Childcare, hoping to move, WWYD?

[MoreThanRubies]

I’m new to this so hoping for advice on where & what childcare to aim for when planning to move house.

I’m on maternity leave and will be going back to work 4 days a week when DD is 1 early next year and we’re looking for childcare. The complication is that we’re hoping to move house some time next year - where do we look for childcare? My DH and I both work in the city centre, and will WFH a few days a week. The idea is that whoever is WFH that day will drop DD off at childcare, so ideally would be looking for somewhere near home.

Our offices are 30-40 mins away in the town centre and childcare there is hard to come by, very oversubscribed.

We live in Area 1 but hope to buy a house in Area 2, which is the total opposite side of town. I know this could take a while but we hope to move next year. Area 1 and Area 2 are about 30 mins apart.

I worry about getting DD settled in one place and then changing when we move. Options are as follows, what would you advise?

A) childcare near current home, Area 1. Convenient for now, but would need to move DD when we move house. Will that be disruptive?

B) childcare near work, less convenient and not even sure if we can find anywhere at this short notice, but would not need to move her.

C) childcare near desired new house in area 2. Seems a bit mad when we haven’t even bought anywhere!

No family help nearby. I put off finding childcare until now as we had hoped to have moved already but, Covid…

TIA

Have you had a look at what childcare options exist in area 1 and area 2, and also what houses are coming up for sale in area 2?

Area 2 is a whole hour round trip so I would be inclined to go with childcare (maybe a childminder) in area 1 then change to a Nursery when you move to area 2. Just in case the move takes longer than you expect.

@PennyWus thank you, that was my hunch too. Area 1 is short on nurseries but there are childminders, I think there are more nurseries in area 2. We’re “seriously looking” in area 2, houses of the type we want come up regularly and we’re viewing, so I’m hopeful that moving next year will be doable.

DD is my first so I’m just a bit worried about changing her situation too often especially as she’s just been at home with me since birth. It’s a bit of a wrench to think of leaving her anywhere . Hopefully once we move we will be there for a while and she can get settled.

I know what you mean. I put my baby girl in nursery part time age 11 months, and it was agonising at first but then my DD flourished. Then we moved town when she was 3 and a half years old, and re-settling was very difficult. But they do adjust. We staggered it a bit, so we moved house first, and commuted back to the old childcare setting for a bit, then switched to new nursery as a clean break. Not sure what's best really but I promise, there's no lasting damage because the constant is you as parents, and that love you provide every day.

Staggering the changes is a good idea. Thank you for your reassuring words!

If the difference between the areas were like 10/ 15 mins then I'd say go with area moving to. But since the difference is 30 mins, I'd go local. I wouldn't want my baby doing 30 mins each way in the car every day for childcare.

Children are resilient and house moves are taking a while so it could be at least 6 months of her being in childcare before you move.

My son goes to nursery across the road from my work.
Not worrying about traffic and getting back on time is a relief.

I would make enquiries at ones closer to work- people might say they are fully booked but younger ages tend not to be.
Visit nurseries and get a feel for it

Stay close to home nothing worse than travelling when your at home. Look for a really good setting childminder or nursery offer exactly the same so go by what feels right