Hellobee Boards

If I had to do it all over again, I would go with a nanny until about 18 months, then switch over to a daycare.

I didn't return to work after my maternity leave but I did return after a 2 year break and I had a rough time transitioning my son to daycare. It took us almost 5 months to get him to have lunch and nap there consistently.

My 5 month old has been in daycare a month. I like the daycare, she seems well cared for and it's affordable. However LO, DH & I are on our third cold. I knew she was going to get colds at daycare but I didn't realize how hard it would be to do all the sick baby night wakings and work all day while sick. We chose based on cost but we're getting so tired of being sick we might re-evaluate our decision and work harder to find a nanny share.

I don't have a choice since there are no daycares that take infants anywhere near my apartment so we're going to do a nanny share. I think in general, daycares cost less and are good for socializing. Kids tend to be more outgoing who are raised in daycares. But the major downside we found was that they get so many vacation days, so we would be burning all of our PTO days watching LO when they close. A lot of daycares in NYC will even take a full month off in the summer! Also, kids tend to get more colds/flus/etc. at daycares, so the frequency of sickness goes up.

We like the convenience factor of a nanny since she will be coming to us every day. But of course if she calls out sick we're screwed. And it is kind of strange thinking about having someone spend all day in our apartment while we're not home. Where we live though, nanny's can actually be a lot more affordable than daycare since you set the pay instead of the other way around. And I dont' worry about the social aspect since we'll be doing a share, so LO will at least have one if not two full time friends.

We chose nanny, mainly because I needed more flexibility with my job (late nights, overnights, weekends). We went through two before we found the right person, but we love our nanny. Not this coming school year, but next year, we may transition to school aftercare.

We went with a daycare when LO was 13 weeks old. Since she was so young, there wasn't a transition period for her. We like it because its open from 6 am to 6 pm which gives us flexibility if we have to stay late/go in early and we never have to worry about not having care like you would if your nanny is sick or needs a day off. I also feel like daycare teaches my LO some patience since the other kids need attention to. She's 9 months old now and still doesn't cry when we drop her off, so that's probably a good sign.

we didn't strongly consider a nanny because of the cost and also because my husband and i felt a little uncomfortable about having someone share our space and lives so intimately. however it would have been much more convenient not having to do drop-offs and pick-ups (which make our 1-hour commutes longer by a full 30 minutes), and i feel that LO would get much better naps at home. his daycare "naps" are awful.

that being said, we're keeping him in daycare because we really like the place, i like the socialization aspect, and i think it's good for him to get exposed to different people. he's been sick a few times but nothing unmanageable. also, our daycare must be subsidized by my employer because the rate is incredibly reasonable for the area.

Nannies were *super* expensive in our area (more than 2.5x the cost of daycare).

We ended up with an in-home daycare which is sort of in between. 4 kids, 1 woman, in her home (in our subdivision)....it's really nice. My LO *loves other little kids. No sickies yet....

The other few kids I know who weren't in daycare or have one-on-one care are very scared of kids (my LO made one cry this weekend when she screeched in excitement at her, lol) and there seems to be a tough transition when they do make it to daycare!

Cost and location for us!

We didn't have a choice but to go with a nanny share. There were no spots for infants my LOs age because we moved when she was 5 months and didn't know what neighborhood we were moving to ahead of time.

We ended up finding a nanny share and for us it seems to be the best of both worlds. Pros: LO has a playmate every day and almost one-on-one attention. Our nanny is also friends with another nanny who does a share in the neighborhood, so LO often has play dates with 2 other children. The cost of the nanny share is just slightly more than the cost of daycare. Our LO has been sick once.

The cons are that if our nanny is sick or needs to take a day off, one of us has to use days. The other con is that we take LO to the other couple's house, which is a 15-minute uphill walk for us. They have a house and we have an apartment, so space wise it's perfect that the kids are over there, but that walk sucks during really hot days or snow days.

We have a nanny and I think these are the pros:
- don't have to dress and pack up the kids every morning, get them in the car, etc.
- if they're sick, it's not a problem
- I think it's healthy for them (at this early age) to bond to one person instead of various daycare teachers
- flexibility of hours
- able to use cloth diapers, feed what we want, when we want, etc. -- basically flexibility of preferences

The only real con for me is that I think daycare kids get more stimulation and socialization in general.

Obviously this all assumes you have a good, trustworthy, dependable, capable nanny!

DS has been in daycare since he was 15 weeks. For us the decision was pretty easy because of cost. When we have more kids we might consider a nanny but I love the socialization of daycare. Yes, we have been sick so many times I have lost count. But that just means when he starts preschool/kindergarten he won't be as sick.

He is 16 months now and he loves going to daycare. Most of the time when I drop him off in the morning he is too busy playing to give me a hug goodbye.

We have a nanny right now, and it is cheaper than daycare. My DD is 13.5 month sold and will be starting daycare at 15/16 months. I considered starting her at 12 months but the daycare center told us that kids have a really rough transition at that point as they are going through so many changes (learning to walk etc) so better to wait a bit later.

I think she will absolutely love daycare, and I am really looking forward to not being at the mercy of someone else's schedule eg if the trains are late then nanny is late thus making me late.