Childminder v nursery v nanny share - why did you pick what you did?

[whattheheck]

In my part of London they all seem to be about the same price £70 or so a day. So what's the advantages and what would you recomend?
I have a shy little DD who is goig through a clingy stage. will be a year when going to childcare 2/3 days a week

im looking for a childminder mainly as i think nurseries seem like farms to me packed out. it bad enough school will be 2-300 in a school i just cant face letting dd into a nursery with 70 other children so i feel a cm would be just like home but thats just me.if i could afford a nanny id consider.

My DS does a nursery/grandma combo.

CMs: in my part of London I couldn't find one that I liked and who also had space on the right days and got fed up with looking.

Nanny-share - investigated, signed up for nannyshare.com (or whatever it's called) but after some desultory chats back and forth with a couple of people (no disrespect to them) decided that it was probably only likely to work if you set it up with someone you had a least a brief acquaintance with in RL, plus it seemed like a lot of hassle (joint contracts etc), and the advantages of having a nanny that are not to do with child welfare (eg nanny comes to your house, looks after child even if sick etc) were diminished by share arrangements.

So nursery was the choice - and I must say the baby seems to love it - but he doesn't go full-time, might do 3 days on an average week, and all the usual stuff about he can't go when he's ill applies. That said, he seems to be the opposite of clingy (at the mo).

If I either had more than one child and therefore had to pay 2 or more x nursery fees or got a job which meant I had to work longer hours than I do at the moment I would probably move to nanny, but this would principally be for logistical and financial reasons rather than standard of care (if standard of care this was better it would be a bonus, IYSWIM).

For DD1 we chose a wonderful Sure Start nursery that opened up in the playround of the school where I taught whilst I was on maternity leave! We'd looked round others but they didn't come close in terms of facilities, atmosphere, access to outside space, loveliness of staff and the convenience.

Three years later I changed jobs and she went to a childminder because I didn't really like the nurseries local to my new school so much and felt they didn't offer that much for my 3-year-old.

Now DD2 has arrived we're going for a nannyshare with some friends. I almost signed up with a lovely local childminder but DD1 ended up at school with no before/after provision for Reception children which would have meant finding another childminder for her (both DH and I are teachers so need to be at school for the start of the day) so I'd have to walk to two different places before arriving at work for 0830.

I like the fact that my children will be looked after in our home/home of a family friend and that both the girls can be looked after by one person. Being able to choose the other children they mix with is a factor too along with the convenience of not having to drop them off/collect them each day. Oh, and the fact that the nanny will be able to do things like put on a load of children's laundry for me!