Newborns --> 6 month-olds --> 2 year olds --> 3 years

These are the easiest entry points.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I knew that there were long waiting lists for infants to get into daycare, but I did not know about long waiting lists for toddlers (I figured that since there are more options for toddlers such as daycare or preschool) that the waiting lists wouldn't be that long, or it would be easier to get a spot.

I don't have many mom friends who aren't SAHMs, so I had no idea about the long waiting lists for toddlers at daycares.

Things open up a lot more after 2.5 or 3 years old. Can you wait another y ear?

Anonymous wrote:I'd avoid most home child care centers in VA. There were 9 deaths at unregulated daycares last year. For small home daycares there is no regulation. The stories are horrific.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/nine-va-children-died-in-unregulated-day-care-in-2014-the-deadliest-year-in-a-decade/2014/12/30/bf302040-8161-11e4-81fd-8c4814dfa9d7_story.html

Do your research, idiot. Arlington and Fairfax counties have VERY strict licensing regulations for in home daycares. MUCH stricter than the state.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I knew that there were long waiting lists for infants to get into daycare, but I did not know about long waiting lists for toddlers (I figured that since there are more options for toddlers such as daycare or preschool) that the waiting lists wouldn't be that long, or it would be easier to get a spot.

I don't have many mom friends who aren't SAHMs, so I had no idea about the long waiting lists for toddlers at daycares.

Sorry that people on here have to be so rude, OP! Jeez.

When I was pregnant I always heard about the crazy waitlists for the infant rooms but that things got easier as they moved into the toddler rooms. I'm surprised that is not the case for you, but like others said, it could be due to the time of year. Or maybe you need to expand your search a bit more.

I would suggest you visit/tour a few places and find the ones you like who have reasonable waitlists (whatever you deem reasonable) and then also visit a few corporate centers that may have more immediate availability, like Kindercare or something. That's what we had to do with my son when we moved to VA. He was 18 months at the time. We needed a short-term daycare option before our preferred daycare was ready for us, so we enrolled him at Childtime for a few months and then moved him when we got off the waitlist (we had been on the wait list for 6 months at that point). And Childtime was fine for a short-term solution - we didn't love it but it was not bad. He was happy anyway.

That's one idea. Another idea is what others recommended, which is to get a nanny as a short-term solution. Once you get on a few waitlists, you should have a general idea of how long you will have to wait for an opening at your center(s) of choice. Any good director is pretty decent at giving an accurate time frame, in my experience, and they are usually pretty honest about it. So you should be able to tell the nanny upfront that you're just looking for something temporary and tell them about how long. We were notified over a month in advance that our spot was opening, so it wasn't like we had no time to plan for the transition. I'm not saying that is how it happens everywhere, but most of the time they have a good idea in advance of when the toddlers will be transitioning to the next class or leaving the center.

Good luck!

Just to give you some hope OP, I went back to work when my child was 11 months old and got a spot at a local daycare in Old Town. For various reasons it wasn't working out as I had hoped and switched her at 14 months to a federal govt. center downtown. And we're not feds! We just lucked out that a spot opened right around when we were touring (in December), and they didn't have any infants ready to move up. A few months later we got calls from two other fed centers, both Bright Horizons, that we'd toured around the same time, but opted to keep our spot. So, there are spots out there, but we had to do a lot of legwork in terms of tours, etc., to find them.

OP here. I knew that there were long waiting lists for infants to get into daycare, but I did not know about long waiting lists for toddlers (I figured that since there are more options for toddlers such as daycare or preschool) that the waiting lists wouldn't be that long, or it would be easier to get a spot.

I don't have many mom friends who aren't SAHMs, so I had no idea about the long waiting lists for toddlers at daycares.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Looking in Vienna, Reston, McLean or Burke.

In-home daycares don't appeal to me because of the lack of regulations issue. I'm fine with continuing to SAH until a spot opens up, but I was hoping to get started looking for a job sooner.

Seriously, you need to do your homework. In home daycares that have a permit through the county or a license through the state ARE regulated. Why do you think otherwise?

I don't care how many permits or inspections they have. I'd still feel uncomfortable leaving my kid in an in-home daycare because I'd rather have her someplace where they are plenty of adults around. But that's just me. I know there are plenty of people who are very, very happy with in-home providers. (I'm not OP, just defending her because she's really taking some hits on this thread.)

Anonymous wrote:Do you not have any friends in daycare? This was a topic of heavy conversation between all of us first time parents about the crazy waitlists. Surprised you hadn't gotten wind of it...

At this point, you should just get a nanny b/c you are talking years for getting into a good daycare. Remember Yogi Berra: any club that would have me as a member, I don't want to join (paraphrased). You are getting sloppy seconds, and would probably be far happier with a nanny if coming from SAHM and feel uneasy about in-home care.

I know, right? Has OP been living under a rock for 1.5 years?

The other issue you are having is the time of year. Most classes move up in September, so getting on the wait list earlier than now is important. But, get on wait lists because things can happen and things can open up later.

I'd avoid most home child care centers in VA. There were 9 deaths at unregulated daycares last year. For small home daycares there is no regulation. The stories are horrific.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/nine-va-children-died-in-unregulated-day-care-in-2014-the-deadliest-year-in-a-decade/2014/12/30/bf302040-8161-11e4-81fd-8c4814dfa9d7_story.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you not have any friends in daycare? This was a topic of heavy conversation between all of us first time parents about the crazy waitlists. Surprised you hadn't gotten wind of it...

At this point, you should just get a nanny b/c you are talking years for getting into a good daycare. Remember Yogi Berra: any club that would have me as a member, I don't want to join (paraphrased). You are getting sloppy seconds, and would probably be far happier with a nanny if coming from SAHM and feel uneasy about in-home care.

OP here. No, when I was pregnant I did not know any other moms in the area. And then I became a SAHM and while I have a few working mom friends, their kids have been in daycare since 3 months old.

So basically my understanding now is that it's really hard to start at a daycare as a toddler because there are few open spaces? That it's easier to start as an infant, even though there are still long waiting lists then.

Not necessarily. At a lot of daycares, there are openings at certain age cutoffs because the ratios change. So the room for babies and the one for toddlers have a 3:1 ratio and 12 spots, and then the room for 2YOs has a 4:1 ratio and 16 kids. Those extra 4 spaces can be your opportunity.

Anonymous wrote:Do you not have any friends in daycare? This was a topic of heavy conversation between all of us first time parents about the crazy waitlists. Surprised you hadn't gotten wind of it...

At this point, you should just get a nanny b/c you are talking years for getting into a good daycare. Remember Yogi Berra: any club that would have me as a member, I don't want to join (paraphrased). You are getting sloppy seconds, and would probably be far happier with a nanny if coming from SAHM and feel uneasy about in-home care.

OP here. No, when I was pregnant I did not know any other moms in the area. And then I became a SAHM and while I have a few working mom friends, their kids have been in daycare since 3 months old.

So basically my understanding now is that it's really hard to start at a daycare as a toddler because there are few open spaces? That it's easier to start as an infant, even though there are still long waiting lists then.

We're at Merritt Academy and we recently had a lot of spots open up as Exxon shipped a lot of people back to Texas. I've heard this happens every few years, of course of little to help to you now. Wait-lists for the area are on average 8 months-2 years, so you should get yourself on a few lists asap. We secured our spot when I was 12 weeks pregnant (it only gets more difficult). There are a few programs in the area but they don't start until age 3, so you're just at a tough age to find a spot OP, as most of the kids have been at their facility from birth and when parents find a good spot they don't normally give it up.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Looking in Vienna, Reston, McLean or Burke.

In-home daycares don't appeal to me because of the lack of regulations issue. I'm fine with continuing to SAH until a spot opens up, but I was hoping to get started looking for a job sooner.

Seriously, you need to do your homework. In home daycares that have a permit through the county or a license through the state ARE regulated. Why do you think otherwise?

Do you not have any friends in daycare? This was a topic of heavy conversation between all of us first time parents about the crazy waitlists. Surprised you hadn't gotten wind of it...

At this point, you should just get a nanny b/c you are talking years for getting into a good daycare. Remember Yogi Berra: any club that would have me as a member, I don't want to join (paraphrased). You are getting sloppy seconds, and would probably be far happier with a nanny if coming from SAHM and feel uneasy about in-home care.