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We chose a nanny. I work at home, and I like the idea of baby being in the house. We are in completely different spaces, but I like the accessibility.

Daycare in our area is VERY expensive. Our nanny charges $10/hour. She's a personal friend, but I knew we could have a professional relationship with this part.

If you like this idea, you could also try finding someone who's open to a nanny share. It's less expensive for each family. And, if you're not the host house, you'll pay even less. I believe care.com is in most areas, and could be a good resource.

We will likely start a daycare next year (at least 2 days per week), because I think the socialization piece is really important. We'll still have nanny 1 or 2 days.

Whenever I feel like looking into daycares, I usually ask my local moms group on FB. There are enough members, that there are always people in my area with great recommendations.

We have a nanny. Given my husbands and my work schedules, it was too difficult with the strict pick up and drop off times for the daycares in our area. Having a nanny allows us a lot more free time during the day because she prepares her meals, does her laundry, tidies up after her, gets her ready in the mornings, washes her dishes and runs/empties the dishwasher. I know a lot people are concerned about the lack of socialization, but we live in a densely populated city so she goes on at least two playdates every day, is on the playground with a ton of other kids, and she takes her to classes. For us, it works really well. The tradeoff is that it is 25-30% more expensive than daycare. But a nanny share could be a solution for that.

Neither DH nor I are comfortable with an in home or nanny. With no grandparents nearby able to watch DD 1 full time that left daycare.

We have barely any options where I live. I didn't really want an in home nanny ($$$ and I like my home to myself), there are no acceptable centers nearby, so that left in home. We're pretty happy with our setup

We've used a small center, an in home, and a Montessori school. We had positive experiences at all three, and only switched because we moved from the city to the suburbs. I think it really depends on the specific teachers and atmosphere of each place more than the category that it falls under.

Right now, LO is 19 months and at a Montessori school. I am really loving it for this age. He learns so much there- language, practical life skills, manners, social skills- and the atmosphere is very calm and respectful.

We'll probably move to a nanny and part time nursery school when future LO2 arrives because we can't afford two at most daycares.

Beginning at the age of 2, we used a daycare center on the campus of a K-8 school. My son attended half days, more or less, my parents were his before and after care.

This summer, we switched him to a Nature Center based camp and now preschool. The outdoor aspect was really important to me, I am not so much worried about academics at this point as I am social interaction and learning how to behave in a classroom.

a nanny or nanny share would have been great because LO needed a lot of work on his naps (and instead would only get 15 minutes of naps at daycare), but the cost and desire for an arm's-length transaction led us away from those options.

we looked at in-home daycares but the hours were too limited for our work schedules.

our daycare center is subsidized by my work so is relatively affordable for the area, and we like it. we'd love to do montessori when LO is older but the programs around here are $$$ and extremely limited hours. we don't have that kind of flexibility.

We chose nanny, but wanted daycare. We moved to a new neighborhood when LO was a baby and it was hard to find a daycare that would accept children under 12 months so we did a nanny share. LO is 2 and we are still in a nanny share, though with a different nanny and family. She will start full-time daycare next fall, I can't wait!

We chose an in home day care. I like the "family" feel of it and we really clicked with the provider. LO loves her and the other kids. I like how she caters to people that work in schools so we don't have to send or pay for ŁO over the summer months. I'm having another baby in April and I hope to have them both at this home daycare at some point. I also hope she lets me keep LO1 at the daycare 2 days a week when I am on mat leave.

LO (due Dec) will be part-time at a daycare close to my work starting @ 3 months old. I didn't have any referrals to a nanny, so the thought of having to look, interview, etc was very daunting. We visited 3 local daycare centers and I felt comfortable with all (ultimately went with best price). I also like the fact that she will be exposed to other people early on.

@yoursilverlining: yes to your last comment. You just know when you're doing the tour!

We started at a daycare center b/c it was the best option in our small town at the time. (Qualified nannies were hard to come by, and the few in-home daycares also didn't seem to provide the same quality of care as the center.) We have since moved to a larger city with quite a few childcare options, but we've grown used to working with a daycare center, and DD thrives in that environment. We found an excellent center only half a mile from our new house, so that sealed the deal for us.

DH and I both work at places that have affiliated/on-site child care centers for employees. They are NAEYC accredited (must for us) and we wanted a daycare for the socialization aspect and more eyes on our child vs a nanny. We got on those waitlists as soon as I found out I was pregnant and thankfully we were able to enroll at the start time that we wanted.

@yoursilverlining: that was our issue with Montessori as well! The hours are not conducive to working.

We originally went with a daycare center. He struggled and the only option then was nanny or me quitting my job, we choose the later option.