Nursery/child minder advice

[Aw12345]

Hello,

We're trying to plan my return to work after baby (although this is a very long way off as baby not even born yet!).

I am thinking about working 1 week of night shifts a month (get paid much better overnight so can work fewer hours) and DH works full time.

Is there any form of child care that would take a child for just 1 week a month? I guess nursery is out of the question?!

Sorry if this is a very stupid question! We're clueless about these things as you can probably tell :-)

There may be some agencies who could give you a nanny during that time (probably not the same one each time). And of course, any childminder or nursery would if they had the space (but you would lose it when someone wanted it for the whole month) or if you paid to hold the place (obviously that doesn’t work in your favour financially). A friend or family member might be your best bet or your dh adjusting hours to allow you a little bit of sleeping time each day.

Ok cool, thanks very much for your reply. I'll look in to nanny agencies.

Thanks!

You might find a nursery that will let you do that. There is one near us that us flexible and only charges parents for when the child goes so days don't have to be set. So if a child went home sick mid day they would charge half a day. Where as most nurseries have set days and you pay if they don't go, which is fine for us.
There is also a similar nursery at the local hospital that is flexible for shift workers which I know a few who use it. They priortise nhs staff and then others such as police but is also available to others if there is space.
I think looking for a nursery would be best as child minders would usually want a child each week as there won't be someone else who just wants 3 weeks a month.

In the city where I work, there is a 24 hour nursery and they are very flexible. It’s near to the hospital and caters for the staff but is about a mile away and is private.

It's worth contacting childminders to ask. Ours has two assistants she can get to help out on days when she has more kids so she is often willing to do ad-hoc days for people.

Ok cool, that's really good to know, I'll see if there are any hospital ones nearby and phone some child minders. sounds like there could be some options which is great! thanks :-)