Really? booking nursery places already??

[oggybags]

I'm 20 wks pg, and its my first baby
A friend due at same time, but in different geographic location had already booked her nursery place for 2012 for her as yet unborn baby.
is this common... am I late or just very naive in not thinking about it all yet?
I understand places book quickley at popular places, but before the baby is even born?

when did you book your places?
I will need 4 days a week full time and am planning to go back at 10 months so the baby will be c.8-9 months old

Next question - whats an 'average' day price - is £43 about right? This will be £9k a year...?
baby is due march 2011, and I would be needing a place from Jan2012
thanks

I booked mine before the birth, because the waiting list was 12 months and I wanted to make sure I got the hours I wanted.

Ours costs 62 pounds per day. But depends on the area.

I booked mine at 20 weeks, by which point it was a waiting list! I got pffered the place about 8 weeks later. I am the only one in my antenatal group who has childcare sorted and the babies arfe now 6 ish months,

it costs £925 a month so that prcie sounds cheap to me but I guess it depends on area

I booked mine when 6 mths pg. I went back when ds1 was 6mths old

We pay £32 a day for ds2 who has just turned 3, a nearby nursery is £49 a day, so it does vary

All depends on the area. Nurseries are £50-£65 a day round here (Hertfordshire) . And waiting lists for the good ones can be really long, so if you were going back to work relatively soon after the birth you'd have to start looking while pregnant.

I'd call up three or so local nurseries just to get an idea of what their waiting lists are, in order to put your mind at rest. I would hope that you wouldn't have to worry for a January 2012 place, but you never know.

I booked mine at 20 weeks for my first child, as soon as I found out I was pregnant subsequently, as good nurseries do book up, and when the places are full they are full.

43/day sounds average for a under 12 months old baby.
Have you looked into salary sacrifice fo paying for nursery, that can make it more affordable.

I booked mine at 12 weeks with dd3. I knew what I wanted and where I wanted her to go so why hang on? I wasn't going back for a year either - so it was 18 months in advance!I pay £36 a day but that is in the north.

£60-£70 per day here.

There is a lot of movement in nursery waiting lists, as families' plans evolve. Personally, I couldn't bear to tempt fate and look at nurseries until the baby was safely born. I found a good nursery place for DS for when he was 8+ mnths old. Do your research as and when you want. Are you looking at CMs too?

I started looking when DD was a couple of months old and didn't a place in my preferred nursery in time (went back when she was 9 months). We ended up having to put her in a different nursery, which we liked just as much but was much further away.

I would definitely be looking now, especially if you want a choice in where your child will go. There are nice nurseries and not so nice ones and the better ones tend to get booked up fast.

I don't think booking a nursery place is tempting fate Not booking one is the reckless thing imo Should the worst happen I'm certain that having a nuresry place line up wouldn't make things any worse!

I booked DD in when I was 3 months pregnant. I had to wait until she was 6 months old to actually get confirmed as the nursery is so popular

our nursery is £44 per day 8-6. For Eastbourne and for the fantastic quality of care it is an absolute bargain.

Is this why I can't get a place for my already-arrived DD? Because unborn babies have nursery places

I go back to work in 6 weeks and am desperately trying to find other arrangements...

As for costs, I suppose it depends where in the country you are. Here it's around £30 for a full day.

Should probably add I've been looking for day care for 4 months (since DD was about a month old). Am even considering a nanny now, even though it will cost me more than my wages...

I booked DD in at 3 months as I went back to work when she was about 5 months. Had to tell them what days I wanted straight away to see if they had a place. It's £35.50 a day but I am up North!

My unborn DD is on the nursery waiting list. As soon as it was common knowledge I was pregnant, my 3yr old DS's nursery manager told me I better reserve a place if I want to be able to get her in.

We found a nursery we love (i'm 33 weeks) we aren't going to book until baby arrives, I will go back to work when baby is 9 mths old and they currently have a 6 month waiting list so hopefully we should be ok.
We're going for 2 days a week with parents doing the other 3. It is £37 a day (Wales), we simply couldn't afford it if it weren't for parents doing the bulk of it one of us might as well give up work.

started looking when dc1 was 3 months and got the place at the time I needed it 6 months later. signed on dc2 1 week after birth

I booked DD in when she was 3 weeks old. But had talked to them and got brochure and waiting list times well before then. But wanted to do tour after DD arrived as knew the reality of a small baby would effect my views.

But my cousin booked her DD in when she was 12 weeks pg. She has a discounted on-site work nursery and had a huge waiting list.

We've moved since, but London nursery was about £60 a day. We're in the SW now and paying £46 now.

I'm 30 weeks preg and thought I would check last week with our local nursery on when best to book = thought I was being a little enthusatic even now!

Turns out they are booked until March / April 2012 so probably no good for me even though I'm taking 12 months out. They said that at 30 weeks preg I had left it rather late to book a nursery and that most did it at around 12 weeks! Gave me a bit of a shock and am now galvanised into action looking at others this week!

Not sure of costs yet and might simply need to take what we can at this rate......

wow thanks everyone, sounds as though I'd better spring into action! interesting seeing regional varience on costs - I'm east mids in fairly 'professional' area so quite a few available
Before I even start on childminders what are peoples reasons for chosing nurseries over cm's? When I asked a lady at work she said it was so no-one was more important to him than his mother

Stupid question but how do you find out if it's a good nursery or not? Are there websites that rate them or is it just word of mouth / mumsnet?

roxy - ive been looking at ofstead and asking about locally

Roxy, the ofsted website has its reports available so you can check those. Otherwise it's recommendations.

Oggy, I would have gone with a childminder if there were any available, but for me nurseries are more likely to have a space for babies as they have more staff.

Part of the reason we waited was to see what sort of baby we had. It turns out she's rather a peaceful soul, and gets a bit freaked out by lots of input - I think a nursery is just going to result in a very stressed out DD

On the other hand, at a nursery she will be in a room with other babies, rather than at someone's house with a load of toddlers bombing around , so it might end up being ok...

A quick thought - childminders obviously go on holidays/ can be ill, need emergency days off etc, and you would need to cover them. Whereas a nursery, creche etc its not your responsibility. I used a Sure Start nursery for both dds as you could book half days etc, my two loved it. And in my opinion with dd1 really prepared her for starting nursery/primary school ie had to hang coat up on proper peg, get used to other 3 year old etc.

I asked friends and requested info from local nurseries when pg, but didn't actually visit any until DD was born (when DH was on paternity leave) We looked at 3, all with good personal recommendations & Ofsted reports and just chose the one we liked the feel of best. (The manager showed us round, and all the kiddies kept coming up to talk to her & she knew ALL their names :-)