Childcare Hours and Day flexibility

[Chubbybaby]

Childcare advice needed please. Looking to send my baby to a nursery next April. I don't want him to do full days as I don't think I could bear being away from him for so long. I can only find Nursery's that do AM or PM or full day. I need roughly 8-2 but they won't do that because its using up a full PM slot. I also need somewhere that can be flexible which days he goes one week a month because I have work deadlines which fall on a different day each month.

Has anyone been in a similar position and found a way around?

Worth noting I don't have anyone to help with drop offs or pick ups.

Thanks xx

Childminders may be more flexible with the actual hours, 8-2 may be easier for them to fit around school hours. You may even get a childminder that will be flexible with days, you just need to call and ask.
Nurseries are unlikely to be flexible on hours or days, although they’re usually busiest Tuesday-Thursday, so if you book those as core hours, they may have space as an extra day on a Monday and/or Friday.

Generally child care is a PITA if you are a shift worker or work irregular hours. If you send your child 8-2 and only paid for those hours, it means they will have an empty 4 hours where they are not bringing any income in. Same for random days here and there.

When I worked shifts, DC went to the childminder based on DH's hours. This meant that we were paying for days I was off work. It worked well when I wanted some time to myself which proved especially useful when I was pregnant with DS2.

Most CM offer childcare by the hour and are more flexible than nurseries. Finishing at 2pm will probably suit them because they will usually have more kids after 3pm when schools finished. Most still make you do set days though because it's easier to slot other kids in around that.

I've taken children on with flexible contracts we agreed a minimum number of hours a week 2 pm finishes fit well with school runs so could use that to make up the loss of your hours.