Part-time at nursery: should we go for consecutive days?

[AnotherMuesliPleaseBarman]

Hi,

Hoping for a bit of advice from mums out there!

DS is due to start nursery in Jan, aged 11 months. He will attend for 2 days a week, on 2 other days being cared for by grandmothers, and another by me.

With part-time placements like this, is it better for the child to attend on consecutive days or on days spaced further apart? One nursery advised that consecutive days worked best (for settling/continuity) whilst another thought spaced-out days were better (less of a gap from one week to next).

I realise it depends on the individual child and circumstance to some extent, but any thoughts from MNers with experience? Is there anything else I should be considering? My plan at the moment is this:

Mon: Grandma 1
Tues: Nursery
Wed: Me
Thurs: Nursery
Fri: Grandma 2

Thanks!

There was another similar post earlier in the week. See this.

Personally I think blocks of days.

Thanks! hadn't seen that

My 2 year old DS follows the exact pattern you describe:

Mon & Friday - Grandma
Tues & Thurs - Nursery
Wed - Me

This works really well for us. As much as he loves nursery, it does tire him out. I would worry that it might be too much if he did consecutive days. As least this way, he can have a quieter day following a day at nursery and sleep as much as he needs to. Having said that, he does have an early start on nursery days (We drop him off at 7.30).

I think you have to do what works best for you as a family.

We have 2.5 days as a block, think it works better as DS gets more into 'routine', even if it's just for short time. If you opt for a Monday/Tuesday there will be a few bank holidays where you'll be paying for a place and not using it...

Thanks London / Numpty! Some useful points for me to consider there.