When to Apply for Daycare/Nanny Shares

[Anonymous]

We are expecting our first child this summer and will need childcare beginning in the fall/early winter. I've heard that waitlists for daycares can be long, but when, realistically, should we begin touring/applying to daycares? Or searching for nanny shares, as we are considering both daycare and nanny shares at this point?

[Anonymous]

You should apply for daycare spots immediately.

[Anonymous]

Daycares basically the second you know you’re pregnant.

[Anonymous]

Daycare you're already behind.

Nanny shares you have some time.

[Anonymous]

I called daycares after I hit 12 weeks, and they already had waitlists for when the baby would be 5 months old... I was told people call before even conceiving. It's really psychotic.

Nanny/nanny shares I've been told can be a few months before you need the care.

[Anonymous]

I’m also looking for infant care beginning in early fall of this year and am already on waitlists for daycare. Nannyshares seem to pop up with pretty short turnaround since most nannies aren’t looking for employment super far out. I’ll probably start posting on local groups in late spring/early summer trying to find a nannyshare match for September start.

[Anonymous]

Center based care you should get on lists immediately but also know it can be tough to get a spot and depending on where you are it could be nearly impossible. Also know you often have to pay to be on waitlists. We were on 5 waitlists, all $100 each on the Hill and downtown when I was 16 weeks pregnant. He didn’t get into any of them until he was 3. We laughed really hard when we got the call. But honestly there are so many factors YMMV! I’d just do it ASAP.

Nanny share (which is what we ended up doing) I would first try to find a family and would try to do similarly aged baby. So I would honestly try to look during maternity leave through local moms groups, see who you mesh with. Nanny’s often can be hired with just a few weeks lead time. You can’t hire them too far ahead of schedule because most want to start fairly soon—within 2 to 4 weeks unless you stumble across a nanny that knows well ahead of time that her current gig is ending, though this is rare.

Also don’t rule out home based daycares. But those often are word of mouth and can be harder to find. Good luck OP—it was stressful but looking back it all worked out great for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Center based care you should get on lists immediately but also know it can be tough to get a spot and depending on where you are it could be nearly impossible. Also know you often have to pay to be on waitlists. We were on 5 waitlists, all $100 each on the Hill and downtown when I was 16 weeks pregnant. He didn’t get into any of them until he was 3. We laughed really hard when we got the call. But honestly there are so many factors YMMV! I’d just do it ASAP.

Nanny share (which is what we ended up doing) I would first try to find a family and would try to do similarly aged baby. So I would honestly try to look during maternity leave through local moms groups, see who you mesh with. Nanny’s often can be hired with just a few weeks lead time. You can’t hire them too far ahead of schedule because most want to start fairly soon—within 2 to 4 weeks unless you stumble across a nanny that knows well ahead of time that her current gig is ending, though this is rare.

Also don’t rule out home based daycares. But those often are word of mouth and can be harder to find. Good luck OP—it was stressful but looking back it all worked out great for us.

I’m PP and wanted to add that for us (we had multiple shares with the same nanny), the family we shared with and our ability to mesh with them and have similar outlooks on parenting style was more important (if that’s the right word) than the nanny. Most annoyances and disagreements we had, probably 95%, had nothing to do with the nanny and had to do with frustrations with differences in styles between families. At the end of the day you are the nanny’s boss, but sharing that boss duty with another is complicated. Just something to be aware of—I know so many people when they think of shares think about the hiring the nanny part. But you really really need to consider the family you pair with too.

[Anonymous]

OP here - it all seems so soon. I reached out to about 6 facilities last week and we are on the waitlist at one. The remainder of the centers have not responded and are not answering their phones during the week. Is that typical? For reference, we live in Petworth and are looking for centers close to home.