Stressed about nursery places

[FTM1993]

Hi - FTM looking for advice here. DS is 5 months old. I don't want to send him to nursery until he is 2 or 2.5 years old so September 2026 at the earliest and even then would only want him to go part time so 15 hours spread across the week, so maybe 3 or 4 mornings a week for example. Other Mum's at playgroups keep telling me to put his name down at a nursery asap and that many nursery's only accept full-time hours. I have emailed a few local nurseries today to enquire. In people's experience (particularly this year due to the funding changing) do I need to be panicking and putting his name down somewhere now. Will I struggle to find a place? Feeling a little under pressure about the whole thing as maybe I have been very naive! Thanks in advance.

I would have thought you'd be fine with 2 years notice, I put my name down about 8 months before. At our nursery you could also put your name down for full time, then reduce the hours nearer the time. Guess it just depends if you live in an area where nurseries are popular!

Do you need nursery for childcare? You could consider waiting for school nursery.

I tried to do 2 morning a week at 2 and it wasn’t enough for DD2 to settle so I had to up it to 9 until 3.

I wouldn't panic OP. Mum friends at playgroups are wild (have you watched Motherland?) I think 2 years notice is more than enough and like most things in life there will be a solution one way or another

Completely depends on the area, and the nursery. If, for example, the nursery you want has a baby room which is full with a waiting list for people wanting full time, it is in their interest to have spaces in the next room up to free up spaces for the full time babies. If they don’t, they’ll gladly fill a space because some money is better than none. If you’re only wanting funded hours it might be slightly trickier because your child might push them out of ratio and they may not want to hire an additional member of staff. You can only ask!

Anecdotally, DD’s nursery when we lived in London had a waiting list of 18m for the baby room by the time she left when we moved out of the area. We were able to get a space at our new local nursery, also in the baby room, without any need for a waiting list (although we did delay by month or two). It isn’t panicking to join a waiting list!

You need to research the options in your area to see what the minimum number of hours are and how much notice they need for registration. It varies a lot so no one here can tell you! There could be some truth in it. I know of at least one day nursery locally that doesn’t accept half days and many preschools that would need a lot of notice if you wanted specific days/hours e.g. if you need specifically Monday, Wednesday and Thursday morning you would need to give years notice but if you were happy to do afternoons and be flexible on days then you’d be fine.

I'd have a good look now and if you find one reserve a place but I wouldn't stress

We are in London and DD goes to a preschool nursery for 4 mornings a week, which started when she was 2, which is exactly what you are looking for. We put her name down when she was about 6 months, but I know others put their dcs name down much later so I don't think you need to panic. There is more demand for daycare nurseries (5 days, 8am-6pm) which parents need for childcare, as they tend to put their names down when they are pregnant because they need it as soon as mat leave finishes (and it screws up their work options if they don't get a place).

I would still spend time now visiting all the nurseries you can, and put your name down on a list, to give you as many options as possible. There's no point delaying it until closer to the time, you might as well go on the list.

Personally I would recommend a preschool type nursery rather than p/t hours at a ft daycare nursery because the aims and ethos are different.

We wanted our son in two days a week when he turned 1. I applied when he was about four months old and they were so booked up that we couldn't pick the two days and just had to go with the least popular days (Monday and Friday).

It really depends on your area. Our nursery has got more popular since we started and now people are having to put their names down when they're still pregnant if they want a lot of hours or to have free choice of what days/hours they do want. And ours is a nursery in an odd place, so not as oversubscribed as the ones in towns and cities nearby.

Don't stress. It's probably good to start informing yourself now, have a look around and see which nurseries you like the feel of. Find out what their waiting lists are like, what hours they can offer and see if you can get a tour booked.

I'm in a London commuter town and some nurseries have a minimum of one year waiting list. A lot of people run into the problem of not knowing this and end up putting their child in whichever nursery happens to have a spot free, or get a temporary childminder.