Hellobee Boards

1. We started looking, and got on waitlists when I was around 20 weeks pregnant. Several places already had waitlists long enough that there was no way LO would have gotten in when we needed care (when she was 13 weeks old).

2. I started with the state licensing boards, and good old Google. I wanted a place that was NAEYC accredited, so I also started with their lists of schools. I was not interested in in-home places, or unlicensed care. A couple of co-workers at my previous job and I briefly talked about going in on a nanny-share, but I wasn’t that keen on that either. The licensing boards were able to give me a list of daycares within X miles from my home or office, and also supply information like complaints, etc.

3. When LO was born, both Dh and I each lived a 10-minute drive from home to work, so it didn’t really matter. That said, we ended up with a place that was another 10-15 minutes out of the way of either of our commutes. I now work on the same campus as the daycare center, so it’s awesome.

We started early - when I was about 20 weeks pregnant. I wanted to have time to check into each facility and visit a few times before we made our decision.

As for how we found centers, we did have some people to ask, but we also went online and checked out places in our area near our home. It was important to us to have the center near our home because if you take a day off, but still would like to send your child to day care for whatever reason, I would have to commute over an hour and a half to be near work, and DH would commute 20 minutes. We've sent LO to day care to keep routine if we have a day off for doctor appointments for me (pregnant with #2), home projects, etc.

We both WOTH and she started in daycare at 15 weeks.

1. When did you start looking for infant care? At 20 weeks.

2. How did you find infant care centers? I asked friends, drove around, searched google for daycare, childcare and preschool.

3. Was it more important to be close to work or close to home (especially if you and your partner work close to each other)? Close to work means you can't easily drop the baby off when you need to run some errands on an off day when you may want a little break. Closer to home means more time without the baby on a regular day. I chose the location we liked best which was neither close to home nor work.

1. With this pregnancy, I got on the list before I was actually pregnant because otherwise we would have lost the space. With DS, I knew where we wanted to go, but registration wasn't until February so I just waited until then (month before he was born)
2. Asked friends and neighbors.
3. Our first day care was close to work and it didn't work out for several reasons. The second one we decided that close to home was better and switched.

1. When did you start looking for infant care? We started looking when I was 15 weeks pregnant. I wanted to have something in place by the time his travel schedule started in case baby was born early.

2. How did you find infant care centers? Google. We wanted to either be near one of our jobs or in between

3. Was it more important to be close to work or close to home (especially if you and your partner work close to each other)? It was important that we were close to home and my husband's job. The centers in my work neighborhood weren't highly rated, so we looked close to his work. They share the same parking lot.

1. When did you start looking for infant care?
- Before we got pregnant. We live in a crazy area with long waiting lists and I wanted to be prepared.

2. How did you find infant care centers?
- Google searches, plus I made note of the ones we saw while walking/driving around in areas close to our home.

3. Was it more important to be close to work or close to home (especially if you and your partner work close to each other)?
- Probably not relevant to your situation but I have a walking commute and chose a daycare that was on the way. DH has a longer commute, so for him, this means closer to home than to work. For your case, you'd probably be best off choosing a place somewhere on your commute that you like the best.

@MaryM: I don't think you can really start looking too early in most places.

We had two needs. Daycare starting at 8 weeks in the location where we currently live and daycare starting around 6 months in the location we are moving when LO is 5 months old.

For our more immediate need, I started looking at the daycare associated with my employer. I waited too long for this. I got on the waiting list early 2nd trimester after I had announced my pregnancy and found that the waiting list was long. BUT they gave me hope that there would likely be a spot when we needed and kept stringing me along. So we found a back up spot a couple months before LO was born which is where she ended up (and it's been fabulous).

For our need when she is 6 months old, we started about 9 months ahead of time and found that a couple places already had waiting lists but several places had openings or very short waiting lists. We ended up choosing one with a waiting list, but they called us about a month after she was born (so 5 months ahead of our need) and told us they had a spot.

We started with my employer sponsored daycare and then my husband's work offers a discount at a number of area daycares so we started looking at those. We actually found our daycare first and then picked the exact neighborhood we would move too after that. She'll be about 2 miles from our house and it's on a convenient pathway for both myself and DH on our way to work. My work will only be about a 10 minute drive, DH"s is further.

I think finding a daycare that you are happy with is more important than whether it is right by your house or right by work as long as it's still relatively convenient.