£100 a day for childcare - any alternative ieas??

[weewishyouamerryonion]

hi folks!
dd is 7 months old and i am due back in work in january. dp is a nurse who works 12 hr shifts 7am to 7pm but managed to get request for set days approved so will have dd 2 days per week. i have a long commute to leave home at 5.30am and not home til 7.30pm and will be doign 5 days/ week.

we have a nursery for 3 days a week but will need to contract in to a special sitter service to have her from 6am to 8am and from 6pm to 7.30pm. This is over £15/hr.

we will be paying nearly £100 / day for childcare. we cannot afford this but more importantly i hate the thought of her having such long days but work are battling to approve my flexible work request.

does anyone have any bright ideas on what we could do - we have no family / friends that can help out. there are no childminders in our area.

and i think that contacting colleges is a great idea, btw.

Weeonion - how awful! You've probably thought of this, but have you looked into childminders in E dunbartonshire (ie Bishopbriggs) or close-by lanarkshire as well as glasgow city? Perhaps you could drop your baby off en route to Edinburgh (I do appreciate that this might not fit with your bus commute).

Another thought - I vaguely know some professional musicians who all work antisocial hours. They have been able to source flexible childcare to accommodate evening working etc, and there are lots of musos in the city, so it must be possible. Unfortunately, I don't have direct contact details for any of them, though - but it might be worth asking about if you know any classical performers.

Good luck. I remember tearing my hair out at the fact that childcare is so hard - adn my situation was much more straightforward than yours.

Nannys don't have to live in (although au pairs do) - could you try to find a nannyshare. ie, you employ nanny between 2 families. Try www.sharingcare.co.uk or www.thenannysharers.co.uk.

oh yes nanny share is probably your cheapest option cos then it would probably only cost about £40 a day if you had an au pair for the first 2.5 and last 2.5 hours of the day. if you can't have an au pair it would probably be about £50 which is still half the price of what you are paying now.

I used to work 3 days a week and my communte meant that I needed childcare from 7.30am - 7pm. I felt that it was too long to have the children out of the house, so we had a live-out nanny 3 days a week. I can't remember exactly how much it cost but it was definitely less than £100/day. I think it was in the region of £70/day (in the south-east).

Have you taken into account that if your dd is at nursery there will be days when she can't go in if she has, eg, D&V, conjunctivitis etc? You would probably have to miss more days at work than you would filling in for an ill nanny. IME it's those sorts of things that make all the difference to a working mother's stress levels.

You might still need the sitter service from say 5.30 - 7 but I'd have thought the nanny option would be easier for your DD and for you.

It's a really tough situation isn't it? I feel for you.

If you know which nursery you are going to use, have you asked the nursery staff if any of them would be interested in before/after nursery babysitting? A couple of the staff at the nursery we used to use would do this (often from 6am so similar to your situation). They cost £7 per hour but that was in London.

But I would still look for a nanny share, nannies are so much more flexible, and the fact that you only need 3 days a week means that the other family could get 2 days sole charge which is quite desirable for a share (I've shared nannies in the past).

The good news though is that you have found a sitter service who can provide someone for a 6am start (I am quite amazed).

Also, as you are in Scotland, if your employer (and/or your DP's employer) provides Childcare Vouchers, then those can be used to help with the cost. They can also be used to pay nursery fees.

Is your £100 per day figure before any use of Childcare Vouchers? If so, may be worth exploring what saving you would get (though note, that saving may come at a price - being part-paid in vouchers can affect pension entitlement, so check the terms of the scheme(s) carefully).

hi there. thanks fro your suggestions folks. i am workign through some of them.

my work does not offer the childcare vouchers but i think the nhs does. dp is checking out.

i live in teh east end of glasgow - and goign through teh council - i have been told there are no available minders in teh area. i really would rather not have to take poor dd with me to work for her childcare. i work in edinburgh so it woudl mean a 5.30am start for her and a late return. i would rather not have her suffer the 5 hours commuting per day but it may come to it.

Which area of Glasgow does DH work in maybe someone could suggest childcare there.

Logistically, unless your partner is a senior nurse, you are surely going to break even with his salary vs childcare? Would he not consider giving up work?

morning - i think that is what is going to have to happen and he could maybe do some agency weekend/ night work .

oh gosh weeonion what a nightmare.

I think in the long term I would be tempted to look for a new job (don't know what you do) as 14hrs a day away from DD is a long time.

In the short term - yes, how about a live-out nanny? My sister had a lovely one who cost about £75/day and that was in London. Plus better continuity of care etc.

Agree with whoever said ask at nursery - lots of nursery nurses would be interested in a nannying job.

Bloody hell WO. Sorry for moaning at you about childcare the last time I saw you (I think). I have it damn easy I see!

Do you get the bus to Edinburgh because of the cost of the train? That's why I did anyway when I working in Edinburgh. I know it's A Lot. Just wondering if you'd calculated whether the later start you'd get with the train would save you anything on childcare and maybe work out a bit cheaper. I'm sure you have.

Sorry, no suggestions. I realise now how lucky we were to just be looking at 9-5. A live-out nanny sounds like the way to go though. Got to be cheaper than £100 a day.

I'm still reeling at that.

Oh, I can help re: vouchers. NHSGGC uses Busy Bees. You just have to phone up Busy Bees and register. It's dead easy. Will email you the details.

wo, try www.wsna.co.uk
or www.aandhchildcare.co.uk

2 agencies that mighthelp you het someone

or www.glasgowchildcaresolutions.co.uk

Hi

Re DH changing work to do agency and bank nursing , my SIL did that a few years ago (also in Glasgow - though if he would be prepared to travel particularly at weekend to Inverclyde or Ayrshire also would pick up even more work) and she made a FORTUNE !!
It also gave her great flexibility re childcare etc . In general she found a few weekends nightshift work would give her enough of a monthly wage that allowed her to take the rest of the month off if childcare was difficult ...
Would most definitely recommend this.
Also would he change to NHS 24 at Clydebank? -Pay is not too bad for nursing staff and the hours are late evening so would be ideal for childcare too. - SIL is now there also !!

Maybe these options would relieve the pressure a bit ?

Babbi