Daycare Question: Where to start?

mom2be:)2008

Hi

 I am currently a working mom, however I work eves and nights, and DH works days, so, so far we've been able to avoid daycare.  The night shifts are slowly killing me though, because sometimes I'm up for 36 hours and I'm looking for a day shift position.  I'm through step one of an interview for a 4 days a week position.

I'm thinking I'd better start looking for daycare, but I'm not quite sure where to start...can you gals give me any tips? I'm open to either center or home daycare and would love to hear your experiences and pros/cons of both.

TIA!

madhatter2003

Good ones are usually found by word of mouth...ask at work, friends with kids, at church, even your pedi may know of some good ones in your town.

I've always used a center, but mainly because I didn't find an in-home one I really 'clicked' with.

kyfirewife

Ditto word of mouth.

I would ask a few friends, maybe post on your local board, etc.

Pesky

Recs from friends, neighbors, coworkers, fellow nesties, etc.  Call your employee assistance line and many will do a preliminary search for you for free and give you a list of places to check out.  Drive around.  Then go make appointments and visit them.

yellowcar

When we started, we literally opened the phone book and started calling centers (we would have never considered an in-home provider).  I had a list of questions and based on the answers, narrowed it down to about 6.  We visited them and made a decision based on those visits and their various policies.

I did not know anyone else who had an infant in daycare, so I had no WOM referrals to go by.  We were pretty happy with the one we went with at the time.

We needed a center because I need consistent care, (i.e. they don't close b/c someone is sick, or wants to take a vacay), and I am huge on accountability.  In a center, there is always someone to go to (a higher-up) if there is an issue.  I am in education, and a solid curriculum was important to me, also no TV.  Also, a daycare center won't suddenly decide she needs to go back to work, and shut it's doors.

AutumnBride929

I Googled "Greenville NC daycares".  Took the top two results, visited each one, decided which we liked better and went with that one.

lol  Clearly, we REALLY worked hard on choosing our DCP.

But our state also has a website with every single childcare  facility listed and its rating.  I found that right before I was about to go back to work, haha.  Maybe your state has something similar?