how to avoid putting young child in daycare for 11 hours a day??

[Anonymous]

My hours and DH's hours are 8 to 5, and we both have about an hour commute. How do we work it so our 3 month old does not have to be in daycare from 7 to 6 everyday? I think thats too long for a young child. DH's job is not flexible on the hours. Mine MIGHT be--- and if they are, it's only by 1/2 hour or so. Any advice? Do most people in this situation just hire a nanny?

[Anonymous]

I agree that is way to long. My DS is in daycare for 9.5 hours some days and I think that is too long. We stagger our schedules (DH drops off and I pick up). One of you is just going to have to get a more flexible schedule or get a nanny. However, having a nanny still means you'll be away from your child for 11 hours a day...

[Anonymous]

Can one of you telecommute, even part time?

[Anonymous]

Can you find a daycare near your workplace? That way, baby can be with you on commute.
Or can you reduce your work schedule to 7 hours a day, or 32 hours a week?

[Anonymous]

Is there daycare near one of your jobs? although your young child will have more car time, it will be with one of you.

[Anonymous]

Daycare near one of your offices will cut 90 minutes off of that.

[Anonymous]

A nanny who is willing to work 11 hours a day will be expensive. Is there childcare near one of your work locations? That way, you can be with DS in the car at least? Not a perfect solution, I know.

If it's any consolation, when my first child was born both DH and I had very, very inflexible jobs (military). There were days when my little one was the first one at daycare (at 6 am - and I was RUNNING to work to get there on time) and the last one there to be picked up (at 6 pm). I felt miserable about it but just did the best I could. On weekends, we all hunkered down and stayed in as a family (or did family activities as DS got older). Eventually, our schedules got better. Needless to say, DS is a great kid. He doesn't seem to be affected by all of those hours in daycare and obviously doesn't remember any of it!

The toughest part was making sure I didn't keep him up too late at night, considering he had to be up so early the next morning. It was tough but we did it. He's such a great little guy now -- almost 10 years old and just the best (smart too!). Good luck OP. Do what you need to do and stay steadfast.

[Anonymous]

The only solutions are to find a daycare closer to work or change your hours, sorry. For what it's worth, you're certainly not alone -- we do send ours to daycare 11 hours. As a young infant, we actually didn't feel like it made a huge difference and he fit in three full naps a day at daycare; if we'd been able to give him a shorter day at daycare, he would've just been taking an extra nap a day or likely would've had the third nap cut into or dropped earlier.

[Anonymous]

If your jobs are not flexible, I would consider moving closer to your jobs, or finding new ones. Yes, you could have daycare closer to your work, but even if your baby commutes well, a toddler probably won't.

[Anonymous]

thanks everyone. i can ask to telework, but I don't think it will go over well Daycare near my work is an option, altho I love the one near my house. I cant reduce my hours b/c then they will want to pay me less money! thanks everyone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your jobs are not flexible, I would consider moving closer to your jobs, or finding new ones. Yes, you could have daycare closer to your work, but even if your baby commutes well, a toddler probably won't.

Problem is that I work in Dulles and DH works in DC, so we bought a house in the middle near vienna metro. My commute is about 50 minutes and DH's is about 1 hour and 15 minutes!!

[Anonymous]

Start working part time. It is tough at first, but you adjust.

[Anonymous]

Can you go down to 80% (and leave 1.5 hours early each day)? I did and it is worth the financial loss.

[Anonymous]

When I was in grad school, several of my friends were part-time nannies: they would pick up the kids from daycare, take them home, play a little/prep dinner, that kind of thing. It was the perfect job for a student. Have you looked into something like that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:thanks everyone. i can ask to telework, but I don't think it will go over well Daycare near my work is an option, altho I love the one near my house. I cant reduce my hours b/c then they will want to pay me less money! thanks everyone

Sometimes less money in order for your child to not be in daycare for 12 hours a day (and so you have some time with them) is a acrifice you have to make as part of being a parent. If your primarly priority is making money then why does it matter how many hours he's in daycare?