If your older DC is in childcare and you are pregnant...

[MulledWineAndScully]

... what will you do regarding the older DC whilst on mat leave?

What I mean is, will you take older DC (lets call them DC1) out of childcare and look after both children?

Or will DC1 stay in childcare so you can 'concentrate' on the new baby and not disrupt routine of DC1, and also keep place at childcare.

I don't know what's normal. Sorry if it's a stupid question!

Oh, that is interesting, thank you eletheomel! I'm hoping/assuming my work will be the same. That'll certainly take some of the financial pressure off!

DS1 will stay at nursery as if we took him out we'd lose our place (state nursery). He goes 9.30am-3.30pm 3 days a week. Once DC2 is here it'll give me some time to bond with him/her without having to worry about DS. Glad his place is part time though as I will be able to spend time with him on the other two days (& weekend of course) as I don't want him to feel like he's being shipped off & not as important as the new baby.

Bunty I know, I wasn't aware of this at all, until I was speaking to my former colleague and she told me, as I was wondering how she was still affording to keep her eldest in full time care, as I knew the maternity provision there was just the basic.

It's going to make a huge difference to me, and is a weight off my mind knowing that when you're struggling the last few months, at least childcare isn't something I'll need to be worrying about.

This link is to a UK Gov factsheet advising employers (in case your work need a bit of 'prompting' :-)

www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/sml-salary-sacrifice.pdf

Dropping it to 3 days from 3.5, I want him to carry on with his normal routine as he loves going, and also want some 1-1time with the new baby.

I kept DS1 in his childcare routine. It was better for him (he loved his nursery) and meant I could breastfeed/relax and have quality time with him when he was at home.

I was also made redundant and found another job whilst pregnant, so only qualified for MA rather than SMP, but had been paying into a childcare voucher scheme which carried on at my employer's expense whilst on leave - so it also made financial sense.

Dont forget you and your oh can both claim the vouchers, so £243 each a month

We've decided to keep our nanny while I'm on maternity leave - financially it's a huge consideration, but DS loves spending time with her and at playgroups etc, so I wouldn't want to deprive him of his routine for 6 months, even if it means taking less time off than I would otherwise. We'll just have to be quite frugal for a few months...

That is fab, eletheomel, thank you! Bookmarked it for easy access!

Depends on your child I think. When DS was born DD carried on with her routine which included nursery. However when DC3 is born I will primarily have DS at home as he is such a different child and I really feel like he needs to be with me / at home as much as possible, not sure why but their personalities are very different.