So looks like DD is going to nursery afterall - how do I pick one?

[LoveBeingAMummy]

Back to work on a phased return from jan 2nd and mum was going to ahve the baby (will be 9.5 month), however just found out dad has cancer so am going to start looking for a place for dd but have no idea where to start advice please......xxx

oh ps I'm in leicester if anyone has a recommendation

word of mouth is always a good start.
have a look on the surestart website here
put in your postcode and a list of nurserys and childminders will come up for you.
what area are you in?

here

Type in your postcode, in the 'search by postcode' box

And select childcare - non dom. from the drop down

You will get a list off all nurseries in your area and you can read the Ofsted reports, good luck

Oops x-posts with smee

thanks you two will take a look. Don't have many friends with kids, the ones I do ahe are in the same position and looking at the momoent!

So sorry to hear about your father.

I visited lots of nurseries before choosing ours. I went by word of mouth/ recommendation, but found that I knew instantly which ones would suit my children. With ds1, I hated two which came highly recommended by very nice people, whose children were happy there, was getting desparate and visited one I found in yellow pages! The building was terribly tatty, the staff lovely and from being a clingly baby, ds1 settled in immediately on our first visit. He hardly looked at me, as we were going round. He was instantly involved in what was going on. The other two weren't bad, but our chosen nursery just did things in a similar way to the way we do things at home. Then it closed down just before ds2 started so I had to start looking all over again!

For a while I had to send ds2 to one I wasn't quite happy with. Again there was nothing really wrong, but it just wasn't 'us'. So we kept shopping around till again, we found one I didn't think would suit us, until we got through the door. So I would say, keep an open mind, and go and visit any in your area.

Don't forget to check out childminders too - same principle - visit and find one whom you like.

So sorry to hear about your father.
Take care xx

Thanks guys

Does a childminder work out much more expensive?

No, my childminder was around the same. I think that nurseries charge for the half day, or full day (I think ours were around £16 per half day, with discount for full time) whereas childminders charge by the hour (around £4/hour, but it varies a lot depending on your area). So if you need less than 8 hours a day a childminder can be cheaper, though some stipulate minimum hours.

The only downside to childminders is if they are off sick, they can cancel for that day/week, whereas nurseries can cover for staff sickness, and stay open. Nurseries are great if your child likes being in a crowd - ds1 loved it. (Though the crowd means more bugs passed around. Be prepared for lots of colds and sickness bugs, for the first six months in childcare!) Childminders are great for giving a home from home atmosphere. Ds2 regarded his childminder as his Nana around the corner (our grandparents are a long way away).

thanks nqgu - made me laugh with comment about them getting all the bugs for the first 6 months cause lots say you can't take them in if their sick so due they spend much time their the first 6 months ????

I'd echo the advice to consider both nurseries and childminders - in my area CMs are cheaper than most private nurseries though rates are quite variable, and also because you have quite a short time to find something so it's good to have more options. Also, some people, my mum included, think CM is better for a young child, and it can be more difficult to find a nursery place under 2.

DS started with a CM at 10 months, and loves going there, when a nursery where he was on the waiting list contacted me recently I didn't even check before saying he was so happy in current childcare that I don't want to move him.

We visited 4 nurseries. The one we expected to hate we loved (first one we visited and DD ended up there). The one we expected to love was very disappointing. Great building and facilities but we were shown round by the admin lady and not one of the nursery staff spoke to us or even smiled. The kids all looked frightened to death and there were babies crying in the baby room and just being ignored.

The other 2 we looked at were OK, but didn't feel as right as the first one, as well as being dearer and further away from my work.

It's very much a gut feeling. Can't help with CMs because we didn't consider them.

It's very much a gut feeling with CMs too - in fact DS ended up at the first I visited of two. CM was quite newly registered but has brought up 5 kids of her own, she was keen to hold and play with DS, and she just seemed, and is, really lovely.

Thanks folks will have a look at childminders too.