Day Care Center vs. In Home vs. Nanny vs. Au Pair

NicknShan · November 2015

For those in which both parents intend to return to work after LO is born...

What do you plan to do for child care?

Are you looking into it already?

This LO will be our 2nd, and with a traveling husband, I am seriously considering a nanny or au pair over our current center. However, I do already have a spot reserved in the infant room for next fall...

LizM61409 · November 2015

We're looking into daycare, have appts for tours at a couple places in a few weeks. My schedule can be a little crazy at times but dh is 8-5 so he could always do drop-off/pick-up on my weird days. I know its early but i've also heard horror stories about crazy long wait lists

CopperLane · November 2015

How often does your husband travel? I'm a FTM and my husband travels a LOT for work. I've considered a live in nanny because of this. We haven't really looked into all options yet but I know we need to start soon since there seems to be so many. I like the idea of a nanny share. We unfortunately don't have any family in the area so it makes it a little tougher for us.

Wyattnash00 · November 2015

Is a nanny share big in ur area @nicknshan? Get the same great benefits, a bit cheaper, plus socializing with another baby. I always like a nanny for young kiddos, don't have to change their schedules, if you or hubs work late you don't have to worry. And if you find a great one it's like a part of ur family.

almostpriceless · November 2015

Our 2 year old will be 3 in time to start actual Pre-K at our churches private school, so that's happening for sure. There is a spot saved for new baby at our current center too, but I haven't yet decided what we will be doing for sure. The cost of a private nanny in our area is quite reasonable, but a friend who is a financial advisor pointed out to me that there is a lot of excess paperwork for tax purposes, should we decide to hire someone privately. I also cant help but think about having to deal with that person being ill, needing a personal day, or whatever.

Edit: grammar

childcaremama · November 2015

I run a professional, licenced, in home childcare and preschool. I have six little ones daily. Baby will join in. However in home care varies wildly in quality. I run mine just like a center with my whole basement devoted to it. If you go this route, the benefits are that you get one to two people caring for your little one over the course of years. In a center there tends to be high turnover and of course as your child she's up to a new age group, you also have new caregivers. The downside is you are still leaving your house daily to take your children elsewhere.

I was a professional nanny for eight years prior to opening my childcare. A nanny is AWESOME for parents! She will come to you everyday. You don't have to even get your children dressed let alone in and out of the car. A nanny will do your children's laundry and pick up their toys. She'll even grocery shop if you want. A nanny gives total individual attention to your children. They have many of the benefits that they would if you were a SAHM. A nanny can take them to the zoo and play dates, museums, and classes. The biggest negative is of course cost. You are supplying a person's entire living. Except to pay a salary off at least 30,000 a year for a decent nanny (of course it depends on where you live and qualifications but this is generally the minimum). You'll also have to pay taxes on your nanny as you are her employer.

matthewsdm · November 2015

Both DD's are in full time daycare now. I work from home full time, so I can't really do a nanny. I toured every daycare center in town when we moved here and got a good feel for it before deciding. I'm hoping to keep LO home with me for a while to help save some money rather than having all 3 in daycare at once! But, we are playing it by ear depending on how crazy work is when I return. But, we've had great experience with our daycare!

childcaremama · November 2015

An Au Pair provides you with a lot of the benefits of a nanny, at about half of the price. You don't have to worry about taxes or anything extra. You simply pay the au pair agency their flat fee and they take care of everything. An Au Pair lives with you, so you have to be comfortable having them completely in your life, vs. a nanny who has their own place to go home too at night, has their own family, friends, etc. Your Au Pair will celebrate holidays with you and be much more socially involved in your family life than a nanny who leaves when you get home from work. English also isn't their first language so you can have some communication and cultural differences when it comes to childcare especially. However your child can be exposed to another language. Au Pair's give you more flexibly than nannies usually do. Nannies like set schedules and many don't work weekends without extra pay. An au pair you can work 45 hours a week, whatever hours you choose and can change their schedule as you need it. You get more hours of care with more flexibly at a lower price, as long as you are ok with someone living in your house and coming from a different cultural perspective than you.

Just my perspective!

cattlebride · November 2015

I went back to work with DD until mother in law got sick and then I switched to a caregiver and sahm. My family, was able to care for DD beings I am a nurse and only worked 3 days a week at the time.

I'll stay at home with the second baby and DD this go around.

NicknShan · November 2015

@copperlane my DH is gone about 4 days a week right now - usually during the work week. His next promotion could be longer stretches gone but longer stretches home too. And, it is always sporadic and we don't know his months schedule until about 10 days before the month starts.

Wyattnash00 Do you know of a place that you can look into nanny shares?

I also work long days (at work ~9.5 hours) which makes me want to look into an au pair even more because of our crazy schedule.

Wyattnash00 · November 2015

Hmmm, where do you live? Care.com could be a good place to start. I was a professional nanny for one family for 5 years and went thru an agency. It costs money but then you know you're def not getting a psycho, worth googling nanny agencies in ur area:)

CopperLane · November 2015

NicknShan said:
@copperlane my DH is gone about 4 days a week right now - usually during the work week. His next promotion could be longer stretches gone but longer stretches home too. And, it is always sporadic and we don't know his months schedule until about 10 days before the month starts.

Wyattnash00 Do you know of a place that you can look into nanny shares?

I also work long days (at work ~9.5 hours) which makes me want to look into an au pair even more because of our crazy schedule.

That's tough! I'm worried about adjusting to my husbands travel schedule with a newborn as a FTM. He travels every week but usually around two days. He has multiple international trips a year that are two weeks long. I'm mostly worried about those. A few nights alone is nothing (at least without a baby), but multiple weeks is tough. I've thought about some sort of live in care provider as well to save my sanity since we don't have any local family I can bribe to stay with me a few nights.

goldie987 · November 2015

We're on a waiting list for a local child care center (6-9 month list, seriously) while we figure out if I will be able to stay home or not. I'm really hoping DH gets the promotion he thinks he'll get, it would make it so much more feasible to stay home since I don't make all that much.

Wyattnash00 · November 2015

Au pairs totally make sense, but I'm just too stuck in my ways to share my space with a total stranger!

laurendiaz02 · November 2015

My husband and I are fortunate enough to to have my mom already living with us so she will be full-time care for the baby. My husband works all day (7am-7pm) and I currently have two jobs, so staying home isn't an option for us financially. I'm hoping that I can go down to just one job once the baby is here. Lol.

MrsAlliKat · November 2015

For those of you considering a day care center (or who have with previous kids), how many wait lists do you think you need to be on? I have been checking into day care centers, and all of the ones I'm interested in and have heard good things about have a 1-1.5 year wait list for infants. But they all also require a non-refundable deposit to be on the wait list. I want to make sure that we will have somewhere for our little one to go when I return to work, but I also don't want to pay for every wait list in town. Ugh.

RMLandy · November 2015

Hiring a nanny for the first year with my first was the best decision I ever made. I was just starting my career and it made my life so much easier not having to get a baby ready in the morning, having a relatively clean house when I got home. I highly recommend at least looking into it! We live in a college town and were able to hire a nursing student for cheaper than a career nanny may be. Haven't decided on what do so with this June baby as my son will be starting kindergarten when I go back to work. We have become very close with the ladies at his preschool and so we may send the baby there while the older one is in school then hire a nanny to pick them up in the afternoon and come home to get hw done, dinner started, etc to make our lives a little easier. Cannot say enough good things about our nanny experience.

heyyitsmac · November 2015

my step mom doesn't work and I know she would be amazing with our little one so I'd like to ask her to play nanny. I'd still pay her just because it's a large task to take on but it'd be considerably cheaper than daycare and I'd feel a lot more secure knowing baby is with family. we haven't announced yet, so thats still up in the air. I have looked into a few daycares in the area just in case. there's SO many options. I haven't heard anything about waiting lists yet. I don't know much about prices either.. I'm kind of banking on my step mom lol.

heyyitsmac · November 2015

my step mom doesn't work and I know she would be amazing with our little one so I'd like to ask her to play nanny. I'd still pay her just because it's a large task to take on but it'd be considerably cheaper than daycare and I'd feel a lot more secure knowing baby is with family. we haven't announced yet, so thats still up in the air. I have looked into a few daycares in the area just in case. there's SO many options. I haven't heard anything about waiting lists yet. I don't know much about prices either.. I'm kind of banking on my step mom lol.

HBamama2B · November 2015

I've talked to my bosses about working from home w/ LO for first six months then planning on a nanny. I was a nanny and would love that kind of care for my LO.

Side note, no matter what you go with, I say demand physical proof of current certs. I live in NYC and all anyone's talked about the past few days is this horrible day care story. They don't know I'm pregnant and if I get, "did you hear about the three month old" one more time I'm gonna lose it. I keep changing the subject but then I got on the subway and my DH said "Did you hear?" >:| I just can't people. I will bawl all up in this train!!

MynaBird · November 2015

My mom is retiring this spring. She lives 10 minutes away. Best. Timing. Ever.

My husband works out of our home, so he coordinates our childcare. One day a week, he is a SAHD. Two days a week, she goes to various grandparents' houses. And two days a week we have an awesome nanny who takes her to the park, storytime, etc.

We had a couple of terrible nanny failures -- nice women, but they wanted full-time work, or they'd never call back. We did not have good luck with Care.com at all. We finally found our nanny through friends.

I may start looking at part-time preschool in the fall for my oldest. She'll be three next summer.

june2016baby · November 2015

I trust daycare centers more than a person in my home or home daycare. I think there is more accountability at a daycare center. I also like the social aspect of daycare. However, if you can find someone you trust, a home nanny would be the most convenient option... except that you might be stuck if the nanny gets sick or something. (Having said that, daycare kids get sick a lot, so that something else to consider.)

snowhite12 · November 2015

Staying at home isn't an option for us. We thought about a nanny for our now 2 year old DD, but she was lacking in social skills (we literally have no friends with children and don't live very close to our family) and felt like she needed to be with kids her age.

We went with a learning center which separates children by age. She has 2 teachers (both have BS in early childhood education) and there is a max. of 8 two year olds in her class. She loves it there and has really flourished.

They accept babies as young as 6 weeks so we plan on sending the 2nd one there as well.

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Day Care Center vs. In Home vs. Nanny vs. Au Pair

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