Affordable childcare NW DC

[Anonymous]

Looking for childcare in the next couple of months for my infant daughter. We live in NW DC in Chevy Chase area and so far all the daycares I have looked into are around $2400-$2600 / month ( with waitlists so not even sure we would get in ). Anyone know of more affordable options? We are open to home daycares too but we don’t know of any in the area. Thanks !

[Anonymous]

What do you consider affordable?

[Anonymous]

I would get on waitlist just in case.

[Anonymous]

Look on Care Lulu for in-homes. They tend to be more of those in the suburbs though.

[Anonymous]

OP here- more like $2200 or below thanks! Around $2k would be nice

[Anonymous]

We love our daycare - US Kids in the GSA Bldg - and it's definitely on the more affordable end of the spectrum. Current bi-weekly rates for an infant (up to 12 mos) are $926 for fed families or $1017 for non-feds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We love our daycare - US Kids in the GSA Bldg - and it's definitely on the more affordable end of the spectrum. Current bi-weekly rates for an infant (up to 12 mos) are $926 for fed families or $1017 for non-feds.

NP. We looked at all these places that are affiliated with fed agencies - yes, they are cheaper, but the waitlist costs money. We went ahead and put our name on about 7 or 8 waitlists for them including US Kids, without any federal preference. Our kid just turned a year and we are still not up on any of those waitlists. So sure, put your name on them if you want, but if you don't have federal preference, you are years away from getting in.

OP - sorry to tell you that we searched high and low and the absolutely dirt cheapest place we could find was $2250, and this was a year and a half ago. You're probably SOL.

One thing you might want to consider is a nanny share. That's what we ended up doing. Even though we are paying on the books, plus workers comp and taxes and everything, our total costs per month are about $2400. It's not much more money for what, for us at least, is a way better experience (we've got a finicky napper who would be getting no sleep in daycare).

[Anonymous]

Flor Alvarez home daycare and Lanier Lullabies. Both in Adams Morgan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love our daycare - US Kids in the GSA Bldg - and it's definitely on the more affordable end of the spectrum. Current bi-weekly rates for an infant (up to 12 mos) are $926 for fed families or $1017 for non-feds.

NP. We looked at all these places that are affiliated with fed agencies - yes, they are cheaper, but the waitlist costs money. We went ahead and put our name on about 7 or 8 waitlists for them including US Kids, without any federal preference. Our kid just turned a year and we are still not up on any of those waitlists. So sure, put your name on them if you want, but if you don't have federal preference, you are years away from getting in.

OP - sorry to tell you that we searched high and low and the absolutely dirt cheapest place we could find was $2250, and this was a year and a half ago. You're probably SOL.

One thing you might want to consider is a nanny share. That's what we ended up doing. Even though we are paying on the books, plus workers comp and taxes and everything, our total costs per month are about $2400. It's not much more money for what, for us at least, is a way better experience (we've got a finicky napper who would be getting no sleep in daycare).

Disagree that it's impossible to get into a fed center now. The situation has totally changed with Covid. Toddler spots may be more difficult, but our fed center has immediate openings for infants. OP, doesn't hurt to call some of these places and ask.