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Nurseries

Find nursery advice from other Mumsnetters on our Nursery forum. For more guidance on early years development, sign up for Mumsnet Ages & Stages emails.

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Original poster

Nursery one day a week - bad idea?

14 replies

herewegoloopyloo · 27/07/2010 14:25

Hi. I am currently on maternity leave but will be going back fulltime (may try to negotiate down the line but..). We have a nanny who will do 4 days a week but I will now need to cover the 5th day. I am not sure whether to look for a nanny, childminder or nursery. Our current nanny is fab and has been very flexible with hours and holidays etc; I am not sure how will it would work factoring in another persons holidays if went for CM or nanny. However, my DD2 will only be 7mths when I go back and I am not sure how nursery will work (it did not at all for DD1) and whether having 1 day a week will make it harder or easier. DD1 will be 3and a half and is now very sociable so I think would be fine.
Any advice/experience/opinions?

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sonsmum · 27/07/2010 15:51

personally i think 1 day a week is not enough as the child will just get settled then it is time to leave and then will need settling in again the next week etc.......
Could be harder on both the child and the staff.

Rockbird · 27/07/2010 15:53

DD goes to nursery one day a week (grandmothers the other two days). Generally she's been ok, I don't think she was any more tearful than she ordinarily would have been. This morning was a bit harder as we and consequently she has been away for three weeks but she would have been a bit apprehensive anyway after three weeks with mummy. It is completely doable.

Karoleann · 27/07/2010 18:42

DS2 goes to nursery one day a week and is fine. Settling in period they'll usually do more during the week ie if he's attending wednesdays they'll do 1 hour Friday, 2 hours Monday and half day wednesday before full day wednesday.
It'll also be handy if nanny needs a day off as you can then do nursery that day.

Original poster

herewegoloopyloo · 28/07/2010 09:22

OK. Mainly positive. Rockbird and Karoleann - did your child have trouble settling and roughly what age did they start? Sonsmum - have you found this to be a problem in your experience (as this is my concern)?

OP posts:

sonsmum · 28/07/2010 11:28

i think it may depend on the child.....
My DS went full time, no problem whatsoever, loved it.....
Now am on maternity leave again, I dropped him to 2 days a week......now seem to have quite a job settling him back in (ie getting him to let me get out the door) when i drop him off on that first session of the week........though by the 2nd session he is much happier again.
Going 1 day a week would not be worth it to me for the hassle in getting him settled.

duplotogo · 28/07/2010 11:32

Not many nurseries will offer one day a week. Ours will only offer a minimum of 2 days. You might have better luck with a CM. Will your nanny not consider working FT?

dribbleface · 28/07/2010 11:44

My own Ds started on 1 day a week (i'm a nursery maanger) and he didn't settle well at all (increased to 2 days and was better). However I have several children who have coped very well, think it depends on the child to be honest. You do need however to be prepared for it to take longer to settle yuor little one. We say about 2 weeks for a full time child so if just one day can take months.

violeta · 28/07/2010 16:36

My daughter (now nearly 2 and a half) goes one day a week. She's fine now, but it did take ages for her to settle (and we are talking months here, not weeks). She started just before she was 2. So, perhaps be prepared for the settling-in process to take quite a bit of time. But as you're talking about a baby rather than a toddler your experience may well be different.

lobsters · 28/07/2010 21:02

we've just been looking at this as our nanny wants to go 4 days a week, and we found none of the local nurseries will take a child one day a week, so we're looking at 1 1/2 days

Original poster

herewegoloopyloo · 28/07/2010 21:38

Hadn't thought about the nurseries not accepting one day a week - none have mentioned it in my preliminary enquiries but it is a good point.
Taking months rather than weeks to settle is what worries me. It is hard to know how she will be; as people have said, every child is different but our experience with DD1 was not positive (no fault of the nursery itself). It is useful to hear other people's experiences.
(Duplotogo - sadly 4 days a week to cover my commute will effectively be fulltime hours so no go there.)
It does look as if I should be researching CM more as well.

OP posts:

duplotogo · 29/07/2010 08:17

We both work FT with long hours / unreliable commute so use FT nursery + au pair for covering commuting hours.

firsttimemama · 29/07/2010 08:29

My DD used to go one afternoon a week and she settled in - albeit it took about 10 weeks ie 10 sessions which is equal to a full time child taking two weeks. It was only the first five minutes she was a bit upset and enjoyed the rest of the session. My DS is about to start one day a week and I think it's good for him to mix with other children and have a back up childcare option. BTW my dd joined school nursery very easily and had no issues whatsoever - where as some of the children who had not been in a nursery environment for any time struggled. Good luck.

Karoleann · 29/07/2010 21:30

DS2 started about 8 months - he has started crying when I drop him off now (he's now 2), but DS1 who does 3 days a week always cried too! It only lasts a couple of minutes and I can check on the web cam that he's happy.

LynetteScavo · 29/07/2010 21:40

I'd say one day a week isn't enough for most children. And it would depend on the individual child, not their age. Personally I would say a minimum of 2 days where ever they were going, be it nursery, childminder, etc, would help them settle more quickly.

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