3 kids under 4. I need childcare ideas. I’m not really sure what’s available?!

[CTW23]

We’re due our 3rd in September. My 3 year old starts school in September (he’s 4 next month) .

my 3 and 1 year old are at nursery 4 days a week. I work those 4 days 8-5 and my husband works 5 days usually 8-6/7.

nursery is on the way to work. School is a 15 minute detour by cycle.

obviously school hours are much shorter than working hours. Before and after school club are an option (if we get a space) 8-5.30. The first 9 months or so I’ll be on mat leave.

We have no family support, I am curious to know what others do for childcare. Do Nannies exist to do drop off and pick up? What do others do?

thank you!

I had mine several years apart and made sure I could afford full childcare- isn’t that what everyone does. I child through nursery and then primary and then had second. We didn’t have free hours then either. And I didn’t have any more.

You don't say where you are, but if you're in Greater London, Koru Kids specialise in after school nannies.

Childminders often do drop off and pick up but yes, you can see if a nanny is available for the hours that you want (although you may have to pay for additional hours that aren’t worked).

Excellent, helpful suggestions there!

Maybe you can lend @CTW23 your time machine and she can redo her poor choices

When my children were that kind of age people used mothers helps, probably an old fashioned name, not a full nanny but someone who would do drop offs, pick ups, look after the children until a parent was home etc

Is that an option in your area?

Childminder. Good nannies very rarely only do school pick up - too few hours.
You could get a nanny to look after your younger 2 and do the school run potentially.

I don’t think they do…I haven’t said anywhere in my post that we can’t afford childcare.
we’re in the south east

Either after school clubs or childminder.
Also would you doing more flexible hours an option? If you did one short day and one long day you could pick up from school an extra day and maybe the day you’re working later your DH could finish early enough for after school/nursery pick up. Or if you can work from home how flexible is it? My work are fine with people popping out to do school run some days

You may find that a nanny 4 days a week for all 3 works out cheaper compared with wraparound & holiday clubs for eldest, plus nursery for middle and baby. Add it up and see?

Plus a nanny will still look after them when ill whereas nursery won’t. And can do some jobs nursery doesn’t like cooking kids’ tea and doing kids’ laundry. Although do factor in hidden costs like having heating on all day.

I would suggest nanny rather than nursery. They can do all the school runs and then also allow your eldest to do after school sports and other activities; this then frees up your weekend.

This is what we did with 3 kids and it’s worked perfectly for us. The flexibility of a nanny has been wonderful compared to nursery (we did try for a whole)

My friend had a “mothers help” who did childcare, housework, cooking, ironing, the whole families laundry, shopping, putting away home deliveries, babysitting in the evening, all sorts and that worked really well. She had 4 kids and cheaper than childcare and a cleaner etc and was a good compromise. She was a godsend to my friend and she’s still does less for my friend now but has another family with younger ones. This could be a good option?

I use a childminder as they do school holidays whereas the school wraparound is only termtime and so that worked better for us. The holiday clubs tend to be in the centre of town with kids from several schools but don’t open early enough for me as I’m at work at 8 and childminder opens at 7am and they often don’t start until 8:30/9 and finish by 4pm so I’d have to start later and leave earlier.

This is so helpful, a nanny will probably work out cheaper (our nursery bill is £3000 per month) we don’t qualify for means tested childcare.

I have 4 kids between 6 and 14, when the youngest were babies we did childminder for them and breakfast club for the older ones, it was fine but lots of drop offs/pick ups. Once the youngest joined the school nursery at 3, we got a nanny for mornings and afternoons wrap around care. We’ve had a few, I would say those hours either appeal to mums with their own small child (I said they could bring their toddler along) who want to make a bit of money but not have to put their own child in childcare, or young woman either looking to get more experience to work up to full time nannying or eg looking for temporary work. One of our nannies went off to Australia to travel/work full time as a nanny, another used to do after school for us but worked other flexible hours at a children’s home. She eventually left to become a full time nanny. Our current nanny just does mornings and then does kids’ drama workshops during the day/after school. So there are people who want those kinds of hours. I found all of them on childcare.co.uk.

See if any childminders do the school your child's school and could do the older ones before and after school and then the younger one all day.

https://nannymatters.co.uk/the-tax-free-childcare-scheme/#:~:text=Tax%20relief%20is%20normally%20available,England)%20or%20Approved%20nanny%20status

If you don’t qualify for the free hours it will likely work out better with a nanny for the two little ones. And they can take the eldest to school and collect them. Which also is a benefit as it means your eldest can come home from school, doesn’t have to go to an after school club when they are so young and you don’t have to put your youngest in nursery.

You can the 1 year old out too and just put them in for the 15 hours which everyone gets when they are free at age 3.

Id much rather do that if I could afford it. Nannies will also look after children who aren’t too sick unlike a nursery. For 3 kids it’s usually the best value. Plus then in the school holidays you have child care covered and no extra money to pay. The nanny can take the kids on days out and they get to be in their own home the rest of the time.

It also means your eldest can do after school activities when they start school. I nannied in my 20s and would take kids to dance classes etc

Hi! We are in a similar situation but a few months ahead of you, so have looked at all our local options until blue in the face.

3rd child was born last April, eldest turned four a couple of months later and then started school in September. We also need childcare for four days when I am working.

I am still on maternity leave but we will be using nursery for the younger two. Eldest will go to school breakfast club and then a local provider for afterschool care, as the waiting list at school is years long. I searched high and low for a childminder but there was no availability. Fortunately, he likes the wraparound care (started doing a couple of days a week after Christmas to get used to it before I’m back at work).

We looked into the option of a nanny but it was definitely more expensive than nursery, and I suspect it would be for you too if your nursery bill is £3k. If you’re not eligible for funded nursery hours, you may earn enough to make the extra cost worth it in convenience. Also - if you are “only” up to around 40k over the 100k threshold, it may be financially better for you to drop hours or make lots of pension contributions to get below 100k. We do this (which I know makes MM angry, but is legal), because I would have to increase my salary from 120k to over 175k to break even after loss of funded hours and TFC.

I have 3- age 5,3,1. Similar to you, we don’t have much family support.

When had my 3rd I reduced my hours and work more flexibly to be around for school pick ups etc. My husband also works flexible shifts too. We want to keep our childcare to
a minimum and we avoid after school clubs as our 5 year old (started school at 4) just gets fired after school.

if either of you can work flexibly that will help, unfortunately I think this is the sacrifice we had had to make with having a 3rd, there are more logistics to think about. More places to be. Saying that I’m now expecting my 4th so it hasn’t put me off!!!