Daycare when you know you're going to move while pregnant

[Anonymous]

We currently live in DC and even before getting pregnant over the past few months have been talking about moving to a bigger place in Arlington, but we haven't even started looking (and now that I'm pregnant, we definitely need a bigger place). I know that I need to get on daycare lists ASAP, but what should I do right now if I don't know where exactly we'll be living yet??

[Anonymous]

I'd start by looking at places near your or DH's work. That way it wouldn't matter where you end up living and you can look for something near home, if that is your preference, after you get settled.

[Anonymous]

if you want a center then you need to look now. If you are cool with a home daycare then you don't have to look until 2-6 months before you need care.

[Anonymous]

Maybe focus on places near your work, or your partner's work? Do you really need to move? It's very easy to accomodate a baby in a smaller place for at least the first year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe focus on places near your work, or your partner's work? Do you really need to move? It's very easy to accomodate a baby in a smaller place for at least the first year.

We don't need to move, we want to move. For more reasons than just not having enough space - we're tired of apartment living quite honestly and can't afford a row house in our part of the city.

PP's, thank you for the advice about looking near our work. I unfortunately have an unpredictable schedule, I can be either in Arlington or DC depending on what's going on that day. We'll look near DH's work.

[Anonymous]

I got on the list at my on-site day care, as well as one center in each of the three areas I was searching in. I ended up in on-site care. If you have a general idea, you could do the same, except use your DH's work location as the anchor. It's a little pricey to pay the application fees. But if you're going for a chain like Bright Horizons, you can get on the list for three centers for one application free. Good luck moving pregnant... hopefully you'll have plenty of help!

[Anonymous]

PP here... free= fee... definitely NOT free!

[Anonymous]

I'd get on all the lists you can that have no fee in the neighborhoods you are considering, as well as pay for downtown locations near your husband's work. I found that the daycares in our neighborhood don't have fees; it's the downtown ones that do. That might not be true outside of our neighborhood, though. Good luck, and congrats!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd get on all the lists you can that have no fee in the neighborhoods you are considering, as well as pay for downtown locations near your husband's work. I found that the daycares in our neighborhood don't have fees; it's the downtown ones that do. That might not be true outside of our neighborhood, though. Good luck, and congrats!

Sorry, DC was up a lot teething last night, and I fear I'm not making much sense. I'm talking about wait list fees, not enrollment fees -- all the daycares we looked at had tuition, of course, but the neighborhood ones didn't have a wait list fee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got on the list at my on-site day care, as well as one center in each of the three areas I was searching in. I ended up in on-site care. If you have a general idea, you could do the same, except use your DH's work location as the anchor. It's a little pricey to pay the application fees. But if you're going for a chain like Bright Horizons, you can get on the list for three centers for one application free. Good luck moving pregnant... hopefully you'll have plenty of help!

OP here, my parents moved into a new house 9 days before I was born - we're planning to move much sooner than that (I'm very early in my first trimester), so I think we'll be okay, but thanks! Good to know about Bright Horizons, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd get on all the lists you can that have no fee in the neighborhoods you are considering, as well as pay for downtown locations near your husband's work. I found that the daycares in our neighborhood don't have fees; it's the downtown ones that do. That might not be true outside of our neighborhood, though. Good luck, and congrats!

Sorry, DC was up a lot teething last night, and I fear I'm not making much sense. I'm talking about wait list fees, not enrollment fees -- all the daycares we looked at had tuition, of course, but the neighborhood ones didn't have a wait list fee.

got it, thank you!