Sharing care of 1 yo with partner

[Iecydda]

I work in education, four days a week. As I specialise in 1-1 SEN I can't reduce down any more (and wouldn't really want to). I earn around £10 ph which is not great, but I love my job.
My fiancé works in social care and earns a little more than me. He is ft. He comes put with about £1,400 pm.
Currently my mum is looking after our 1 yo daughter four days a week. However, this is only until the summer hols then from September she's more than happy to do three days.
The options for the other day are either a childminder or my fiancé has the option of dropping down to four days pw and taking care of her. We would lose a little bit financially but not by loads.
Does this sound reasonable?
The other thing I think we need to consider is that we may well be looking to get a mortgage if possible in the future as we are still renting.
Advice welcome!

I think you'd have to do the maths.
Find a calculator which shows how much you would lose if your partner drops a day vs how much you would be paying out for 1 day at a Nursery or Childminder.

I think, as you are both on quite low wages, and you are looking to get a mortgage at some point, you'll probably find you are better off keeping as many hours at work as you can.

Plus, some dc find it quite difficult to manage one day at Nursery / CM, and then not see them again for a week - they almost end up "settling in" again every week, and struggle with being yet another different carer (at home / your Mum / Nursery or CM). Not all, of course, some it doesn't bother, but some it does, and you will find some Nurseries won't take on 'one day a week children' for that reason.

@BackforGood Thanl you, really helpful advice.
The mortgage issue does concern me but then wouldn't a mortgage provider take into account childcare costs?
If OH did one day care we wouldn't need any paid childcare as she'd be one day with mummy (my day off), one day with daddy, and three days with grandma.
Also, I'm mindful that our daughter will be his only child and I know how quickly this stage will fly by before she is in school ft! He really loves spending time with her.

If a mortgage is in your short term plans (next 2 years), then it makes sense for your partner to keep working. Childcare is a short term expense and a lender won’t be phased at all by a couple days in nursery as long as you show you have a stable income and long term potential. Our youngest was 2 and in nursery 4 days a week when we applied for a mortgage. It didn’t affect our mortgage offer at all.

I suppose the question is what your partner would enjoy doing. If you don’t intend to apply for a mortgage in the next couple years before 3 year funding kicks in and he wants to reduce his days, great. If you need the higher income record and he wants to be working FT, then that’s also great.

@mindutopia Thanks. I doubt we will be looking at a mortgage in the next two years, it will probably be more like 3/4 years at the earliest.
My OH would love to spend the day with her and I know they would both benefit but I guess we will needs to sit down and do the sums to see the difference between that and a childminder. I know personally speaking I love my day with her and feel it's quality time.
From 3 she'll be attending a local preschool so hopefully there would be the option then of him going back up to ft and we can look at a mortgage at that point potentially.

As you are on low wages you maybe able to get financial support with childcare. I’m not sure but perhaps 15 free hours from 2 and 30 from 3 years. The 30 yrs is definitely term time only. How easy would it be for DH to go back to 5 days a week?

I can't offer any help re: finances, but from a personal perspective, working 4 days each and sharing childcare through the week works really well for us. It means we both get a day to spend 1:1 with her, there is no ill-feeling about time off childcare/who should do what etc as we've both got an equal split, and she loves her special mama & dada days!

Just wanted to agree with SamMil - we both went back three days after taking shared parental leave, with granny and grandad doing the day we were both working, and have both recently increased again to four days - my LO with the ILs two days now and my extra working day is split over two mornings when she goes to nursery. It has been a fantastic arrangement for us - parenting is seen as fully shared as are all other house jobs. My LO is totally besotted with her grandparents and nursery has been really good for her socially- I think as PPs said one day is tricky, but if you can split it over two that has worked well for us. Of course it's not for everyone but it sounds like you and your partner are keen and you're right, they are little for such a short time it's a shame for your partner to miss out if he'd like to do it. If I were you I would talk to a mortgage broker if that's your main concern- ours was absolutely FANTASTIC and went through everything we could afford in a range of scenarios. I'd just tell them you're thinking of buying in the near future but would like to speak to them to see when this would be doable and what arrangements you would need to make. Definitely worth a conversation, might give you the answers you need to make an informed decision? Ours cost £250 but it was the best money we spent in the whole process of buying! I appreciate you're not thinking of buying quite yet but there's nothing to stop you exploring it now if it would help you plan.