cost for in-home daycare or center in Fairfax County just outside Beltway

[Anonymous]

What's the approximate cost for an infant?

We have a nanny now and we love her, but I am looking at our budget and the nanny is a HUGE expense. Paying her is eating up a significant portion of my take-home.
I have had kids in daycare before and while I much prefer having a nanny, I know I can make daycare work if I find the right place. I don't want to give up the nanny but I have to look at the bottom line.

I only need part-time care (~3 days week), but I think even if I had to pay for full-time care and only use it part of the time, it might still be significantly less expensive than having a nanny. Obviously it must be a licensed facility with high-quality care.

[Anonymous]

you're going to have a very tough time finding part-time care for an infant, fyi. Infant care is expensive because of the ratios needed. You might see if you could find a full-time spot and find someone to share your spot.

We just left Carousel child development center in Annandale, VA. (just off of Gallows below 50.) I think full-time infant care there is about $1,400/month and we were VERY happy with the care our daughter received. We would have stayed there till pre-K but we recently moved out of the county. The infant room has 3 caregivers and 12 kids, though most days there are maybe 10 kids in there. You bring formula and diapers, but after your child is done with formula, they supply meals and milk.

[Anonymous]

Infant Toddler network does part time. Their rates are on their website. Contact them for a list of licensed providers in the neighborhood you are looking at. We found our provider this way and couldn't be happier.

Infanttoddler.com

[Anonymous]

you're going to have a very tough time finding part-time care for an infant, fyi. Infant care is expensive because of the ratios needed. You might see if you could find a full-time spot and find someone to share your spot.

I am willing to pay for a full-time slot even if I only use it part-time. I did that with my older kids for years because the center where I wanted them didn't offer part-time. The issue is whether daycare will be significantly cheaper than a nanny, which I think it will.

Your info on Carousel is helpful, thanks. That's not near enough to me so I wouldn't use them, but the cost info is useful. $1400/mo is substantially less than what we currently spend for our nanny.

[Anonymous]

10:44 here - here are their rates.



6 Weeks through 15 Months 16 Months and Up
Parent Monthly Fee Parent Monthly Fee
1-15 hours/week $619.88 $563.53
16–20 hours/week $705.98 $641.80
21-25 hours/week $847.16 $770.14
26-30 hours/week $988.35 $898.50
31-40 hours/week $1058.94 $962.67
41-50 hours/week $1129.54 $1026.86
Over 50 hours/week $8.50 per hour $8.50 per hou

[Anonymous]

Thanks 10:44!!

[Anonymous]

our home daycare is $325/wk. near tysons. regardless of age. they provide 2 meals and 1 snack.

[Anonymous]

We are in the reston/herndon area and pay 275 a week. Includes two meals, snacks and milk.

[Anonymous]

My son is in the preschool program at Merritt Academy. They're located at Rt 50 and Nutley. The infant program is $1,602 /month. I have no experience with the infant program but since you were looking for costs....I think this is a little high. My daughter is at an in home daycare near Carousel (mentioned above) and we pay $280/wk. If you're looking to save money in home daycare is the way to go! I think the costs will vary depending on where you're looking.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if a home daycare might be more flexible than a center in terms of working out a part-time arrangement? Or are they still usually looking for people to take full-time slots?

Also, I looked on InfantToddler.com and saw a few in my area but very little info is provided; I guess you have to call & go visit? Specifically I am interested in a bilingual environment - does anyone know if there's a way to search for that on the site?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if a home daycare might be more flexible than a center in terms of working out a part-time arrangement? Or are they still usually looking for people to take full-time slots?

Also, I looked on InfantToddler.com and saw a few in my area but very little info is provided; I guess you have to call & go visit? Specifically I am interested in a bilingual environment - does anyone know if there's a way to search for that on the site?

We are still in the process of finding daycare for our infant, expected arrival this fall, but all of the in-home providers I have talked to have asked if I want full-time or part-time care. I have been told by a few that they only take full-time, but I assume, as a pp suggested, that you could either pay for a full-time spot (gives the provider a break on the off days while still getting full-time rate) or share a full-time spot with another part-time family if the provider insists on filling the full-time spot every day of the week.

On infant toddler, you should fill out the request form, and someone will contact via phone or email. I did this, and they pulled all of the providers in my neighborhood, and sent over detailed provider info. I believe the sheets included bios on the providers, which included their language, education, experience, etc.

[Anonymous]

Bilingual placement with Infant Toddler will not be a problem. My 2 boys understand and speak Farsi, courtesy of their provider! Now that they are getting ready to move on to preschool, we are trying to figure out some arrangement so they can go back there and keep up their language skills. Maybe with after-school care or something.

[Anonymous]

What area/city are you looking in for care? that would be helpful in determining cost as well as who has availability.

At this time, I am actually open to offering part time care to those who need it until it fills the slot/s i have.

[Anonymous]

11:02 home day care seems on the high end but maybe because it is Tysons. Our fairfax daycare center is $300/week for infant, but it does not do part time. $15,600 total for the year up to 16 months. I just don't get these centers that charge 19,000+ for infants. We looked at a ton and got references not worth 4K more. As long as my baby is cared for fed and has a clean diaper! The hard part is finding a center with out a wait list....

[Anonymous]

We pay $850 for in-home daycare in Springfield for 3 days/week. It's almost the same as full time rate, but most providers prefer FT as you are taking a spot for another child. I recommend you search for licensed providers on Fairfax County website first and contact them yourself. Many belong to Infant Toddler as well, but will charge less if you go straight though them.