How much do you pay for an infant spot at a center?

asnowracer · July 2009

TIA!

flyer23 · July 2009

Varies widely by region...

When we were looking for DD, in northern California, we were looking at about $350-$450/week. We ended up going with a nanny share for $340/week (which included a little extra for the nanny to clean our house).

Here in Texas, for this baby, the two centers I have my eye on are around $250/week.

It does go down as they get older... we're paying about $150/week for DD's preschool right now. A nice change from $340/week just a little over a year ago! Smile

lucyred · July 2009

$230/week until out of diapers, then it drops.

You will get a wide range of answers to your question, it really depends on the area.

Maybride2 · July 2009

Right around $215/week for infants

asnowracer · July 2009

Yeah I asked my local board too. At an inhome I pay $150 a week.

And it doesn't always, but it can look like this including her ownkids: my baby, a 1 year old, three 3 year olds, a 4 year old, a 7 year old, a 10 year old, two preteens and a 17 year old. Granted most days during the year most of them would be in school but still. Yes, its legal. She could even take 2 more over age 2 if she wanted. A providers own kids "don't count" after age 6. I give whoever made that rule the Side Eye.

But the center close by charges $954 a month, or you can do a drop in of $55 a day. Their ratio is 1:3. It was phenomenal too. I only need 4 days a week most of the time, but there would be times where we need 5. We were paying for the extra day at in-home since it was only an extra $30 a week. But that's a TON of extra money for the center.

Other than these 2, I have ruled out all the other (very limited) options in my area.

kgb1411 · July 2009

It really varies. Right now, we live in kind of a transplanted section of appalacia and we pay $170/wk. In the city, the price is more like $220-240/wk. If you go out to the suburbs, the price goes up even more to $300-350/wk, but there are marble floors, murals, computer class, and all organic food.

omalley · July 2009

We ended up finding a nanny but had a down payment at Goddard (which I believe is a chain) It was $1100 per month, per child for the infant room. They charged by the month instead of the week and there was no part time for infants.

LD&Me · July 2009

$1600 per month for a center. That's about the standard in Seattle for a good quality center. Some go up to $1800. I looked at a Kindercare that I didn't like at all and it was $1300. Plus the waitlists are around 1-2 years long. It's harsh.

AmyCC1980 · July 2009

$200/week

jellybean529 · July 2009

Ours was $229/week full time or $170 part time in Florida.

ai&Jas · July 2009

Here in IL I was paying $1400 a month but now that DD is in the toddler class we are paying $1250 a month and it will drop as she gets older. I bring in diapers and wipes (and milk when she was nursing and under 1) but she gets all her meals there. The general wait time for this center which is at my work is around 9 months but I love it!

jetgrrrl · July 2009

Here in Boston we were looking at paying $1700 a month. That is not a misprint. Instead we are paying the same but sharing a nanny with our neighbors.

Also, it's nearly impossible from what I hear to find part-time center care for an infant - since the teacher to child ratio is so low they want all the $$$ they can get. A family setting would probably be more flexible; you can also find part-time nannies but ours definitely wants full time.

jlw2505 · July 2009

The infant room at my center (6 weeks to 16 months) is just over $300 a week. That includes formula, table foods, etc. Basically everything but diapers. The price goes down once they start in the toddler porgram at 16 months and then again when they start the pre-school program at around 2 1/2.

barkers4jmm · July 2009

$1776/mo until age 2 (so a little over $400/wk). If you can believe it, the good in-homes are even more $450-500 ($10/hr).

LindsayMarieG · July 2009

$200/wk. If I prepay for the month I I pay $180/wk.

Temp159135562506975 · July 2009

it's approx $1200/mo for an infat at my center.

socialworkerbee · July 2009

Outside of Boston -- the good centers were about $1800/month. There is one chain that is $2400/month!!!! The cheapest we saw were about $1400/month but we had some concerns with them. However, just a little bit further out (10-15 miles) from the inner burbs, you would pay FAR less. We still pay $400/week for an in-home (more expensive than most we saw, but we had some big concerns regarding the cheaper ones).

MargieMom · July 2009

$200/wk - but avg in this area is $200-$275.

sara1104 · July 2009

$300 a week for an infant

jennynorene · July 2009

$1075 per month. we bring in all the diapers, wipes, formula, etc.

Mrs.McLovin · July 2009

Ds starts his new daycare on monday (we moved)--$187 a week.

Old daycare was $263 a week.

Sam78 · July 2009

in central NJ, day care is around $320/week for infant. We are opting for a nanny instead since the price is about the same (we only need her 30 hours a week).

Emmasmom30 · July 2009

When DD was an infant at Goddard, it was $1200 a month.

flyer23 · July 2009

asnowracer:

Yeah I asked my local board too. At an inhome I pay $150 a week.

And it doesn't always, but it can look like this including her ownkids: my baby, a 1 year old, three 3 year olds, a 4 year old, a 7 year old, a 10 year old, two preteens and a 17 year old. Granted most days during the year most of them would be in school but still. Yes, its legal. She could even take 2 more over age 2 if she wanted. A providers own kids "don't count" after age 6. I give whoever made that rule the Side Eye.

But the center close by charges $954 a month, or you can do a drop in of $55 a day. Their ratio is 1:3. It was phenomenal too. I only need 4 days a week most of the time, but there would be times where we need 5. We were paying for the extra day at in-home since it was only an extra $30 a week. But that's a TON of extra money for the center.

Other than these 2, I have ruled out all the other (very limited) options in my area.

So going from $150 to $220/week... hmmm, that is quite a bit of an increase. For me, it would just depend on how good I felt about the in-home situation. When we were looking here in Texas, I saw in-home places that charged less than $100/week. (See my post above... we ended up paying $200/week for a SAHM who watched only DD, and centers were about $250/week.) Most of the cheaper places took on a ton of kids, while the SAHM said that she would never take on more than three kids, plus her own two school-age boys (8 and 11) -- and indeed, for most the year that we used her, it was only DD + her kids. It was well worth the extra money for me to put DD someplace with a lower ratio.

I say get the best daycare that you can afford... that is NOT to say that more expensive = better (we just put DD in preschool, and it just so happened that the place we liked the best was also the cheapest), but in your case, it sounds like the more expensive place is the better place. If it's a choice between paying your mortgage and paying for the center, well then pay for your mortgage. But if you can afford the extra $70/week, do it. You can't put a price on your child's well-being and your own peace of mind.

Want a personalized experience?

How much do you pay for an infant spot at a center?

Re: How much do you pay for an infant spot at a center?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards