Childminder, nanny or nursery? For under 18months old

[SlB09]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with the above and which they preferred for 18months or below?

My DS didn't like nursery at all - he paced up and down like a caged bear. I don't think the staff were very good at engaging them in activities and left them to play in the areas independently. There also wasn't free flow outside which he would have loved.

I moved him to a childminder which he loved. She did the school run with him in a buggy and he loved the busyness and the other children. She did lots of little trips out like the park, farms etc. He had quiet time on the sofa and naps were in a room on his own which he was used to. I think he preferred it because it was so similar to what I did with him at home in the same location that it was all familiar. I always feel that children are slightly trapped in a nursery building - there's more stimulation and variety with a good childminder.

If i had the money- a nanny. At that age I think it's best for them to be in their home environment with focused care. I used a childminder who was absolutely brilliant. It was a happy medium between the cosiness of home and close attention in a small setting and a nursery.
I know people who chose nurseries and it worked brilliantly for them. It felt far too big an environment for me though.
I would say that from 2 my daughter needed to go to nursery though to get enough stimulus with her peers.
I think it's a very personal decision which will be based upon gut instinct and your baby's personality

In our area you don't have much choice as everywhere is full so you take a space if there is one on offer!

Whether you use nursery nanny or childminder is an incredibly personal decision that is right for you and your family. I've moved my kids between the different settings depending on their personalities, our needs and availability and the end outcome was no different for any of them.

What is more important is that you feel confident in the care your child is getting. You have an open relationship with the staff wherever and that your child can build relationships with the key worker/caregiver.
You will know from talking to the caregiver and will get a feel from the environment. Trust that instinct.

We are delighted with our Childminder.

Childminders follow the eyfs curriculum, same as nursery.
My Childminder takes the children out to parks, playgroups, library. I prefer that to being in the same space every day. She definitely doesn't do supermarket shopping or other personal errands with them...
She is extremely reliable. She is self employed and her business depends on being reliable. In two years she has never closed due to illness.
In my experience, childminders have more sensible illness policies. I have friends with nurseries who exclude their children for 48hrs after a temperature, who won't give calpol unless prescribed, etc. It is difficult for me to take days off work myself so I chose a Childminder to minimise unnecessary exclusions for Minor illnesses. We've only had one exclusion in two years, for diarrhoea. Our Childminder is happy to look after them through most minor childhood illnesses, and if a bad cold is going round they have a duvet day.
Absolutely no TV. And no school runs, she only takes preschoolers.
They do lots of crafts, nature walks, music and dancing, messy play, she celebrates different festivals and occasions with them, bakes them birthday cakes, there is lots going on.
I like that the different ages are together, like a family. The older toddlers enjoy helping the babies, who love the toddlers.
I like that she cares for my child over several years, and they have developed a close relationship.

We are really lucky to have found her. I do know there are some less good childminders around, as I've seen them at playgroups - nothing awful, but just less motivated - but I think if you do find a great Childminder sign up asap!

I had my two in nursery from that age because:

I had seen some child minders in action at playgroup chatting to other childminders and I wasn't impressed with some of them in action.

I also didn't want DC's to form to maybe firm to strong an association with another one person and silky I know but I didn't want them to ever prefer them to me.

I liked the greater social interaction at nursery.

As others have said. Extended hours. Not reliant on any one person providing childcare if they were sick on holiday etc.

It really depends on your beliefs and requirements I asked other friends for recommendations and visited a few nurseries which is what I wanted. I think a child minder might be the cheaper option.

I've only ever had a nanny and it's been fantastic. Especially when #2 and #3 came along soon after #1. She's one of the family now.

Assassinatedbeauty
Very similar reasons to writer only from my experience obviously but I would never put a child of mine in a nursery

Cm and nanny are so personal and can follow your routine and become so close they become part of the family. IMO staff turnover in nurseries are high the owners are bothered about profit and not if the children are happy. they buy the cheapest shitty food and do not vet staff properly and do not keep upto date with training and guidelines

Would you say that's true of all nurseries littlemis92? It just doesn't match my experience with the nursery that we chose, unless I'm being massively deceived.

That's a huge sweeping statement and terribly offensive!! While you may have had a bad experience you should NOT tar all nurseries with the same brush!
You look at things like staff turn over, food quality, menus and activities when you choose your nursery. I can confidently say my nursery manager would be horrified if my son was unhappy there.
You should be careful what you say as you could really make some parents feel guilty and scared about nurseries.

My DD went to nursery at 10 months and she loves it. She enjoys it so much that I am giving up work but still keeping her in there.

They do so much with her and it has really brought her on.

I actually like the fact she goes somewhere other than home - it gives her routine and she knows home is where mummy and daddy take care of her.

I think it depends on the individual nursery/cm/nanny. I had planned to send mine to nursery, but changed my mind after looking round. The nurseries were staffed by fairly young people and had a high staff turnover. I didnt like the way they played with the kids, it just seemed to be about distracting them, lots of noisy flashing toys. The CMs on the other hand were all older with their own children and I felt so much more confident in them. Oh and my CM was never ever ill!

Freezing RE read my first sentence.

Jesus. Why and How could i possible mean all nurseries in the country ?!? Wish people thought abit more before replying. Can't say any more as it's identifying but I have seen and experienced a fair share of them and the above comments are true for them. Of course there may be good ones out there I'm yet to come across one. I was answering the ops question

Assassinatedbeauty
Very similar reasons to writer only from my experience obviously but I would never put a child of mine in a nursery

Cm and nanny are so personal and can follow your routine and become so close they become part of the family. IMO staff turnover in nurseries are high the owners are bothered about profit and not if the children are happy. they buy the cheapest shitty food and do not vet staff properly and do not keep upto date with training and guidelines

You make it sound as though all nurseries have high turnover, all owners are bothered about profits, all nurseries buy bad food. So so untrue.

It's a shame you've had such a negative experience that causes you to think so badly. My experience has thankfully been the exact opposite and for anyone reading this thread now or at a later date I really hope you won't be put off. My sons nursery takes such good care of him, he eats better there than at home, he has so many friends, tells me how much he loves his key workers, and honestly has the best time.

It depends on the carers as well as the child. When I was on mat leave I saw a lot of the local childminders around and I just didn't warm to any of them. The kids all seemed happy enough, I don't think they're neglected or anything, it just wasn't for me.

Nursery is the most reliable option, sudden Ofsted shutdowns notwithstanding!

I've seen a lot of nurseries. In quite a few the kids all stood there like zombies, I was genuinely concerned that they might have been drugged in one. In the one we use they come running up to cuddle the baby and show you what they're playing with, I don't know what the staff do differently but it's a much nicer atmosphere.

You'll only know by looking at a few nurseries and cm and seeing how you feel.

There are good and bad of each setting so it may depend on what you find locally.

My childminder does not take the kids to do her shopping ! They play and do crafts and dancing games etc.. they do a school pick up but they all really enjoy it. I love the family setting and knowing that she was a single figure they know and trust like another grandparent.

Having used all 3 options, over two children, there is no right answer, and people will always justify their choice after the event.

We sent 12 month old DD1 to nursery 3 days/week and she did fine there but I never loved it. Then we added in a CM to wrap around pre-school hours when she was nearly 3, which was again fine but not perfect. Then moved to nanny when DD2 came along, as with a 4 yr age gap and very full on full time jobs it was the most logical option. She started when DD2 was 6 mths.

For us our nanny is by far the best option, but we have been very lucky; she really is amazing. She is never ill enough to be off, but looks after the children when they are, which a CM or nursery will not. The amount of illness in the first year after they start any form of childcare is astonishing, and can lead to a lot of time off work for parents😞, which is really tough if you are just back from mat leave! She also told us about some of the toddler groups she goes to that are frequented by CMs who just chat among themselves the whole time with little regard for their charges. But now I am justifying my choice again!

U need to consider when and how often you'll be needing child care if it's specific days and times then you could use any form of child care provider if it needs to be varies and flexible then a nanny would be your best option but more expensive.
I think it's good for children even babies to in different environments not just the home and to mix with other children. All 3 of mine went to nursery and loved it.
Years ago I used to take ds2 to 3 playgroups a week as I wasn't working. At each playgroup there would be a group of child minders that went with the children they were looking after and used these groups as an opportunity to gossip completely ignoring every child for the whole time they were there. It's the only experience I've had with cm and it completely put me off placing my child with one . Granted I've probably seen a bad bunch but still we go off our experiences don't we.

My one year old has recently started nursery. We are happy with it at the moment! I picked this one as every room has free flow to outside space - very important and now the weathers getting warmer it's great as they spent most of their time outside. I looked around one nursery where they just had a little yard and each room had certain times they were allowed out there. I definitely wasn't keen on that!

Our nursery has a chef and they serve really good food, with rotating menus that I have a copy of.

My son has a keyworker who does a lot of the main care (e.g. Nappy changes, bottles for younger babies, helping to sleep) and so children can form that special bond with someone even in a nursery environment! And of course naturally bonds form with other staff too. There are four pretty consistent staff in his room and he has taken a real shine to one other one and gets really excited when he sees her and jumps out of my arms to get to her!

I like that he is in one place all day! So I could go down and pick him up early if I wanted too and he would be there! I can imagine what he's up to when I'm at work without worrying about where he might be if that makes sense? Sounds a bit overly anxious I know!

The staff at his nursery have a low turnover. This isn't the same for every nursery of course. This was really important to me and I asked about it when I looked around.

Definitely a positive that they're only shut bank hols, and they do long hours too which is good to have in case you need them.

I think having more than one carer has been helpful as they all contributed to trying things to help him settle in and nap etc (including the manager).

My child is quite outgoing and sociable, so nursery is going to be a good fit for him. If your child is a bit quieter and not as comfortable around other children then a CM/nanny could be better.

Nanny. All the parenting / child psychology books say that for the under threes the best situation is one-to one in their own home with the complete attention of one adult. This is a very emotive subject, though and most people will understandably state their own situation and say it was the best for their child.

The next best is childminder then nursery.

thethoughtfox, it just perhaps could be the case that a nursery was a good environment for their child though. It's not right to suggest that an excellent nursery is somehow damaging or bad for children.

If you have more than one child should you hire more nannies so each child can have one-to-one complete attention of an adult?

Well there were sweeping statements about CMs too?! Are you defending those too or just the ones that were negative about nurseries?

Yes, childminders can also be excellent and children can thrive in their care. I'd use a childminder if I felt that was right for my personal situation.

Nursery. Economies of scale mean they do so much stuff. Lots of messy play, play out doors etc. My DC has formed great relationships with his key workers in each of his rooms and I've always felt that staff really like him! The nursery I chose has great outdoor space, large light rooms, outdoor space, lots of activities and trips and healthy home cooked meals.

My son is with a childminder. The one we chose when he was almost 1 only had him and her own child so I felt it was like he as joining her family. He is now at 2.5 with a childminder who has a slightly larger group but I'm still happy with our choice. On the subject of school runs, my little boy loves the chance to run around the school playground with other bigger children. When I pick him up and ask what he's done often the first thing he says is "went to school"!