Advice on getting started?

[Anonymous]

Hello! I'm a first-time mom in Alexandria (OT/Rosemont/Delray), due in August. I don't know many people in this area who have kids, so I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed when it comes to starting the search for daycare. Does anyone have any advice on how to get started & what resources to turn to? How do I even find out about what options are available nearby? We'll likely need full-time care starting around November, and I'm open to a traditional daycare center, in-home center, nanny share, etc. At this point, I just want to get a sense of what's out there, so I can start looking into specific options & get on the requisite wait-lists. Thanks in advance!!

[Anonymous]

Well, I'm barely ahead of you (due in July, need daycare in Oct or Nov), but I can tell you what we've done so far. The waiting lists for centers are ridiculously long around here, so we're already too late for some of them. I started with these because the waiting lists are longer than those for in-home providers. (Still not quite sure what we want.) Look up centers in your area through the city of Alexandria website and the VA Dept. of Social Services website. There you can see which ones to avoid by reading their inspection reports. I visited three and got on three wait lists.

Now I'm going to start calling/visiting in-home day care providers (also listed on the websites above). I did call a couple, who said they won't have a good idea of whether they'll have a spot until later in the year.

Good luck!

And if anyone has any other advice, please share, because I'd like to hear it, too!