How to afford childcare with two children under two?

[Deckthehalls123]

I think I know the answer to this question but just wondering if there’s any loopholes/support I don’t know about.

Have DC who is 1yo and goes to nursery 2 days a week (£460pm). I’ve gone back to work on reduced hours so if I took maternity leave again my pay would be rubbish/non-existent for the year.

I would absolutely love to start trying for another soon but if second baby was anything like my first, I can’t imagine coping with no relief through the week (even half a day relief would make it seem manageable!). We have no family nearby to lend a hand, and I’ve read that once they’re in nursery it’s good to continue it anyway.

So how on earth do people continue to pay nursery fees for a 2yo while they’re on maternity leave? Is it purely a tight year? Has anyone any tips/reassurance on how they managed it?

The truth is that many don't work. Mine are close in age (deliberate) and I went back to work once they were in full time school part time. I didn't have any family nearby nor paid help

I'm in the same boat myself and I've come to the conclusion I'll have to wait until DD turns 2 and then start TTC. That way there's only a short period of time where we may have to pay for her childcare she still needs lots of attention (and boob) so in a way I think it'll work out for the best

It would be a luxury. And you can’t afford that luxury.

I had two under two. Nobody went to nursery while i was on mat leave. I had to be extremely organised. I also had a husband who shared the nights, even though i ebf, and took over the baby when he got home from work.

Don’t consider having a second if your dh isnt fully hands-on with your first.

They don't. Most people wait until the eldest is eligible for the 30 hours funding before having a second at nursery.

Well... I think the honest answer is that most people don’t. I had two under two but didn’t go back to work in between. We could manage on one wage. I think generally people wait until free hours kick in for the oldest before trying for a second if they are reliant on the second income.

Not sure it helps but we had no choice but to save up enough to make up my shortfall in salary and wait until DD1 was 3 and receiving 15 nursery hours (think it's more now) before we could think about trying for number 2.
I don't think you're missing anything, it's just a case of working around what you can afford unfortunately.

I should say though that as a SAHM my oldest wasn’t in any childcare when I had my second (20 month gap) and it was really fucking hard!

They don't. Most people wait until the eldest is eligible for the 30 hours funding before having a second at nursery.

^Exactly this amongst everyone I know

I think most people either don't use childcare on maternity leave or have a bigger age gap.

Everybody I know who planned for babies with small age gaps either waited until after their eldest child qualified for the free 30 hours; stopped working; or used mixed childcare eg nursery for eldest and childminder for younger ones

If you don’t feel you can afford nursery, you could look into other forms of childcare, eg getting a babysitter for a few hours a week or a creche. My gym also offers 2h crèche for children over 3 months old so you could join a gym like that and pop in 2-3 times a week to use the gym/spa/relax in the cafe while your children are being looked after.

I had 2 14 months apart. Childcare took 80% of my salary but I loved my job.

I stopped work after #3 and stayed at home for 6 years until #4 started school. Started a small business that fit around family schedule to keep me going, which I just gifted to a friend when I returned to work 3 months ago.

There isn't any way around it, tbh.

Yeh I have the same issue. But I'm already pregnant with my second child! My boy will be 21 months when his little sibling is born. I work 3 days a week with my spn in nursery (at £80 a day!) and we have no family nearby to help. I don't earn much after childcare and tax as it is.

When my second child is born I intend to keep my first one in nursery for consistency. Then I'll be putting them both into nursery. We get 20% discount on oldest child's fees if you have two children in my nursery. This is still obviously a fortune and I won't make enough to cover it. But I couldn't be a sahm. I have nothing but respect and admiration for those who are, but I found maternity leave tough enough and just couldn't cope being at home with my kids all day every day. Plus my son loves nursery and I think it's really good for him. Money will be tight for a couple of years while I am essentially paying to go to work. And we will have to live on my husband's salary (he's a teacher so we're not exactly rich). But as long as we can cover the mortgage, we'll get by, and we have some small savings to see us through. It's rubbish but I knew that when we made the decision to have two kids so close together. Ultimately it doesn't cost any more overall... it's just that the hit is big and at the same time! 🤦🏼‍♀️ As long as we can get by until my son is 3 years old and government funding kicks in, it will be okay.

I had exactly 2 year age gap and kept dd1 in nursery 3 days a week. Most people I know in the same boat paid for at least 2 days a week childcare to maintain routine and time for baby.

I had very good mat pay for a year, having worked ft between babies. It was still a v tough year financially! Honestly if I'd known it was going to be so hard I would have had a bigger age gap. We hadn't expected to conceive so quickly with dd2.

We cut DC's hours at nursery down to the minimum they would do. We then put DC in a local preschool for another morning - several round us will take kids from age 2 and they are a lot cheaper than a private nursery.

It was a tight year for us. What helped is I get childcare vouchers on salary sacrifice, and once I was on SMP my employer kept paying them on top of the SMP (not advertised by my employer but they can't stop salary sacrifice benefits just because you are on maternity). They also kept going while I was unpaid.

You could get someone in to the house to mind them, sometimes that works out cheaper if you are part time.

What kind of hours do you and your partner work?

I'm planning on staying on full time until we have a second so that I can afford nursery when I'm on mat leave, and we'll try and save up before then.

Thank you everyone, really helpful.

I think I saw a thread recently about whether to keep a 2yo at nursery while mum was on maternity leave and overwhelmingly everyone was saying to maintain nursery. This got me thinking that this is the norm. I also think in my community, which is quite affluent, it’s the norm. Kind of relieved to hear that it isn’t and we’re not necessarily living life on the edge by not being able to afford that outgoing!

We’ve got some thinking to do and I might have to be having stern words with my ovaries

I would recommend two under two though. Close enough in age that they are always interested in the same activities.

DS was 2.5 when DD arrived and we dropped one day but kept him with his childminder for 2 days a week. It was important to me that DD got some 1:1 time with me as a young baby that DS had and I needed the space with the childminder once I was back at work so couldn’t risk forfeiting it.

Stat mat pay is around £140 a week isn't it? Enough to cover a few days at nursery.

Would the nursery let you drop down to one day a week while you were on mat leave?

They may well have fewer children on a Monday or Friday, so be able to accommodate this.

It's still £120pm to find, but much less than what you're paying now.

Otherwise, look into local childminders/playgroups.

Your eldest would be 2 at the youngest by the time another was born, and it's easier to structure your week around free or very cheap activities eg library, stay and play, meeting up in the park etc.

There's no way we could have afforded it so waited until DC1 started school.

i saved my salary sacrifice childcare vouchers up so now i've got 3.5k safe from DH and his ideas about what's important to spend money on for DS to use whilst on mat leave we pay about £350 for 9-3pm so i'm probably going to put him in for a third day. he doesn't get funding til sept as he's an April baby , second is due any day now... I'm not much a planner but it's worked out well!

This is the very reason there are 3 years between dc1 and dc2. Dc1 got 15 hours term time funding not long after dc2 was born so he could still go to the childminder 3 days a week. By the time I went back to work we only had to manage 1 year of double childcare. Dc1 was at a term time only nursery so we had 15 funded hours and just had to top up the rest so we managed to the year. Now that 3 year olds get 30 hours it would be even easier. A lot of my friends who work have at least 3 years between dc. Those who had a small gap generally don’t work.