When do you sort out childcare?

[Hollyhop17]

My DS is 5 weeks old and I am planning to be off for a year at the momemt. So we have finances in place but I need to be working again by July 2018. I am unsure at the moment if I will be going back part time or full time (need a new job, not going back to the old one).

I am currently in South Norwood, London but what is making this slightly more complicated is that we are moving next year to be closer to family, so not sure how long I will need childcare here for.

So my question is, if I want to put him in a nursery, how far in advance do I need to find one/register?

Finally, any tips for South Norwood?!

TIA

Do it now. Most good ones have waiting lists and lots of parents sign up now or even when when baby is still a bump!

I registered mine at 8 weeks old for starting at first birthday. - south east England.

I'd seen friends spend half their maternity leave stressing about finding childcare so wanted to get it sorted. I looked round a couple and went with my gut feeling - it's been brilliant so far!

Not from the area but I would also suggest looking now, one nursery I looked at has a waiting list of over 12 months due to the number of parents to be who has older siblings already there!

I would have a look soon and just ask the nurseries about their waiting lists. We don't live in London and in fact live in a fairly quiet and rural part of the countryside (we don't have many nurseries, but we also have mostly old people, not young families), but I started to look/booked our place when my daughter was about 6 months and she started at 9 months. If you know things are much more competitive, I think start as soon as you are able.

My nursery is booked up until Jan 2019. Soon as parents find out they're expecting they put their name down. So as soon as possible!

I used a lovely childminder in south Norwood - pm me if you want a recommendation.

Totally varies by area. I signed my DS up when I was 18 weeks pregnant and was lucky to get a place in time for me going back to work, and there's currently a year's waiting list.

Everyone always says you have do it ages in advance but I haven't found it a problem. There's such a turnover in London with people moving that places seem to come up quite quickly. But it usually doesn't cost much to register so I suppose you might as well start looking.