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Working Moms
how hard is it to find a day care that does this...
thanks in advance for the help, and sorry if this is a dumb question... I'm not due til next spring but already worrying about daycare.
I plan to go back to work full-time and have some sort of split between daycare and my mom babysitting. She's vaguely volunteered to babysit- I'm just hoping she'd do one day a week. I wouldn't feel right asking for more than that because of the distance she has to drive.
We looked into the daycare at the university where DH works, and they will ONLY allow you to do 5 days a week full-time. They will let you do a 3-day/2-day spit with another family, but you and the other family have to agree on the days and never change the schedule. They didn't give me an indication of how hard it was to find another family to split with or how long the waiting list would be, and mostly seemed annoyed that I asked. This was not a cheap place either- the cost is nearly double the state average, and more than 1/3 of my income.
Is this really common, for a daycare to not want you to do less than full time? Is is possible to find a daycare that will let me do 4 days a week without having to jump through hoops finding another family to split days with? I came away from that feeling really discouraged and like this is going to be much harder than I expected.
I don't want to do an in-home daycare because my crappy state has nearly non-existent laws when to comes to regulating in-home childcare. Per capita, we have more in-home daycare deaths than any other state, and home daycare providers who've had a child die in their care cannot be barred from continuing to operate 
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Re: how hard is it to find a day care that does this...
A Little Bird and a Monkey Butt
Have you checked into other centers in the area? I know that someone at my university is going through this right now. The center at the U is FABULOUS but pricey and not very flexible.
Our center (not at the U) is pretty flexible day-wise. If you do part time you need to have set days but if something comes up they typically let you change w/o too much hassle. It was very handy while I was on maternity leave wiht #2.
We too aren't comfortable with an in-home so we looked at centers. Most in our area are church run centers.
Look around! Also, perhaps look into in-home daycares. My DCP is SUPER flexible, but that's her goal - to be "customized" so that people w/ odd needs have an option. Which is great because we have a weird schedule.
But - in homes might have more flexibility.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
For infants in Virginia part time daycare was basically non-existent due to the laws about sharing a crib during the week. Every infant must have their own sleeping space that is not shared so very very very few places would split up a week for infants since they'd have to keep the crib empty those days.
It is much easier when they are older and just nap on cots and the rules relax.
Around me unless you go inhome daycare, there is no part time for infant care. Once they go to the 1 year old room is where they start part time and then it's only 3 days or 2 days. Look at some other places to find out if it's common in your area. I'd also start asking about wait lists in your area. It varies depending on where you are but around me most places have 12-18 month waitlists for infants. it's CRAZY!
You might want to talk with your mom more in depth about the babysitting too. If she's "vaguely volunteered" she might not be thinking of it as babysitting every week and I would deifnitely make sure she's okay with it. You don't want to be stuck down the road with no daycare on that day she volunteered for.
Infant daycare here is 5 days. The reason I was told was because they have to each have a crib, so if a child is there M-W-F only, they are unable to use "his" crib Tu-Th.
When the child enters the next step up from infant, part-time becomes an option.
This is the case in Texas too. I was hoping my MIL would watch LO a couple of days per week, and we'd be in daycare the rest. But here, at least in center-based care, there is no such thing as part-time day care at the infant level. Usually they start that when the babies are 2-3 years old. We didn't feel comfortable with home care, but they may be more flexible.
Good luck!
Same here, especially for an infant.
Thanks for the replies. It's good to know what's out there and what questions to ask. I really had no idea how complicated this was and what I was getting into.
Re: my mom - I do need to talk to her more about it, although I know she's up for a weekly role. Her mom babysat me five days a week for years, and I think my mom would probably do the same if she didn't live 45 minutes away.
it's very common for daycares to only do full time. part time often = they lose money b/c they can't always fill the spots for the extra days.
my daycare does partial weeks- but it's not that much cheaper than full time... it's not like 5-days/week = 100/day, and 3 days = 300... it's more like 3 days = 400, lol..
my kids go part time- the twins are 2days/week and Griffin is 3 days. They have a policy not to let you switch days- but 1-2x's a year i have a meeting i have to travel for they will do it for me b/c i have 3 kids there- and only if switching them doesn't screw up the ratio for that class that day.
many daycares i called when looking only did full weeks.
We are using KinderCare which is a national chain. They have VERY flexible scheduling you can do either 4-5 full days which is considered "full time" or 2-3 days which is "part time". You can also do half days. And you can make adjustments week to week, you just tell them on Friday how many days you will need the following week. But if your mom was only going to watch LO one day then it wouldn't be saving you any money over full 5 days anyway. However, this is one example, other daycares may charge just by the day. Just wanted to point out there are places out there with much greater flexibility, I would keep looking.
edit - wow, didn't think I would be so in the minority...I suppose it depends on state laws and such.
This is not a general KinderCare policy and totally depends on location. If they can fill the spots full time, they will. It has nothing to do with state laws, it has to do with profit.
We will only need child care for about four house a day so this is one reason why we decided to use a friend for childcare instead of an actual provider.
I hope you can find what you're looking for!
Ouch! I think the main problem is you are looking for 4 days instead of 2 or 3. No provider will take on another child for 1 day as the adjustment is rough for both...and so much time passes between...
When I looked at centers I was quote $450 full time and $380 for 3 days a week - I kinda chocked! But once they explained it it made sense. So the question is - do you want your child at that DCP so bad that you'd eat the money you pay for the x-tra day?
I've never understood why this is an issue some places. At our DC they just have different mattresses. DS's sheet is on his mattress, and when they need to use the crib for another baby, the take his mattress out & lean it against a wall.
Anyway, we found that most centers in our area were willing to do 3-4 days a week, but wanted you to be pretty firm on which day(s) you wouldn't be there. We have your same situation, my MIL watches DS one day a week so we only needed 4 days at the center. It's still hella expensive but slightly cheaper than 5 days so I'll take it!