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.

Yup.

Nanny is your home and your child. Childminder is their home and multiple children often including their own. Different price point and different balance on how high up the priority list for things for the day your child is.

I think a mix would be fine. The days at the childminder will be quieter, more focused on her, but also giving her a chance to mix with children of different ages and stages. Nursery will give her a chance to mix more with her own age group in a bigger setting, much more like a school class when she gets there.

I agree language comes on really well for example and they copy what older ones do joining in play etc. it's very natural single age ranges tend to hold children back.
The classes are a government way of charging top up fees. A good childminder will do lots of activities like woods and forest activities, have yoga sessions, visits to library's, zoos etc. You can ask if they network and cover for each other for holidays. They tend to be more flexible over times. If you find the right one they carry on doing wrap around once lo starts school....which comes around very quickly.