Nursery waiting list whilst pregnant?!

[Baby2018]

I was speaking to someone today who recently found out Im pregnant, she said to me " better get on that nursery waiting list" was she kidding? Or do I seriously need to think about joining the waiting lists for the good nurserys? Im due end of Sept.
Thanks !

(She started when she was a year old so a nine month wait.)

I had to get on the waiting list when I was 4 months pregnant! I'm in Essex. Friends with babies that didn't are now finding it difficult to get a place, so I'd start viewing nurseries now

Tailfeather what if you have twins?!

Stealth I had twins - it's even more important to get your name (×2) down at a nursery whilst you're in the early stages of pregnancy so you have a chance of 2 places. Not sure if it's still the same but when I had the twins 12yrs ago childminders weren't allowed to have 2 under 12 months unless they applied for & got special dispensation (can't remember who from, Ofsted?) which childminderd weren't always willing to do so your options were limited.

I registered for baby room place at 3mth pg,took a 6mth mat leave.so 9mth in advance
The demand for baby room is huge and staff reported parents register 9-12 mth in advance to secure a place
Anecdotally people tell me they register for place early as demand is high

What can’t yiu get your lil head around Brutus?needing to be organised?demand for places?
I booked at 12wk pg but actually began looking and costing before then.at ttc stage
I got the nursery we wanted,booked at 12wk.no dash to secure a place
So yes before 12wk I’d costed,looked and secured a nursery place.for my convenience

Name changed but that poster said the name had to go down pre conception! If you have twins presumably you're stuffed

Lipstick - is there any need for that?!

I would see it as tempting fate to book a nursery place for a young foetus (or even ttc!?) but I've lost pregnancies and have close friends with infertility/still births. Like I said, we don't have the problem here of baby rooms being fully booked that far in advance so it's out of my experience, hence why I find it bizarre. Hth.

Also- you registered 12 months in advance, didn't you? not that it matters

I put mine down after the 12th week scan. The week after there were no spaces left. I live in Madrid and I'm told it is like that in large cities. The first time I heard this I thought the person in question was joking!

I had to get on a nursery waiting list at 4 months pregnant both times - I was lucky to get a place at that! I'm in Cambs.

Signed DS2 up at his brother’s nursery at about 14 months pregnant. His brother had left by the time he started, but I couldn’t get the start month I wanted without a hefty deposit so ended up sending him to a different nursery.

Svrt I wonder what happened to all the babies of women who had their twelve welcome scans in the following month or two then.

brutus I've had 3mcs too but unfortunately that doesn't mean you get to skip the queue for nursery places. Where I live you need to register for a spot at around 12 weeks if you're planning to go back to work before the baby is 1, as the waiting lists are around 1-1.5years long. Sadly you have to weigh up a superstitious of "tempting fate" against the reality that if your baby makes it you simply won't have childcare for them when you need to go back to work.

I’m a cm and would consider it very bad practice to be taking deposits for babies who haven’t been born yet. And as for being on a nursery waiting list before conception, that’s ridiculous, how can you be on a waiting list to start at a nursery when you don’t even know when you want the place for! Generally in our area, by this time of year, nurseries and cms are full, in September when the older ones leave for reception, there are a glut of places, which are gradually filled (obviously quicker in some settings than others) as parents go back to work and children move up through the rooms in nursery. Obviously I can only speak for my area, but I wouldn’t think any nursery would hold an empty place for someone on a waiting list, they’d want places filled as quickly as possible, overheads need to be paid for and an empty place would not be paying the bills.

But the places are never empty because there’s always a child on the waiting list to take it up.

Round here if you definitely want your first choice of nursery it’s a good idea to register when pregnant. Saying that, I know plenty of people who didn’t and who still managed to get places at perfectly decent nurseries they are happy with.

Like a PP, I wanted a place on my workplace nursery, which is small and over subscribed. I registered just after the 12 week scan, and went back to work when DD was 13 months. If I’d wanted to go back much earlier, there wouldn’t have been a space, or at least not for the three days that I wanted. It’s easier to get spaces on Mondays and Fridays than for the three middle days.

As folk are saying when waiting list are so long you balance waiting on 12wk scan against not getting a place. And on balance you look & book v early,whilst TTC in some cases. It’s simply how it is.if you don’t book in adequate time there is risk you’ll not get place at preferred nursery

How exactly do you book a space in nursery when you're ttc, if you have absolutely no idea when you'll need it?!

In our area for our preferred nursery it was typically at the point of conception. Applied 9 months before return to work and there were no places for at least a year. It caused massive problems as eldest was already settled at preferred nursery so I had a double drop off.

There were other nurseries without any waiting list but they were no where near as nice. One smelt of strongly of stale wee and the other was shut down a week after begging me to put down a deposit that very day. It is very dependent upon what is going on in your local area, but if someone local is warning you take notice!

I've just paid a £100 deposit to hold a place for around 8 months time. I'm due next week. Reason being is they are really flexible in terms of school holidays (you don't pay when you don't need them) Flexibility like that is rare (in my experience!) which is why I wanted to ensure a place.
On the other hand, I looked at a previous nursery when my daughter was 3mnths for her to start at 6mnths and that was fine.
Guess it depends on the nursery and it's popularity.

I left it until DS was born. BIG MISTAKE!!! The waiting list was full.

Get looking now.

Ds was 3 months and some mums terrified me by telling me I wouldn't have a nursery place for the next August if I hadn't reserved one - so I rang up just after the New Year and gibbered at nurseries.
The first was very reassuring and said August would probably be OK and September for sure, as that's when kids go to school and every younger child can move round.
Turned out fine - I wanted 3 days a week and they said I could have any except Wednesday from the start of August. Two other nurseries had shorter waiting lists but two others I had no chance of using as waiting lists were well over a year.
A year later, more nurseries took under-2s but then demand overtook supply in later years. At least dc2 could go on the list shortly after conception!

We joined a waiting list when I was pregnant and got offered the final confirmed place when she was less than a week old. The place is for when she is almost 18 months old so a long way in advance!

@Maryann1975 as you say, you are only speaking for your area, and as numerous posters have pointed out, some of the things you consider "bad practice" are absolutely standard practice in other places, whatever you may think of them. As parents you have to work within the system you've got if you want a choice of childcare
for your child at the time you need it.

OP maybe start enquiring at your preferred nurseries soon re waiting lists and see what's normal for your area.