When to register for nursery

[Yellowdaff25]

Hi all,

I am pregnant with my second child and I know probably wellllll early for thinking about this but I plan to take a year off when the baby is born and then go back to work part time.

There is only one nursery that is open all year round within walking distance (Partner drives but I don’t and I will be doing drop off) and I’m wondering when I should contact them re registering my interest/waiting list etc.

I live in a new build area that has been developed extremely quickly and doctors, dentists, schools etc have struggled to accommodate the rapid growth and I assume it may be the same for the nursery’s as well.

(when my son was born we didn’t live in this area and there were more nursery options so this is new to me)

would it be odd for me to contact the nursery to ask about this before my child is even born?🫣

Not mad at all, very sensible in my area.

In some areas you have to register before conception. Contact the nursery to ask.

Okay great, thanks for the replies :)

In my area almost as soon as you know you are pregnant so definitely worth getting on the waiting list.

ASAP especially with the increased no of funded hrs for younger children.

Great question, @Yellowdaff25 and definitely not too early to start thinking about it. We've seen many posts where parents are thinking about nurseries before their baby arrives and lots of parents are finding the nursery situation tricky, especially in rapidly growing areas.

We’ve got some helpful threads running right now with the Department for Education to help parents navigate paid children, including a Q&A with an Early Years teacher who’s answering questions about finding childcare, waiting lists, and what to expect. There’s also a general thread where Mumsnet users are sharing their experiences. You might find it useful to check them out or ask your question there too. Good luck and congratulations.

I did it at 5 months pregnant. They are full up found here as they are closing at a rate of knots. We chose the one we wanted and got the starting date we wanted as well.

I registered immediately after the 12 week scan and could only get 12 months after due date. Recommend contacting now.

I'd do it ASAP, especially if it's the only option. My DD's nursery were the first to know I was expecting DS as I registered him at 12w pregnant 😆. They're very popular and we didn't want to miss out!

No harm in contacting a nursery now but in my area a lot of settings won't even consider you until baby is born. And given the huge demand for places my local nursery has stopped putting people on a waiting list until the term before a place is wanted because they had thousands of families on their waiting list.