Which nursery to choose

[Hann376]

Trying to choose between two nurseries For. 1 year old for 2 or 3 days a week.

One has availability tues-thurs but there are different rooms at 16 months and then again at 2 years which means there will be a lot of staff changes just as he gets attached and I’m also not sure how consistent the staff are.

The other has 2 non consecutive days available (Monday and Wednesday) but there is a possibility of more days being available in the future (if/when other people reduce a day).

I’m worried about difficulty in baby settling if only in for 2 days spaced out but also know the importance the staff to be consistent to help baby attachment so can’t decide !

Goodness it wouldn’t occur to me to worry about staff changes - you do realise that it’s a ratio and lots of things are done in a group. My kids went to nursery from very young (one was five months, the other a year), and don’t think they ever got particularly attached to any of the staff! I’d choose whichever was closer and the kids seemed happy at and fit in with my schedule

For me, I would go with which one I had the best feeling about when looking around it. Which one did I feel was the best fit for my child. Which did I trust to follow my child’s routine or my rules (eg with your eldest he was only allowed a dummy at sleep time - we found that the nursery was giving it to him all the time making him want it all the time with us…. So do you trust them not to undermine you on things like that which will make life easier for them but harder for you?), which one had space available on the days I needed it and which was closest to home (a wise woman at work once told me choose a nursery close to home, not work - because you may need your child to still go into nursery even if you’re not going to work sometimes (eg if you’re sick) and you don’t want a massive drive to do that).

You're clearly struggling with sending your child to a childcare setting, the dozen or so threads asking very similar questions (and you never come back to the threads) show that you probably need some real life support to help you through this. Is the baby's dad around? Or your mum or sister or a friend?

I'm certainly not saying you shouldn't post for advice, but sounds like real life help might be needed too.

Mine did two days spread out and it was perfect. Less gap overall between sessions.

My eldest was in a nursery that did baby-16mo, then 16m-24mo, and my youngest had just one baby room up to 2years. I preferred the split arrangement... the needs are very different between a 22mo running around and a 6mo newly crawling.

I'd have a look around and see which one gave me the feeling of wanting to let my child stay and play. I've viewed a few nurseries this year and one sounded great on paper but in reality it was cramped, dirty, and with boring looking activities. Another one wasn't quite as bad but still in the same vein with very small rooms and lots of stairs. The one I least expected to go for (due to less convenient timings for me) turned out to be the one with lots of indoor and outdoor space and toys, and basic decent cleanliness, that I could see DD really enjoying every day, so I went for that one. She's settled really well overall.