC1 have lunch then all go out to do something in the afternoon then mornings is going to be best for you.

I only have one DC and had a period of not working when he was in nursery for a day and a half day morning, I really didn't like the half day at all because it cut into the day so much.

Another consideration is whether it will always be mornings, I presume that when DC1 reaches a particular age they'll go pms? Which then means you would have a really weird set up with DC2 going in the morning and DC1 in the afternoon?