Nursery Waiting Lists - When to Contact them?

[DisorganisedAlways]

I'm currently 20 weeks pregnant.
DP has said we need to start getting in touch with nurseries now for the baby as the waiting lists are so long. They wouldn't be going to nursery until they're 1 years old for 3 days per week we are thinking.
Is it too soon to book a place and get on the wait list? DP is adamant we need to do it now!
The nursery we want is just down the road and is 'Outstanding' and has a good reputation so we'd like that one but I didn't even consider contacting them this soon!

Not too soon if you want to guarantee a place!

Not too soon. I read an online thread advising that you need to do it ASAP when I was 30 weeks, turns out yes you do. I'm due in April and can't get baby in nursery until June 2023 now! Lady on the phone advised 'oh yes, you need to ring once you've done a PG test ideally' chuckle chuckle 😳

I'm going for a visit next week and have to choose how many and which days right now... I haven't even had the baby yet or spoken to my boss about days /hours I might return to work... how do I know 14 months in advance 🤷🏽‍♀️

Our nursery waiting list is closed till August 2023! I let them know about DD2 after 12-week scan so they could try to fit her in! Luckily existing parents get priority or we would be out of luck!

It's worth just contacting the ones you're interested in and asking what their waiting list is like.

Go and visit before you have your baby. What happens on terms of waiting lists varies - ours you could fill in the paperwork in advance then just phone them once baby was born, at which point you were added to the waiting list as then they knew baby's exact date of birth..
I know some nurseries take a deposit. Ours didn't, bit i would not have wanted to shell out money before DC was actually born!

Oh my god. I am so shocked by these replies. I thought you'd all say my partner is being to hasty! But turns out DP was right. My gosh, that's unbelievable.

I looked round at 30 weeks and asked to put my daughter in a year later- I had to wait a year and three months for a space.

Going back to work in June and emailed a few nurseries this week. Loads of spaces round here thankfully. The prep schools have two year wait lists though if that's your thing.

No one near me will put an unborn baby on the list. And I was a childminder and had the same rule

I imagine this is very area specific. My son started nursery in September a few years ago and we signed up in the May. Maybe just ring a few and see what’s the norm for them?

I think it depends where you live. For my first I had to sort it while pregnant but with my second I probably could've sorted it a month before I wanted her to start. Can't hurt to be organised though!

I started discussing it just before I was due and then when DD was here I sorted her place out when she was around 3/4 months old to start at 1 years old. Luckily there were spaces then but now they have waiting lists again, it's an outstanding nursery.

I would put the feelers out soon and start considering what days you might want!

Suppose depends on area. We sorted ours out a month prior.
Can't hurt to put your name down.

Its easier to find spaces for September/October than to start June/July (in England). Simply because babies are born all year round, but the vast majority childrenstart school in September.

Yes I'm going to ring them tomorrow and see what they say in terms of their wait times to give an idea. Seems like it varies depending on area etc.

Definitely depends where you live. I managed to secure a place when LO was 5mo.

It entirely depends on the nursery and the area. Some areas there is a dire shortage. I waited on the waiting list for nearly 2 years to get a place. Ofsted outstanding is likely to be oversubscribed too. Some nurseries won't let you put unborn children on the waiting list though: check with them.

Bear in mind many nurseries don't allow registration before a child is born. Good luck x

UPDATE:

We contacted the nursery closest to us that I mentioned. They asked us to go and visit the nursery next month and if we want to go there, then we need to put our name down next month!
I'll be 25 weeks pregnant at that time.
The baby wouldn't be going until they're at least 1 year old.

Definitely not to soon if you want the best nursery

Hi all,

I am currently studying for a product development qualification and was hoping I could get some feedback on how nursery waitlists have affected people?

Having recently become a parent and not being able to secure childcare for over a year, I know it has impacted the choices our family has had to make. So I wanted to develop something that might address this issue.

How has the availability and cost of childcare impacted people on this thread? What decisions have you made as a result?

Ours is also full until august next year - definitely get on to it

Put them on the waiting list immediately!

I put DC2 on the waiting list for DC1’s nursery when I was 6 weeks pregnant. Could only accommodate them after me taking a year of maternity leave. Completely crazy!

Wow, can't believe no midwife / nct class / what to do before baby comes website ever mentions this! I also only heard from some people and though they were overdramatising.
I'm 37 weeks now and only starting to look at nurseries, however really not feeling in the right set of mind for it, with so much to prepare for labour/newborn and just started my maternity leave, wasn't going to think about the terms of my return until after spending some time with the baby. 😡

This is definitely the case here in the SE. Same goes for private school nurseries.