Help finding daycare in NOVA

[yjorjorian]

I live in Alexandria and we are currently trying to find daycare for our soon-to-arrive daughter. My husband works a job where his shift is 24 hrs on and then 72 hrs off. So we would only need daycare a couple days a week and each week the days would change. I was wondering if anyone knew of daycare (whether in-home or not) in the Alexandria/Arlington (or close by) area that is more flexible - instead of having to pay for an entire week, you can pay by day or some other type of schedule? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I think your best bet would be an in-home daycare. Every child care provider (in-home and center based) have requirements as far as the maximum number of children they have. A center would be more likely to be impacted with fluctuating participation vs a home based provider.

Check out Virginia Licensed Daycare Providers and FFX County Licensed Daycare providers, links below. The county licensed ones would all be home-based. Just because someone is licensed with the county doesn't mean they are licensed with the state.

http://www.dss.virginia.gov/facility/search/cc.cgi

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/childcare/search/

[Anonymous]

definitely check out the day care boards on this site - don't think that tons of expectant moms have a lot of experience yet!

[Anonymous]

I think you are probably going to have a hard time finding someone, even an in-home provider, willing to take you on. It's hard enough finding a part time spot (usually then they want you to share the spot with another family, so the daycare gets a full time income), but having the days change....it's going to be really hard. Not trying to be harsh, just realistic. Day care providers can only have but so many children in their care, they need to be able to plan how many they will have each day, and they need the reliable income from each slot they have to fill. You should consider a SAHM who wants to earn some extra money.

[Anonymous]

Try Infant Toddler. They're a consortium of in-home daycares (our son goes to one in Alexandria). There are some providers who will take on a part-time kid (both providers I've used have had part-timers), and mine is good with my sometimes flexible hours. (It's not as drastic as your situation though - usually AM but sometimes switching for PM or sending him a whole day and skipping an AM.) If you find someone who is under-filled, it's even less of a problem. You would have to pay a base number of hours per week, but they allow for paying for extra hours if you go over. (So for example, I pay for 25 hours a week, but if I need more hours, I know the rate I would pay, and I know my provider is available.)