intro and question about daycare

Mrs_Lady

Hey ladies- we are expecting our first. I became a director last year and happy to finally work approx 3 miles to home. I plan on returning to work after 4mos mat leave I think. Just wondering for those of you without family help nearby --when did you start looking for daycare,nanny, in home? where did you look?

Margaret Lemon

I put our name on waiting lists last August and JUST got into one in march. Any decent one in my not very large town has a long waiting list. It was really stressful. 

We were already interviewing nannies when we got the call. I suggest you start now just for peace of mind if you are doing DC. Hiring a nanny is something that can wait until closer to the date you would hire them. Good luck 

QueSrah

You should ask the DC board, lady  

For centers, start ASAP.  We got on a bunch of wait lists when I was maybe 12 weeks PG and was only offered a space at one (our last choice) about a week before I went back to work, after we had already lined up alternate care.

For in-homes, you can probably wait until after the baby is born.  We started looking at in-homes when DD was about 6 weeks old and found a space pretty easily at a home we love.  I want to say timing on nannies is similar.

We pulled lists of licensed providers from the Arl. county human services website.  I am pretty sure FFX has a similar list, but I don't know about the city of Alexandria.  Also, I think the state might have a list?