Mixing childcare and nursery

[AleaEim]

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has experience in this. I originally wanted a childminder for my dd who is almost 1, however I couldn’t find one so put a deposit down for a nursery. The nursery is amazing, outstanding rating has a forest school and lots of extras like baby ballet, baby sign etc and although I’m not keen on nurseries, I like this one. Recently a childminder with a good rating got back to me as she has space. Now I’m confused as I liked the childminder and think it would be better for a baby this age but the nursery is so hard to get into given the waiting lists so I’m not sure I want to let that go either. I’m thinking of mixing both and using the nursery two days and childminder 3 days. Has anyone done this? DH thinks it will be more admin and more faff having two rather than one setting but I think it’s better to think of dd’s wellbeing rather than our own. Saying that, we are time poor, demanding careers, no family support at all so extra admin isn’t ideal. Has anyone mixed the two before? Is it a headache? Dd is very social so I’m hoping she’ll settle in ok to both, she’s never really had separation anxiety but I know she could change.

For context, we need full time 8-6 ish so you can see my worry about sending her to full time nursery.

Also the childminder takes 4 weeks holidays a year during school breaks which isn’t ideal but I’m hoping we will just manage. It is a slight worry for us though.

I would just stick with nursery. Sounds a good one. My ds was in nursery at 6 months and it was fine. We never had to worry about holiday's to cover (make the most of the nursery years in that you can holiday during term time and not the school holiday's) or the childminder going sick and us being stuck for child care

I have done it twice but not with such a young child. I think she is too young for mixing, it’s confusing to have to settle in to two very different places and different routines. Two days a week for a 1 year old is not a lot and she will get confused which day she is doing what. It’s not even the extra faff of admin, it’s a lot for a child to be in FT care in two different places!

I’ve done childminder till age 2.5 and 3 for second child and then started mixing. My 4 year old currently does 2.5 days childminder and 3 days preschool and will move to preschool FT for summer term to help prep for school.

at this small age I would stick with childminder. It’s a lot for a 1 year old to be in nursery FT (noise, social interaction, care but also she will get sick more).

between 2 parents you should be able to manage 4 weeks holidays or did you plan to take leave when your child is in nursery?

Why not just send her to the nursery full time?

I've looked after children who've done both and it's worked well. Nursery covers my holiday and I've covered their closures (no water, staff sickness, snow days etc). The children have always settled fine.

There are good, bad and average of all of them but I’d use a nursery (and did). For me, I’d find having to work around someone else’s holiday a pain and I liked the larger pool of similar age children. It’s a very personal choice though other people will prefer something else.

Yeah that’s true, the holidays are something we’d have to think about but we don’t holiday much anyway. Maybe one or two weeks a year and that includes Christmas.

Do you think full time childminder is better then? That’s what I was going to do in the first place as I agree there’s a lot going on in nursery that I don’t think a baby needs to experience. Saying that, I don’t want to let the nursery go now entirely since I have a place. If I want it in say a years time, she may not get a place as the waiting list is long.

This is good to know, you think they can settle in to both at this age? DD is extremely sociable, outgoing, doesn’t hesitate to engage with others and allows strangers to pick her up (maybe she’s a bit odd? 🤣) if we did this, she’d be starting nursery 2 days in Jan and then 1 day with childminder in Feb then 2 days in March and 3 days from April so it will be quite gradual.

Oh interesting, I actually like the idea of her being with children of different ages as it’s more like a natural home environment like siblings and they learn from older kids.

I wouldn't mix, pick one or the other.

Personally, I wouldn't put a baby in full time nursery BUT you need to weigh up whether the convenience is worth it for you. I imagine a home setting with one consistent adult would probably be preferable to your DD, but an institution with constant staff cover and long open hours would be better for you career-wise.

Could you ask the nursery to delay your start or go on the waiting list for a 2year old or preschool place?

This is what I thought too, thought I would just choose a childminder rather than a nursery. Maybe I could ask them to keep her place until she’s 2.

at this age 💯. She can form a 1:1 bond with the childminder and be in a home like environment. No 1 year old needs baby ballet, forest school or non stop stimulation and noise. You can send her to nursery with 2 or 3, there is a plenty of time for socialising with peers. A good childminder will tell you their holidays at the beginning of the year and you can plan accordingly.

My childminder has never been sick but my friends babies in nurseries have been a LOT more sick than my kids in the early years. My 4 year old never had hand, foot, mouth, scarlet fever and chicken pox - my friend’s kid had all 3 in her first year at nursery.

I prefer nursery tbh! But personal choice obvs

i wouldn’t mix it as confusing - I can my 4.5 year old finds it hard having breakfast club and after school club in various days - she’s always asking what’s today do I have breakfast here or at club? She likes to know the schedule in advance - so I think a 1 year old would never know where she’s going nursery or childminder etc!!

would you eventually send to nursery?

if so then why not do it from now cus otherwise you’ll have to change environment again in a year or so when she’s already settled with childminder

if you do nursery now then she’s just settled in one place for 3 years

I went back to work 3 days a week when my daughter was 5 months old. She had 1 day a week at nursery and 2 days with a childminder. In both cases she was there from 8-6.

I had originally been looking for a nursery for all 3 days, but the one I liked best didn’t have space so I went for the childminder.

I much preferred the childminder, especially in the first few months, as it provided more of a natural relaxed home environment, but my daughter was much younger and I was very lucky with the childminder.

My daughter didn’t seem to have any trouble settling into either setting, and it sounds to me that mixing the two will work well and give you the best of both worlds, especially given all the “extras” that the nursery provides.

Yeah this is what I’m thinking, it’s having the best of both worlds and potentially a buffer if one goes awry. So you feel your child settled in ok with the two? Was there any more admin to deal with?

If you’re very reliant on child care, you might find that having the combination actually gives you the most resilient set up. Childminders are often a little bit more flexible on an under the weather child than nursery are. Nurseries have that year round and staff sickness cover that child minders dont.

Admin wise - two bills rather than one.

I’d actually be slightly reluctant to use a child minder 5 long days a week. At that point that individual is the child’s primary carer for the vast majority of their waking hours.

Wouldn't that be a reason to use a childminder though? 1 consistent carer rather than 3-4 'main' carers and another few additional carers?

I think you are optimistic with a buffer. Childminders have to keep to a legal limit, they can’t just take one more child for additional days in case you don’t like the nursery. And sounds like your nursery is a popular one and oversubscribed already.

Incorrect, childminders can increase ratios for continuity of care, especially if it's for one off days here and there.

Yes for one off days, but not in case nursery doesn’t work out and she needs an extra 2 days a week. Most responsible childminders won’t go over their ratios - it’s also challenging with logistics and doing outings with kids.

Also allowed for permanent changes. And it isn't irresponsible or going over ratio. Ofsted and DfE appreciate that putting the child first for continuity of care is important and allowed and thats why we have flexible ratios. All good childminders will risk assess first of course but it is absolutely fine for most children who are already settled in the setting.

As you use a cm, they may have chosen not to do this which is why you may not be aware but its very normal for most.

@AleaEimI think she definitely settled in more quickly with the childminder, but she had more individual attention from her, and of course she was there twice as often.

I don’t remember any particular admin issues but it was 28 years ago so I may have forgotten. I also suspect that there wasn’t as much admin in those days! I don’t remember any in relation to the childminder other than signing a basic contract, which she provided.

Depends on your view. Nursery they become familiar with an environment and a group of adults.

Single carer at the child minder gets into the territory of being another parent.

Yeah I agree it could end up being a good set up. I’d probably prefer that though rather than multiple carers, isn’t that what a nanny would be like?

Think I might do a mix or just use full time childminder, definitely don’t want full time nursery if I can help it.