When did you find your in-home daycare?

rubber_chicken

I'm due at the end of May, and will be on maternity leave until mid-to-late August.  I know that for center, I should start looking now, but if you use an inhome daycare, when did you start looking?  The ones I'm seeing on craigslist and care.com seem to want to take children immediately.  Should I wait a few months to start inquiring, or is it worth it to reach out now?

jenn_darrin1515

when we switched our girls to a highly recommended inhome (used by 2 of our family friends) we interviewed in June for september slots...

It wouldn't hurt to start looking after the 1st of the year...or even now if you are comfortable with it..GL!

KRB8

We reserved a spot in a licensed in-home DC for DD when I was only about 14 weeks pregnant.  DC spots in general fill up super fast in my area.  I already have a spot reserved for LO2.

ITGurl0626

I found mine 3 weeks before I came back to work.  Like you, the in-home day cares I contacted were looking for immediate fill ins.  Some might be willing to hold a spot for you if you pay a deposit.  I paid a deposit for my DCP to hold my spot for 3 weeks, I paid one week's worth to hold my spot.

QueSrah

We found our in-home about 6 weeks before I went back to work, after maybe a week or two of calling around and touring places with openings.  I've heard there are in-homes near us that take names for wait lists or plan a long way out, but the ones we met didn't work that way.  I felt lucky to find one that didn't charge us the weekly fee to hold our spot until we were ready to use it.

KatieMarie27

I started about a month ago - 22 weeks.  There is limited daycare in my town and I had to call about 30 places before I found someone who would have a spot available come April for an infant.  I guess it depends on your surrounding area, but ask friends or coworkers with kids and see if they had issues.  It can't hurt to start getting references and checking around with prices, hours of operations, amenities, location compared to home/work.

ABizzity

I started looking a couple months before I was due.  I didnt actually line one up until DS was over a month old.  He started daycare at 14wks. 

We moved a couple months ago and I found a new DCP within a week. 

Contact your state's resources and referrals.  They can send you a list of DCP's by zip code.  Then you can start making calls and visits.

 Good luck!