Nursery vs childminder

[GipsyDanger]

Hello you wonderful people!
I was wanting to know your experiences on childcare. My ds is going to be 8 months when I go back to work. I have 2/3 nurserys around me and plenty of childminders. This is my pfb and I just keep going around in circles as to what is better. If it helps, there is no young children in my family (first gc on both sides) so I worry about him not being around other babies. The nursery is expensive but I like the fact he'll be with babies his own age where as with a childminder he could be with kids far older than him. It will only be 2 days a week he'll need to go. I work from 8-5 (which means a drop off around 7.39 and a collect about 5.20) which could be an issue to, the nursery I'm thinking of opens from 7-6, I don't know if childminders would want their charge that early. This is all new to me so any advice on what to ask for or look out for would be great

[Bear2014]

Nursery all the way for us. PFB also, and we never looked back. She went 3 days a week from 9 months. Also EBF and had never so much as taken a bottle. I carried on BF for another year after she started and she just had food and water during the day. They tried her on bottle/beaker/cup of breast milk and then formula but she refused it all and was fine. I just fed her when I was with her.

Pros of nursery have been that she is very socialised and sociable, loves her friends and is very good at sharing etc. They are dedicated to the kids all day without having to worry about school runs, shopping runs, cooking etc as they have a chef. They do loads of activities - messy play, music and movement etc and have things like visiting theatre workshops and people who come in with animals for them to look at. You never have to worry about sick days or holiday and it's always open. They even have a service that you can get your toddler's hair cut :o) We've never had any problems at all.

[harryhausen]

My dd is 11 and next month is her last after school session with her child minder. She's been with her since 8 months old. My ds is 9 and has too.

It's been nothing but positive for us. Dcs have been in a 'family' setting for all those days. They learnt to mix with very young children and others their own age. It's taught them how to empathise with other ages and just get on. They've been on amazing days out - the beach, museums, nature trails, picnics, plays. They've met up with childminders groups for Christmas parties and all kinds of things. The CM herself has become as close personal friend. As I have no family nearby, she often does additional wrap around care for me when I'm away in London etc. Not sure how I'd have managed without her.

I chose a CM because it's what I knew. My dsis was one for many years. I was only one of my mum friends to use one and many tried to put me off. However I went with my gut. The moment the CM opened the door I felt comfortable with her. So many years ago now!

[DickCheese]

Used a nursery for DS, it was really convenient as it was close to train station and my mums work. I was really happy having him in nursery about 3 days a week. He moved to a new nursery when he was 2 and it was even better - food and nappies included. He thrived there and again was the first GC (in this country) so enjoyed being around other babies.

DD goes to a childminder. First plus is its way cheaper! I only have to pay for the hours I need so I have 7:30 - 1:30. Since nurseries tend to charge for sessions it would have been way too expensive! And since she is a second child, she's already happy being around older children and it's like she's going into a family as CM has teenagers and pets and she loves it.

Both worked really well for different reasons so definitely visit them and see. My sons nursery was probably the 4th I'd visited and I walked out thinking 'this is the one' because I just thought the key worker was great.

[namechangedtoday15]

There is absolutely no "right" answer. It depends on what you have in terms of childminders and nurseries, and what you need as a family.

There were a couple of reasons we chose a nursery - firstly we had twins and I couldn't imagine one childminder being able to cope with my 12 month old twins, plus a number of other children. I also wanted one setting until they went to school and the nursery we went with had a dedicated teacher for the 3-4yr group which I thought was important. I liked the idea as they got older that the whole classroom would be set up with age specific tasks / reading for the whole group. Our nursery had a dedicated sleeping room (in fact the whole baby unit was separate to the rest of the nursery) and they could follow our routine - that was important for us with twins.

I also didnt want them strapped in a buggy / car twice a day doing the school run.

Nursery also meant that there were quite a group of children from nursery all move up to the local school together - think it made the transition to school easier.

My husband and I are both lawyers and have Court appointments that cannot be cancelled at short notice. Whilst I know it happens rarely, we didn't want the risk of a childminder being ill (at short notice) and being without childcare.

One other point worth mentioning - I think it's a bit if a myth that all children will be constantly ill if they go to nursery. Mine had 2 days off I think in the first year - just depends on the child / children.

Good luck whatever you decide!

[Paulat2112]

I wouldn't worry about mixing with older children. Children of similar ages can hurt each other too. It's actually a good thing for children to mix with those outside of their own peer group.