Does anyone do part-time daycare?

[nabailey]

I'll be looking for part-time day care for a 6 month old baby next year. 3 days a week - Tuesday, Wednesday and Fridays. 8:30 am - 6 pm

Much of what I read focuses on full-time day care, so I'm wondering what parents who need only part-time care do.

I have a friend who works as a nurse part-time - she has to pay for full-time day care, even though she only ends up using it a few days a week. Is this what people do? (pay full-time, just not use all the days?)

Any tips/insight is welcome!

[Anonymous]

I have a 6 month old and have just returned to work this month (also doing Tue/Wed/Fri and same hours as you). I use an in-home childcare provider who currently has 2 other children in her care. I live in Alexandria and went through the infant toddler program. All the daycares I visited required me to pay full-time price which was not worth it to me. I also interviewed nannies, but it is more expensive and most are looking for full-time. I probably interviewed 14 providers/daycares before deciding on one.

[Anonymous]

I do part time day care. I signed up as full time in the beginning because I wanted the flexibility to be able to bring in DS extra days if work got really busy, or to freely switch my days around for whatever reason. But after a while, they realized I was only bringing him 3 days a week (in practice, I have only needed an extra day a handful of times in the 2+ years he's been there). We pay online, and suddenly the rates went way down. I asked about it, and they said they just started charging me for 3 days. I emphasized I wanted to make sure I still had the flexibility to do more, and they said that they just go by the attendance log for billing. I find this kind of odd, given that we pay a week in advance... but I'm not going to complain! It may be an unofficial policy though because my actual contract still says full time.

[Anonymous]

What's the name of this part-time daycare? I'm looking for one!

[nabailey]

Thank you PPs for responding.

21:04 Poster - That definitely has been what I've noted. Nannies are pricier and seem to be more interested in full-time. And, it isn't worth it for me to have to pay full-time prices.

I've heard of the Infant/Toddler program on another website and will definitely look into that - we live in Alexandria also.

[Anonymous]

Children in the Shoe in Bethesda (2 locations, both great) does part time, but that's the only place I know of off the top of my head.

[nabailey]

We're in Alexandria, and I work in Fredericksburg, so Bethesda would be tough.
Thank you though.

[Anonymous]

We have part-time daycare at the Shady Grove Early Learning Center.