Hellobee Boards

I have gone through this process twice. With DD we decided to go with a daycare facility, mainly because we were new to the whole process and unlike most people were trying to spend equivalent to a house payment (long story). We were very happy with the facility we chose and I feel it was the right choice for our family at the time. When DS came into the picture there wasn't any way we could make the cost of two work for our budget. We looked at a couple of in-home daycares but I didn't like the ratio of kids to adult given that we had a tiny infant. Ultimately we went for a nanny, turned out a friend from church was looking to get started in in-home daycare and was within our price range. So far it has worked out great for all of us, right now she only has my two LO, her 9yo daughter and a 7yo before/after school; it give my kids individual attention but also allows my 2.5yo interaction with other kids when the two older are there.

This was posted recently but it was just daycare vs nanny.
http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-or-nanny

I think Daycares are great because I worked in one, I think nannies are awesome because I was one, and in-home daycare is nice too because I'm about to start watching a kiddo or two here at my house now...lol not helpful, but my point being there are many pros and cons to all 3 options and maybe once you take a tour or interview some potential nannies/daycare providers your mind will be made. It's so hard to decide without seeing what each has to offer, definitely suggest a tour and prices now so you have time to think about it.

We initially wanted daycare but chose a short-term nanny (3 months) because we were in the process of moving. Researched daycares in our area and the ones we liked all had waiting lists or no openings for infants so we are doing a nanny share.

I liked the ease of not having to dress baby for the nanny, but didn't like that she's just home with one person all day. I'm pretty excited about the nanny share because LO will get to socialize and our new nanny has nanny friends in the area and they have play dates often. Cost is also a factor. For us, the nanny was the most expensive and the daycares we looked at were comparable with the nanny share. And in terms of flexible schedules a nanny/nanny share may be able to work better with your schedule.

I think there are benefits to all 3, you have to figure out what is most important for you, your DH, your LO and schedules.

We did in home care kinda. I have a SAHM friend who watches him. When he started her son was 4. I love it because she works with me for him (such as schedule etc). She treats him as part if the family so he goes shopping with her and to school events etc. he needed special care as a baby. Now at 18 months we started him twice a week at preschool to get some interaction. So the best of both worlds