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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Nursery Places Already??!!

18 replies

MissTwister · 01/02/2015 12:09

Hi All

I am 14 weeks pregnant, yes only 14 weeks yet numerous friends and colleagues have suggested to me that if I want to get my child into a nursery from 1 year old (when I go back to work) then I will need to find and sign up for a place now. This seems ridiculous to me - I haven't even had the 20w scan yet let alone had the baby - what does everything think?

I live in South London if this makes a difference

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Nolim · 01/02/2015 12:11

London can be more tricky than other places. Can you ring a few nurseries and ask how long is the waiting list?

DulcetMoans · 01/02/2015 12:11

No advice but popping in to listen as am just over 17 weeks and have the same question. Read people were booking places already and was shocked!

Nolim · 01/02/2015 12:16

In my case (south london as well) i started to look six months before returning to work. Most nurseries had plenty of spaces for that time except my prefered choice!

laurenamium · 01/02/2015 12:16

As a childminder I would say book a space. Wait til after your 20 week scan if you want to though a few weeks won't make much difference! But definitely book a space especially if you have a certain nursery in mind. I regularly have pregnant people getting in touch with me to reserve their going back to work space! when I'm not going on mat leave myself

yummymango · 01/02/2015 12:17

I live in South West London and although there are waiting lists, unless you want a specific nursery it should be a problem. I put my baby in a private nursery at 7 months and we didn't start looking until she was around 3 months. The nursery she goes to now has a longer waiting list but even then, I probably wouldn't start looking until they were born (although I have friends who looked around when they were pregnant but didn't choose anywhere until nearer the time).

yummymango · 01/02/2015 12:18

*shouldn't

Original poster

MissTwister · 01/02/2015 12:18

Gosh, I guess I had better get looking then! Just feels weird to be booking for an as yet non existent person!

Nolim, good to hear you didn't find it too hard

OP posts:

FoxHugs · 01/02/2015 12:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ToriB34 · 01/02/2015 12:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Happilymarried155 · 01/02/2015 13:30

I agree, I work in a nursery and I know our baby room is full until Easter 2016. Many good nurseries get booked up very quickly. It's always worth looking around and choosing, you can always cancel the space if you decide not to go back to work etc...

JennyBlueWren · 01/02/2015 15:28

Easter 2016?! Do people book places even before conceiving?

DanyStormborn · 01/02/2015 15:33

Depends on demand for places in your area and how specific your needs are. I needed to find a good childminder full time from 8 months old that doesn't charge for school holidays, does meals and is convinient for both me and DH's commutes so got it sorted by 30 weeks pregnant. If I had wanted a good nursary in our area I could have left it till the baby was born but in some places you can't.

Augustwedding · 01/02/2015 15:34

Jenny- I'm 15 weeks pregnant but will be back to work by Easter 16 so we are starting to look at places!

UmizoomiThis · 01/02/2015 15:37

When we lived in London, we signed up our DS for nursery when he was 7 months. There was already a waitung list. :-(

TurquoiseDress · 01/02/2015 17:54

We live in SE London.
Was looking round nurseries while 7/8 months pregnant & put LO on the waiting list for three of them.

The place we wanted came through when LO was around 6 months old, prior to my return to work.
It is odd looking for a nursery place for your unborn baby, but I didn't want to leave it too late to get LO on the waiting list!

Chococroc · 01/02/2015 18:38

I'm 28weeks and we've just put our names down on a waiting list for spring 2016. There aren't many nurseries in the area we're looking at, and it was strongly advised that we get our names down now so we have. It was really odd looking before the baby is even here, just to know what you're looking for is difficult.

StoneBaby · 01/02/2015 18:44

I live in the Channel Islands and I have just paid the deposit for nursery. To start Mid November 15.

I'm 15 weeks pg. waited until 30weeks with 1st DC and it was a struggle to find a place!

ljjeffro · 01/02/2015 18:47

I was a deputy manager of a nursery in South East London which always had a waiting list of over a year for the baby room. I would recommend putting baby's name down definitely before baby is born as a lot of nurseries (not necessarily private ones) are now taking in more two year olds because of the new 2 year funding, which means they are getting rid of their baby rooms to make room for all the extra 2 year olds. Because of this the demand for a nursery with a baby room is much higher so I could imagine that a lot of private nurseries are filling up rather quickly!

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