Choosing a nursery - is this normal?

[NichyNoo]

DH and I visited our first creche today. We are expecting our first DC and have 4 creches to visit. We live in Belgium by the way so different laws to the UK. The one this afternoon was the most expensive (720 euros per month for 5 days/week full time as opposed to circa 500-600 euros for average price here) and is reputed to be 'the best'. We really didn't know what to expect and to be honest I wasn't too impressed so wanted to run some things past the more experienced mums to see if I am just being silly.

• we were assured that ratio of staff to children is 1 to 5 but in the toddler room we saw one staff member with 6 or 7 kids

• the sales manager (who is also team manager) didn't know the nationality of one of the two members of staff we met. She said she was 'probably Danish' but it was obvious from name and accent she was Eastern European. I have no problem with this and we didn't ask about nationality (the team manager volunteered it) but I thought it was strange that the 'team manager' didn't know such a basic thing about her staff member

• in the 'baby room' there were two babies. Carer playing with one and the other was asleep in the crib room. However when we looked in crib room the baby was awake and sitting up in the crib happily. But the door between the carer and the crib room was shut so the nurse couldn't hear if baby was awake/crying/in distress. No idea how long baby had been in there

-carers were evasive in answer to my questions. E.g. when I asked whether the babies are held when they are being fed I was told 'it depended on the baby'

• babies and toddlers are kept separate during the day but are put in the same room after 5pm as some staff go home and parents start to arrive. This happened when we were there and it looked pretty chaotic - i.e. toddlers running around with toys and poor babies on the floor looking like they were about to be trampled

Please feel free to tell me I'm being daft and all of the above is normal for creches. I just have no idea with it being the first one we saw and made me shudder at the thought of what we will find in the other creches if this one is meant to be so good.

Thank you!

The UK does have much lower staff-children ratios than many countries, so it depends what the regulations are in Belgium.

Very odd that the team manager knows so little about the staff!

Maybe the carer was checking on the baby in the crib room every 5 minutes? Even with one door in between them surely she would still hear the baby cry though?

I would expect them to be able to answer your questions. Babies should be held when they are being fed.

I think you'll have to see a few places so you know if it's normal for Belgium or not.

Don't know about what is norm for Belgium creches but if the practices make you feel uncomfortable, don't go for it. It has to feel 'right'. Don't be swayed by it being the most expensive! When I was choosing a nursery for DS1, I went to 4 (2 private, 2 council-run). One of the private ones had a waiting list a mile long and was the most expensive out of the 4. I expected to love it but I hated it. IMO, too many children in too small a space, baby room tiny and the toddlers were free to come back into the room once they could work the stairgate (I almost stepped on a baby in the chaos!). In the end, we went for a council-run one that was attached to a primary school. It had a lovely feel to it, the staff were very friendly and made a fuss of DS1 when I took him along to see it (that is a good sign of an excellent nursery!). He's been in there now for just over a year and he loves it and we are very happy with it.