Working moms come in..

drbethc · February 2013

What do you do for childcare? I've been working really part time and now have to seek out childcare because my mother is no longer able to babysit. So far DH and I have been working together taking turns with LO. But now were at a point where childcare we have to do something about our situation...this has been stressful as I'm not ready for LO to go to day care yet but this maybe the only option...has childcare been a source of stress for you and what did you do to resolve it....just looking for what you did in your situation and how it turned out...TIA!

doxgirl · February 2013

We've used both a nanny and daycare. Having a nanny was great for flexibility, such as if I needed to work late. I didn't have to miss work if DS had a mild fever like with teething. However, it was very expensive,and I felt like DS missed out on socialization once he was a little older. Both kids are now in daycare at a local center. They both have done so well and are very happy. DS has learned so much at daycare.

thatoneredhead · February 2013

I put LO in a real day care. It sounded great. They did gentle discipline, baby massage, all weather sun-lit play... until I got in there and all mean girls from the college happened to be the teachers. They refused to talk to me at any length about his day, how he was. I left there in a hurry and told the director why. She copped me attitude as well. I left a $27 brand new box of formula there just not to go back.

I got into a home day care which is ALOT better for us. Im not head over heels in love with my day care lady but she really cares about my kid. She is a little too... self-motivated... in his care. She has 5 kids and has the tendency not to ask me permission on stuff (like new foods, carseat adjustments, that kind of thing). But she is great with him.

I will consider a bigger day care when he is older and can talk. Until then, home day care only for us.

JessieCupcake · February 2013

My experience with finding child care was very stressful. Mostly because I had no time to look the way I would have liked. I got an unexpected job offer and had less than a week to find a place for DS.

We explored the nanny option but it was way out of our price range. So I called a few daycares and was annoyed that they wouldn't give me prices over the phone.. I needed to go take a tour first. With the limited time I had, I didn't want to waste time seeing daycares I couldn't afford.

I started asking people I knew for help. I ended up finding my daycare through my MIL's friend whose employee uses the daycare for her son. Random right? But it worked out because that daycare had a parttime spot, they are wonderful with my DS, and it's small 8 kids so my DS gets plenty of attention.

Drbeth, my advice is to really take the time to go on tours and check out multiple daycares. I only set foot in two daycares and the difference was night and day. The other I saw was just awful and yet only 50 cheaper than where my son is now. So really explore your options. I also hope you have more time to look than I did. Also talk to people you know; they may give you leads.

Good luck. It is not an easy decision.

ETA: stupid bump mobile won't let me use parenthesis and dollar signs

stepper1725 · February 2013

thatoneredhead:
I will consider a bigger day care when he is older and can talk. Until then, home day care only for us.

I know you're just describing your own experience, Red, but all in home daycares aren't by default better than centers. Not that you were suggesting that! When I was a child, I went to a horrible in home day care. No abuse per se, but neglect. Like locking us all in the back room during 'nap time'. Anyway, I'm biased against in home care because of this.

DD goes to a center 3 days a week and we have a nanny 2 days a week while dh or I work from home. We got recommendations from friends. It was hard to leave her at first. Now she loves it. She strains to get out of her carseat in the morning to get to her main caregiver. Then she waves to me like 'bye mom!'.

We trusted the opinion of our friends, we toured the center and felt comfortable there. I think you have to trust your gut when touring a place. We found our nanny on care.com. we met with her and just clicked. Since either dh or I are home with her and DD I was less concerned about finding someone online. Good luck!

lil_jen051708 · February 2013

DS goes to a center at a church that we are not members of. I love it there. The ladies really love him and I feel like they are providing him a lot of opportunities to socialize with babies, different teachers and activities.

The center goes through preschool and although there are quite a few kids there, all the teachers and staff know all the kids names. It is really cute to have other people come up to me and say how awesome J is. They love all their kids and I am so glad we got in to this center. I didn't want an in home center for a few reasons: lack of adults to serve as a check for the others, stressing to find care if the provider is sick or needs vacation, etc.

drbethc · February 2013

JessieCupcake:
My experience with finding child care was very stressful. Mostly because I had no time to look the way I would have liked. I got an unexpected job offer and had less than a week to find a place for DS. We explored the nanny option but it was way out of our price range. So I called a few daycares and was annoyed that they wouldn't give me prices over the phone.. I needed to go take a tour first. With the limited time I had, I didn't want to waste time seeing daycares I couldn't afford. I started asking people I knew for help. I ended up finding my daycare through my MIL's friend whose employee uses the daycare for her son. Random right? But it worked out because that daycare had a parttime spot, they are wonderful with my DS, and it's small 8 kids so my DS gets plenty of attention. Drbeth, my advice is to really take the time to go on tours and check out multiple daycares. I only set foot in two daycares and the difference was night and day. The other I saw was just awful and yet only 50 cheaper than where my son is now. So really explore your options. I also hope you have more time to look than I did. Also talk to people you know; they may give you leads. Good luck. It is not an easy decision. ETA: stupid bump mobile won't let me use parenthesis and dollar signs

thanks Jesse...I'm thinking part time daycare might be the option..

drbethc · February 2013

JessieCupcake:
My experience with finding child care was very stressful. Mostly because I had no time to look the way I would have liked. I got an unexpected job offer and had less than a week to find a place for DS. We explored the nanny option but it was way out of our price range. So I called a few daycares and was annoyed that they wouldn't give me prices over the phone.. I needed to go take a tour first. With the limited time I had, I didn't want to waste time seeing daycares I couldn't afford. I started asking people I knew for help. I ended up finding my daycare through my MIL's friend whose employee uses the daycare for her son. Random right? But it worked out because that daycare had a parttime spot, they are wonderful with my DS, and it's small 8 kids so my DS gets plenty of attention. Drbeth, my advice is to really take the time to go on tours and check out multiple daycares. I only set foot in two daycares and the difference was night and day. The other I saw was just awful and yet only 50 cheaper than where my son is now. So really explore your options. I also hope you have more time to look than I did. Also talk to people you know; they may give you leads. Good luck. It is not an easy decision. ETA: stupid bump mobile won't let me use parenthesis and dollar signs

thanks Jesse...I'm thinking part time daycare might be the option..

drbethc · February 2013

lil_jen051708:
DS goes to a center at a church that we are not members of. I love it there. The ladies really love him and I feel like they are providing him a lot of opportunities to socialize with babies, different teachers and activities. The center goes through preschool and although there are quite a few kids there, all the teachers and staff know all the kids names. It is really cute to have other people come up to me and say how awesome J is. They love all their kids and I am so glad we got in to this center. I didn't want an in home center for a few reasons: lack of adults to serve as a check for the others, stressing to find care if the provider is sick or needs vacation, etc.

these are good points!

Starbear06 · February 2013

lil_jen051708:
DS goes to a center at a church that we are not members of. I love it there. The ladies really love him and I feel like they are providing him a lot of opportunities to socialize with babies, different teachers and activities.

The center goes through preschool and although there are quite a few kids there, all the teachers and staff know all the kids names. It is really cute to have other people come up to me and say how awesome J is. They love all their kids and I am so glad we got in to this center. I didn't want an in home center for a few reasons: lack of adults to serve as a check for the others, stressing to find care if the provider is sick or needs vacation, etc.

This is us as well. Church based non for profit preschool. They have an infant room that have 5 babies and 4 teachers!! We love them and DS loves being there. We waitlisted for this place for 10 months though and almost didn't get in before I started work so that was the extent of my stress.
My advice to you is to visit as many as possible and go with your gut feeling. You usually know if its the place for your DS and for you as well!

BR · February 2013

lil_jen051708:
DS goes to a center at a church that we are not members of. I love it there. The ladies really love him and I feel like they are providing him a lot of opportunities to socialize with babies, different teachers and activities. The center goes through preschool and although there are quite a few kids there, all the teachers and staff know all the kids names. It is really cute to have other people come up to me and say how awesome J is. They love all their kids and I am so glad we got in to this center. I didn't want an in home center for a few reasons: lack of adults to serve as a check for the others, stressing to find care if the provider is sick or needs vacation, etc.

This is how I feel as well. Also, because I didn't want to have to switch DD when it was time for preschool and then again for Kindergarten. Our daycare center has preschool there so she can just stay there until K. My daughter loves to go to day care and her teachers love her. The socialization is great and I feel like she learned things quickly by watching other babies. I won't lie...there was definitely an adjustment period and it was a little stressful in the beginning. DD does not nap at day care nearly as well as she does at home. It was hard for me not to be in control of her schedule all day long and I didn't want things to be different than at home. But, it only took a few weeks for us to get in the routine and I am really happy there now.

joleine · February 2013

drbethc:
What do you do for childcare? I've been working really part time and now have to seek out childcare because my mother is no longer able to babysit. So far DH and I have been working together taking turns with LO. But now were at a point where childcare we have to do something about our situation...this has been stressful as I'm not ready for LO to go to day care yet but this maybe the only option...has childcare been a source of stress for you and what did you do to resolve it....just looking for what you did in your situation and how it turned out...TIA!

We have a nanny and my 3 year old is in preschool 3 mornings a week. It works out much better for us than daycare as the nanny is able to do preschool drop offs/pick ups. But for 1 baby, a nanny would probably be pretty cost prohibitive. Check out care.com or sittercity.com though, you might be able to find someone that isn't very expensive. For us, a nanny is cheaper than daycare, because there are no quality daycares that will do part time/drop in here.

Gnadtkins · February 2013

We love our daycare! We toured 3, including an in home and 2 centers. We are in the center now and love it. They accept my variable part time schedule which is great. Ds didn't take a bottle at first and they were a huge help with that. Now, they are still great with him. He is on a good nap and eating schedule. We had recommendatuons from friends and toured the places and looked them up on the 4 star website for WI. GL!

Samiantha101 · February 2013

At first, my husband and I worked sepetate shifts, so he would just watch her. I was ony doing pt then.

I got a ft job offer when we moved. I didn't have much time to find a daycare. I was on the waiting list for my husband's base's CDC, which is AWESOME. We have to do a different daycare. It was ok, but it wasn't desirable. I quit my job, and now I watch a baby a month older than my daughter.

I'm entertaining the idea of job hunting again after she's a year. I spent so long on completing my degree. I hope to put it to actual use.

thatoneredhead · February 2013

stepper1725:
thatoneredhead:
I will consider a bigger day care when he is older and can talk. Until then, home day care only for us.
I know you're just describing your own experience, Red, but all in home daycares aren't by default better than centers. Not that you were suggesting that! When I was a child, I went to a horrible in home day care. No abuse per se, but neglect. Like locking us all in the back room during 'nap time'. Anyway, I'm biased against in home care because of this.
DD goes to a center 3 days a week and we have a nanny 2 days a week while dh or I work from home. We got recommendations from friends. It was hard to leave her at first. Now she loves it. She strains to get out of her carseat in the morning to get to her main caregiver. Then she waves to me like 'bye mom!'.
We trusted the opinion of our friends, we toured the center and felt comfortable there. I think you have to trust your gut when touring a place. We found our nanny on care.com. we met with her and just clicked. Since either dh or I are home with her and DD I was less concerned about finding someone online. Good luck!

Dont blame you for being biased- that sucks! My daycare forgot/lost me 3x when I was in kindergarten and left me crying with my teacher, so Im biased too. I have to admit, DC's arent the best around here and we have a million moms who babysit.

PP mentioned a few drawbacks to home centers and I completely agree. It's a pain when she's not working, or when her kids all have strep, and while I like that he feels like "one of her kids" that leads to some liberties taken that I dont like.

Good luck

emberlee3 · February 2013

We use a nanny share for DD. DS was in daycare starting at 6 weeks. Both have pluses and minuses. The important thing is to find caregivers that you trust so that you can concentrate on work when you are there.

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