Daycare spinoff...

AmandaR417 · April 2016

I haven't seen thus on our board yet (currently on mobile, though, so freak out if you must), but I was curious how everyone found their current daycare (or other childcare arrangements). Word of mouth? Google? A site like care.com?

How soon did you start your search?
How many people/places did you visit?
What are your must-haves able your deal breakers when it comes to childcare?

I was told I should start looking soon, but it feels a little silly to say, "I'm still in the first tri, but one day I'll need your services..."

hellopartyof5 · April 2016

I ended up not going with daycare, but I asked a lot of my neighbors and coworkers for suggestions.

Katemr1146 · April 2016

I would absolutely start looking now. When we started touring places a lot of them had really long wait lists. I would join a local moms FB group and ask for recommendations there. I ended up finding the one we went with on Google, because it was brand-new and no one in my area had reviews. We toured 4 total, and knew instantly which was the best fit for us.

Katemr1146 · April 2016

Daycare availability also has a lot to do with your area. You'll be able to determine that by talking other local moms

Knottie1458416769 · April 2016

Since we are on this topic - anyone have good daycare recommendations for San Francisco?

lilwonder · April 2016

Knottie1458416769 said:

Since we are on this topic - anyone have good daycare recommendations for San Francisco?

In SF or somewhere else in the Bay?

Knottie1458416769 · April 2016

Inside SF please if you have recommendations

Oakleypoozles · April 2016

How soon did you start your search?
I really don't remember. I wasn't in a rush so I looked until I found the right one. I'm not sure how long that actually was though.

How many people/places did you visit?
8-10 I called and spoke with and toured all of them.

What are your must-haves able your deal breakers when it comes to childcare?
Christian oriented was #1. Followed by just my feel for everyone and the structure and what I was able to observe. No structure and inconsistency with anything they said was an immediate deal breaker.

lilwonder · April 2016

Knottie1458416769 said:

Inside SF please if you have recommendations

PM'd you ;-)

TrulyBlessed22 · April 2016

I toured 4 and yes we started pretty early, I was around 5/6 months. For us that out us 7 months out from when DD would go in because I planned on taking 4 months of leave.

I asked co-workers and neighbors for recommendations and that at least got me to not visit one place.

Questions I asked: Caregiver CPR/Heimlich requirements, How long the Infant caregivers have been there, how they warm bottles/food (micro vs bottle warmer/crock pot), Evacuation Procedures, nap checks, how many caregivers per infant, cleaning procedures, parent pop in policy (there shouldn't be one you should be ever to show up whenever you want unannounced).

I'm sure I asked many others but those are some the ones sticking out to me right now.

ETA - I just realized you didn't ask what questions to ask, I misread your question about must haves/deal breakers. Hope the questions help anyway

GirPipley · April 2016

Daycare owner here- we get most of our referrals through word of mouth or care dot com. If you're in the VA/MD/DC area or SF area, check Carelulu (they are a new care database like care . Com, but I prefer there set up and it's cheaper (free I think for parents).

Don't be afraid to check craigslist- although I own the highest rates daycare in my area, we still advertise on craigslist occasionally- I've gotten some of my best clients from CL.

Facebook is also good! Do a search for "daycare ::insert city::" and you will see a ton of options near you.

As as for timing- totally depends on your area- in the DC area, we already have people on a waitlist for January 17, but don't have openings until October 2017... so there's that...

Tour as many as possible! Both centers and homes! You might think you want a center but be blown away by a home or vise versa- tours are free- take them!

I always tell parents to not pick a daycare until you meet the provider that leaves you with zero questions at the end, so try to find that.

mrs_hoyahoo · April 2016

Depending on your area, it's probably not too soon to start - especially with the research.

I live in a very high-demand area and year-long waitlists aren't uncommon. I spent a lot of time reviewing websites and local mommy listservs to put together a list of the ones I was interested in. In the end, however, I didn't end up getting on any waitlists. Many centers require you to do a tour and put a deposit down ($100+) to get on the waitlist. Given that I didn't know if I'd continue working or not, we decided not to spend the time/money.

Long story short, I decided to go back to work PT when DS was 3 months old and we used a babysitter. A PT babysitter was about the same cost as FT daycare.

But here's a tip - Daycares with long waitlists can suddenly have openings if you're ready to start immediately. When our babysitter went back to work full time, we had to find a new arrangement pretty quickly. Two different daycares I called had infant spots available because we could start right away, even though I'm sure there was a waitlist of families who weren't ready to enroll at that time. I almost didn't bother calling, because I thought there was no way there'd be a spot, but sure enough, there was.

kms456 · April 2016

We started touring I think when I was about 6 months pregnant with DD1. It took a few centers to really find what we were looking for. Word of mouth is how we found our current place. Tour as many as possible and try to go during the busiest time of day (not nap time).

Definitely make sure you look into ALL of the rooms too, not just the infant room.

Kimmykins143 · April 2016

I was on the daycare list before I was even pregnant both times since the list was 2 years out! Good centers are extremely competitive where I live, and I knew that one I wanted. I actually work on the other side of the building (it's a church that houses a daycare), so I wanted the ease of location, plus the ability to go walk down and check on my DD! It didn't hurt that it was the highest rated program in the city.

shevaCC · April 2016

Washington state has a website where you can access a complete list of state accredited daycares in your area. I bet a lot of other states might have something like that too.

Also if your job has an EAP (employee assistance program), one perk is often referrals to daycares. I've used that before too. I would probably wait until you've publically announced your pregnancy at work, but might as well take advantage of provided benefits.

shevaCC · April 2016

Oh! And I picked our first center for DD by looking at websites, calling 2 places, and touring one. It felt like a really good fit so I stopped looking at that point. When we became unhappy with that center (change in management 2 years later) I asked my network of mom friends and called a few additional options, toured one, and went with it.

We have only a few places that offer full-day care close to our house (a suburb of Seattle) but I've been able to find some really good options.

TwandaFTG · April 2016

AmandaR417 said:

I was told I should start looking soon, but it feels a little silly to say, "I'm still in the first tri, but one day I'll need your services..."

Not to freak you out but you need to get on waitlists asap if you area is anything like mine. Last time I went in February 14 and got put on the list for March 15. It does feel silly but that is how it works around here. I ended up being moved up on the list and got a spot right when I needed it in December 14.

I picked a center through word of mouth. But I also looked at our state's websites to daycare center rankings. I was able to review their scores and see what "violations" the had in the past. Their worst offense was not having as many veggies as they did fruit at lunch.

Chcaggie1 · April 2016

I searched for daycares in our zipcode. Hubby and I both work about 35-40 minutes from our home but in opposite directions so we decided close to home was the best option. Then, I visited their websites to see which ones had curriculum I liked (even for infants) and once I had a fairly long list of potentials, I checked the DPS website for infractions and narrowed down the list quite a bit. I then called my top choices and asked for pricing over the phone. I was adamant about not wasting my time off work touring a facility I knew was overpriced (or outside our predetermined budget). We ended up taking one afternoon off and touring 3 facilities and fell in love with one that we ended up choosing and paying a deposit for that day.

How soon did you start your search? My search only lasted about a month (maybe two). We found a place we liked quickly. I believe we were 6-7 months out from the date my LO needed to start when we put him a list. They did have a space that far out in my area. In fact they had 4 spaces for the month we needed, just to give you an idea.

What are your must-haves and your deal breakers when it comes to childcare? Student teacher ratio was very important to us. We ended up choosing the facility that had the lowest ratio of all the ones we visited. I also really wanted a facility that taught baby sign language. I wont care as much this time since I feel like hubby and I know enough to teach baby #2. My husband really wanted to make sure there would be learning happening and not just babysitting. Dealbreaker: if the place felt chaotic when we walked in it was crossed off my list. If the facility did not have experience with breastmilk it would have also been a deal breaker but we didn't run across any of those.

If you are worried about starting too soon. Just pick up the phone and randomly call one or two facilities and ask them if they have available spaces in February 2017 (or whichever month you will need). Also ask, how far in advance parents usually sign their children up for that school. That will give you an idea if the facilities in your area are already wait listing or if you still have some time.

AmandaR417 · April 2016

"unfortunately our next opening on our wait list for our infant class is August 2017" WTF?! Pregnancy is only 9 months. How is there a 16 month wait list????

Excuse me while I go freak the F out now.....

Knottie1458416769 · April 2016

Hate to break it to you but some cities are horrible with supply and demand. When I lived in Boston there was a 3year wait list for popular daycares close to the major hospitals ...imagine putting yourself on the list before trying to conceive ...

chloe97 · April 2016

TwandaFTG said:

AmandaR417 said:

I was told I should start looking soon, but it feels a little silly to say, "I'm still in the first tri, but one day I'll need your services..."

Not to freak you out but you need to get on waitlists asap if you area is anything like mine. Last time I went in February 14 and got put on the list for March 15. It does feel silly but that is how it works around here. I ended up being moved up on the list and got a spot right when I needed it in December 14.

I picked a center through word of mouth. But I also looked at our state's websites to daycare center rankings. I was able to review their scores and see what "violations" the had in the past. Their worst offense was not having as many veggies as they did fruit at lunch.

TW

I live in one of the areas with long wait lists. With my last pregnancy, I started looking at 8 weeks and sent a few emails. I miscarried 2 weeks later, which was when exactly every single day care center decided to finally get back to me. Some even neglected to remember my email response that I had miscarried and continued to email me monthly to ask about a tour. To say that it was a painful experience is an understatement.

This time around, I'm waiting until 20 weeks for my mental health because I'm not putting myself through that again.

shevaCC · April 2016

@AmandaR417 (and others), there are sometimes ways around those long wait lists if you get yourself in a pinch. When DS was born, I was laid off during maternity leave (effective the end of my leave -- canceling my leave would've been illegal) so I had to interview for a new job with a few week old baby. I finally got everything settled with my new position about a month before starting back to work. All the daycares around that large company had 9-10 month long wait lists, but I called a ton of them anyway. I actually found 2 nice centers that had spots available for the very next month. And a third center that I could've had DS start in part-time, then we would've jumped to top priority on the waiting list for a full-time spot. It was stressful, but possible, to find high quality care at the last minute.

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