Thinking About Daycare...

balexander1422 · October 2014

I only work part time right now so my husband and I are debating whether it is worth it or not to pay for part time day care.

Does anyone know if day cares do 5 days a week but only for half a day or if you have to do a schedule like M W F for part time?

Also, usually are part time prices cut in half or is it still pretty expensive?

I know all daycares are different, but wanted to get a general feel.

I feel like I need to start looking now- people I know who have had kids said they started looking at daycares really early - like around 22 weeks. I am 26 now

HStrawberry · October 2014

I also work part time. We were debating whether or not I should go back after but the prices of child care in my town are so high it wouldn't really be worth the extra $6ish an hour. We also live in a ski town so it's hard to find long term childcare as workers are so seasonal, we would probably have to find a new one every 6 months. So I will be staying at home (which I'm excited for!)

BookitBoo · October 2014

It depends on your area.

You can call and see -- there are three options for daycare at the local daycare center -- Full Time, Part a Time, and Drop in. You talk to the director and work out what days you'd be interested in bringing your baby.

Part time daycare for a toddler in our area is $90 for 29 hours or under a week. Full time is $135 and drop in is an hourly rate of $4.25, for under 4 hours a day. If you want to drop in for a complete day it's $35. Part Time is an as available basis, so if every child shows up it's unlikely they have room to stay in numbers for your child to be a drop in.

luckylady18 · October 2014

I've seen day cares that have flexible schedules for part time. A lot of them will allow you to pay an hourly rate for whatever part time schedule you want. At least that's what I've seen in NYC. Each day care will most likely have it's own policies though so you'll have to shop around.

LooneyLife · October 2014

We only looked at day care centers, not in home. In our area, none that we looked at offered part time for newborns/infants because of the child/teacher ratio required. It's not cost effective for them. Part time wasn't offered until 2+.

cpwilliams9384 · October 2014

We were the opposite of @LooneyLife, we looked at in home daycares, not day care centers. But the outcome was still the same, because of the child/teacher ratio, it was not cost effective for in home daycares to have part time children at a young age.

ECATX · October 2014

LooneyLife said:

We only looked at day care centers, not in home. In our area, none that we looked at offered part time for newborns/infants because of the child/teacher ratio required. It's not cost effective for them. Part time wasn't offered until 2+.

This was the same for us. I did find a few that were willing to do part time, but it was 2-3 days a week, rather than a lower number of hours per day. Centers in our area charge 900-1100 per month, and what they considered part time was around 750.

liladelphia215 · October 2014

balexander1422 said:

I only work part time right now so my husband and I are debating whether it is worth it or not to pay for part time day care.

Does anyone know if day cares do 5 days a week but only for half a day or if you have to do a schedule like M W F for part time?

Also, usually are part time prices cut in half or is it still pretty expensive?

I know all daycares are different, but wanted to get a general feel.

I feel like I need to start looking now- people I know who have had kids said they started looking at daycares really early - like around 22 weeks. I am 26 now

It depends on the facility.

DD's Facility didn't do less than three days a week (full or part time). And the part time rates really weren't worth it.

The facility we are putting this baby (DS) in, we only need 3 half days. We will be paying $99 a week. Their full 5 day tuition is a little over $200 a week - so while not cut in half, it's still a good discount. DD's facility was not like this.

We've had our name on DS' facility's waitlist since the summer (we were baby #8 and should get a spot come April), so definitely don't wait much longer.

You will be hard-pressed to find a facility that completely cuts full time rates in half for part time because, if you think about it, if they have a chance to put a full time baby in there, they are losing out on money having a part-timer, so while it sucks, I understand their position, too. The good thing about our schedule is that we need afternoons, a lot of families need mornings, so if a facility has a morning part-timer, they are likely to take us on.

ETA: Words are hard.

Josie400 · October 2014

Like others have mentioned, it really depends on your area. My best advice is to just start making calls and scheduling tours. Have a list of questions ready, just like you have provided in this post. That's how you will get the most accurate answers.
I'm not going to lie searching for a daycare was a pain. We started a couple months ago and found one we really like for a great full time price, but are #14 on the waiting list right now. So we aren't certain if we will have a space ready by March.

balexander1422 · October 2014

Thank you all for your wonderful help!

llambrose · October 2014

It really depends on your area and the facility. When I was pregnant, we determined that it was not worth it for me to continue working (especially at the job I had then) and have a baby in daycare full time. I called around and the full time rate was around $250/week and I only made about $800/month so I stayed home for two years. When I went back to work part time, my daughter was 2, I started with a home based daycare. She charged me $15 a day for anything under 4 hours and $20 a day for anything over 4 hours. At 3, I transitioned her over to a center that had an hourly rate. I work at a University and this center was affiliated with the University (though open to anyone) and was set up to work around student schedules. They charged me $4.50/hr for a 3 year old. Babies were more expensive. With this baby, I will be going back to work but my husband works in the evening so he will be home with him during the day, my boss has also said that I can bring the baby to work with me if I want. I am very glad to not have to try to figure out day care for him. My daughter is in preschool and will be going to kindergarten next year so hopefully that schedule can last us for a few years.

SheHulk723 · October 2014

In my area there are a few daycares that do hourly rates, or daily rates instead of weekly. We looked into it since I only work p/t and one of the days I work, DH has off so we wouldn't need care. But it's still not cost effective for us. I'm not going to work 26 hours to only bring home like $50-100 a week after child care costs. So we made the decision today that I can transition to being a mostly SAHM. It really just depends on your area and how much you make. You'll have to do some number crunching.

jneden · October 2014

Most of the larger chain daycares have part time options. I think ours (Tutor Time) is around $40/day. Usually when you do a tour they go over the pricing.

It was really hard for me to put DD in daycare when my maternity leave ended but she is really happy there. They do a lot of crafts and she has learned patience and sharing which is great.

CoachTay · October 2014

I was able to find part time daycare with an in-home provider without a problem. We just switched to a center (we moved) and are full time since I now work full time, but will be able to cut down to part time during my maternity leave and over the summer since I work in a school. It all depends on your area and the demand. Good luck!

Jellybean707 · October 2014

In my area most centers have a Part-Time(3 days or less) and a Full-Time(4 or 5 Days) option. I work a part time M-W-F schedule.

We live in a low cost of living area and use a daycare chain(ChildTime.) For full time infant care it is $213 a week for part time infant care it is $183 per week. For DS who is 2y 6mo it is $192 per week for full time and $162 per week part time. If we are out of town and not using any days that week we pay half of the part time cost to "hold" their spot.

Another thing to be mindful of is that not all centers offer a part time option for infants. I would start lookinh asap. You may run into some wait lists. With DS I started looking at 25weeks and was wait listed until 2 weeks after my maternity leave ended.

Samiantha101 · October 2014

Mine doesn't offer part time. When I first started back to work, I worked full time but my husband's and my hours only overlapped a couple of hours. I found a couple places that accepted part time, but it didn't seem like quality care, nor was it much less inexpensive.

peggels24 · October 2014

I need to move - the price of daycare around me is ridiculous (the cheapest center I found was $350 per week and the medium priced one that I am probably going to use is $432 per week).

Anyway - to answer your questions - you definitely need to call around to see what they offer. Most of the centers that I looked at had fixed part-time schedules because of the teacher ratio issue.

9513 · October 2014

I'm also in a high cost of living area

I looked at daycare for three days a week and it averaged out to be $250 a week for that. Thankfully I have family available and willing to help watch him.

thompnia · October 2014

Wow, we are so blessed. Our daycare charges $3.50/hr for over 1 year old, and $3.75/hr for infants. I only pay when he goes; if I call in the morning and cancel I get a credit. Our son goes four days a week now, but started out only going two or three.

Hearing about other places makes me even more thankful my mom is quitting her job to watch my kids after the baby comes.

Samiantha101 · October 2014

Holy crap ladies, I'm not often fond of living in the Midwest, but I guess I won't complain about my $600 a month per child daycare costs anymore!

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