LO is 4 weeks old and I don't have to go back until late August/early September when he will be about 8 months. I know it can be hard to find child care, but now seems so early. Should I start looking into it now, or can I wait? If I wait, when should I start looking?
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It totally depends on your area. I won't need daycare until jan. 2014 but had to sign up many months ago (when I got my BFP) in order to secure a spot. It's still not definite that we'll make it off the waiting list.
Most areas aren't as cuckoo. -
It depends on where you live. I live in DC and daycares book up
Months and months in advance. -
In our area, which isn't even a major metroplex, I would say look now. I started looking at the end of my first trimester (29 weeks now) and all the really good daycares had waiting lists until June or Aug./Sept. I would at least call and check on waiting lists at a few places so you have an idea.
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I would start looking ASAP! In our area the waitlists are some times a year long.
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Yikes! Now I'm nervous! What resources did you use to find a daycare? I have zero mom friends in the area I'd be looking in, so I can't go by personal recommendations. Do I just open the phone book and start calling?
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Where I am in the Bay Area, there aren't many places with waiting lists. I could find a place in a week if needed for my LO. I'd start with Yelp or other review sites.
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I don't need daycare until July and I started looking right around Christmastime. The places said I really shouldn't worry until March; I haven't put any deposits down, but at least I know which places I want to go with, so that when the time comes, I'm not scrambling to visit allt he places.
I used the state's resources for this. My state has a licensed childcare directory and i was able to find all the licensed places in my zip code. I typed in all the zip codes on my way to work, too, and was able to pick out ones that were reasonable to get to/not out of the way. They went into an excel sheet. Then I called them all. Most in-homes had no openings, so I crossed them off the list, BUT i asked if they had any personal recommendations for me (this is ultimately how I found the daycare lady we're going with). The rest, I got prices over the phone. The ones that weren't prohibitive, DH and I visited. A quick visit was enough to tell us whether to keep it on the list or not.
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I think it entirely depends on where you live. Wait lists are a mile long where I am, so you have to apply before the baby is even born. I applied last week (28 weeks) and I won't even go back to work/need daycare until the baby is a year old (April 2014)!
ETA: Where I live, daycare applications are all handled centrally through the city. They have one website through which you can apply to any/all of the daycares in the city.
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I tried finding part time care way early and most people thought I was crazy and didn't respond to my requests... so I guess it depends on the area?
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I would start looking too. I work at a daycare and we always have a waiting list. The best daycares usually have a waiting list. Look at state certified centers and you could also look to see if they are NAEYC accredited. NAEYC is the national associate for young children and they have certain ethical standards and such that they have centers affiliated with them hold to.
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I started looking about 5 months before LO was born. We paid a deposit a month later.
I put a deposit down for Baby 2 around the 8th week of my current pregnancy. I am going back to work in the fall when they have long waiting lists.
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We need day care starting in June and I just started looking in December and a lot of places had waiting lists already. The one we picked doesn't, thankfully, and we are dropping off the deposit this week.
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It depends on where you live. Infant care wait lists in our area are typically 12-18 months, so we got on wait lists in my first trimester.
Is there a mom's group in your area? If so, join ASAP because they will have the scoop on child care in your area.
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I started looking pretty much as soon as I got pregnant. And we still were going to have to find a nanny for the first three months I was back at work (even with a 15 week leave). But then a wonderful day care in town opened a location right by our house and so we are going there because we can start right away when I go back.
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It depends on where you live. We started looking when I was 5 months pregnant and put our name down on two different wait lists. Only one of them had an availability by the time my son was 2 months old.
I started my research by narrowing down areas I preferred to have the day care in (I live in a major metropolitan area) and then did searches for daycares in the area and asked for word of mouth recommendations. Then I narrowed down what I wanted to tour by doing a search on our state's department of family and protective services for their reviews/audits of those facilities so I could see what issue may have been happening.
Example of the search: http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Care/Search_Texas_Child_Care/ppFacilitySearchDayCare.asp
Example of my daycare's compliance history (2 years max usually): http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Care/Search_Texas_Child_Care/CCLNET/Source/Provider/ppComplianceHistory.aspx?fid=164629&type=MI -
We looked when I was 4 months pregnant. We got off the waitlist at our favorite when LO was 2 months old!
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I needed care in September and started looking in January. Once place we were interested in was full then, but the others all had availability.
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17 comments