Anonymous wrote:I am Not sure what people mean by “educated”. I found An amazing, phenomenal nanny who yes has a hs degree but worked at a daycare for years pre covid and is very knowledgeable about all things infant. She’s amazing. I dont need a Harvard MBA to watch my baby during covid. Shes $20/hr and she’s a bargain my mind. Op I think you can find someone similar.

+1 to this. I never wanted a highly educated nanny for my kid, just someone experienced, loving and nurturing. I also never intended to have a nanny up through kindergarten, though - I wanted my kid in some kind of school environment by 2.5 or so.

Strong vote for a nanny share. We always assumed a nanny would be out of our reach economically and we'd use daycare. But a nanny share is an awesome alternative. Might be tough to find another family if it's not common in Chicago - but being in a nanny share is wonderful for our son. The nanny makes $24 on the books, so we each pay $12 an hour plus payroll taxes, insurance, etc. Total comes to about $2,500 a month. My son gets excellent care, personal attention, and (this was key for us) the opportunity to take good, long naps in a dark, quiet room with a sound machine, and can stay on the schedule we like for him.

I know a lot of babies can adjust to daycare naps - my baby was not one of them, and I think baby sleep is so, so important.

Daycare is cheaper than a nanny but much harder on the parents. My kids really thrived in both but we had a great nanny and then a great daycare.

I opted for Daycare because it seemed to me that it was much more affordable for me, generally for everyone. But before making this decision, I talked to a few friends who already had young children and they advised me how to do everything more correctly. They still opted for Daycare. Still, until I found the right one, it took a while. My child is here - https://kidcityusa.com/ and I mean, everything's going pretty well. The staff is very friendly, I had no claims. I recommend it.

Anonymous wrote:In normal times, babies get sick a lot in daycare. Any little fever and you’re home with the baby for a couple days. With covid, it’s even worse and certainly more frightening.

Go with a nanny. Plus a good nanny will do child-related chores like the baby’s laundry, washing bottles, cleaning play area and toys, and making baby food.

Quantify "sick a lot" if you want to help out this new mom.

Anecdotally for me, for each of my two kids, it was only about 2-3 fevers a year, and they would recover in 1-2 days. I have never had to take off from work more than 2 days straight raising two kids up till 7 years old. Even if my kids got a cold, they certainly recovered in a few days compared to my colds that would last 1-2 weeks.


As to the original question from the OP, only you can decide if the extra $25k to get a nanny is worth it. If my HHI were at $150k, of course not. At $200k, maybe. At $250k HHI, I would absolutely go for the conveniences of a nanny. Doing daycare means you have to get the infant in clean diapers, clothed, otherwise ready (plus prepare all the bottles or what not), waste time doing drop offs and pick ups. A nanny saves you all that drop off and pick up time, plus the nanny can do all the bottles or first foods prep and the baby laundry and restock baby stuff and keep the infant area clean.

Anonymous wrote:I had my first child in May. I am going back to work in September. We have looked into a nanny but it is expensive. We will be paying legally and most nannies quoted us $18-20/hour. We need someone 40/hours a week. We found a daycare for $2k/month. We will be paying like $50k/year for a nanny. I have been deciding whether we want to daycare, nanny, or quit my job. I want to go back to work but considering taking a year off and then enrolling in daycare when he turns one. What would you do?

If your job is one that you can pretty easily go back in year, WHY IS THIS EVEN A QUESTION during Covid times?????? No one wants to expose their family to the added risk of a nanny (and everyone she interacts with) or a daycare center (with all those kids, plus their working parents). We just do it because our jobs are not conducive to just taking a year off.

But aside from a health risk perspective, are you the type that would go nuts being home for a year? I quit my job when I had my first child. I was envisioning giving my child the best care ever, full of love, and the extra enrichment by a highly educated mom v. the quality of nannies in my budget. But frankly, being a SAHM did not suit my personality, and by month 10, I was ready to go back to work and have more stimulating adult interaction.

Plus in hindsight, I now realize that it does not matter if the caregiver only has a high school degree or has a college and a graduate school degree from fancy schools. Or even if they don't have a childhood development background. It does not matter if the caregiver's English is terrible (since so many nannies are immigrants). How caring the person is trumps all. Of course they have to have basic good judgment and be responsible, but you don't need someone with a degree or English fluency to get better quality care for infancy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In normal times, babies get sick a lot in daycare. Any little fever and you’re home with the baby for a couple days. With covid, it’s even worse and certainly more frightening.

Go with a nanny. Plus a good nanny will do child-related chores like the baby’s laundry, washing bottles, cleaning play area and toys, and making baby food.

+1

The nanny will be more expensive but will make your transition to work so much easier. There is no advantage to socialization before your child is preschool age, and he will get a lot more out of the one-on-one attention of a loving caregiver than the less individualized attention at daycare at this age. And yes, even before Covid daycares have policies where children must be sent home if they exhibit any symptoms, from a slightly raised temperature to a cough, in order to protect the other children. But because they are in daycare, they are also exposed to more and get sick more often. It's a frustrating cycle. With a nanny, you're kid will be sick less and the nanny should be fine caring for him when he is, as long as she doesn't get sick. Much more reliable.

+1 to that. Not having to deal with drop off and pick up makes working much easier. Though if you’re planning to work 40 hrs a week outside the home, you need your nanny 50 hrs a week.

My suggestion to all working parents is to try your very best to limit childcare to under 30 hours a week. Which means either staggering hours or working fewer hours during the day and making it up on nights/weekends. That’s what DH and I did and we are so happy we did. Granted, we are lucky, but there are many people who could have this opportunity but don’t take it due to concerns about career progression, and are slightly disconnected from their kids as a result.

You can still pay the nanny for the full 40 hours and, if she’s amenable, use some for date nights after the baby goes to sleep, or ask her to do a few extra tasks in the home. You’ll never regret spending more time with your child.

I think your post is well-intentioned but this is very unrealistic for families where both parents need to work full-time. I have extremely flexible hours and we stagger and we still struggle to keep our nanny under 40 hours a week. I am not disconnected from my children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In normal times, babies get sick a lot in daycare. Any little fever and you’re home with the baby for a couple days. With covid, it’s even worse and certainly more frightening.

Go with a nanny. Plus a good nanny will do child-related chores like the baby’s laundry, washing bottles, cleaning play area and toys, and making baby food.

+1

The nanny will be more expensive but will make your transition to work so much easier. There is no advantage to socialization before your child is preschool age, and he will get a lot more out of the one-on-one attention of a loving caregiver than the less individualized attention at daycare at this age. And yes, even before Covid daycares have policies where children must be sent home if they exhibit any symptoms, from a slightly raised temperature to a cough, in order to protect the other children. But because they are in daycare, they are also exposed to more and get sick more often. It's a frustrating cycle. With a nanny, you're kid will be sick less and the nanny should be fine caring for him when he is, as long as she doesn't get sick. Much more reliable.

+1 to that. Not having to deal with drop off and pick up makes working much easier. Though if you’re planning to work 40 hrs a week outside the home, you need your nanny 50 hrs a week.

My suggestion to all working parents is to try your very best to limit childcare to under 30 hours a week. Which means either staggering hours or working fewer hours during the day and making it up on nights/weekends. That’s what DH and I did and we are so happy we did. Granted, we are lucky, but there are many people who could have this opportunity but don’t take it due to concerns about career progression, and are slightly disconnected from their kids as a result.

You can still pay the nanny for the full 40 hours and, if she’s amenable, use some for date nights after the baby goes to sleep, or ask her to do a few extra tasks in the home. You’ll never regret spending more time with your child.

Anonymous wrote:I have done daycare, nanny share, and our own nanny. If you can afford your own nanny, I would unquestionably go that route, especially right now.

In normal times, it's fewer sick days, way more convenient for the parents to not have to schlep back and forth, wonderful for the baby to get to sleep in his/her own bed for nap, and your baby gets 1:1 attention. Right now, sending a baby to daycare would be very stressful because every fever, cold, etc. will have you worrying about COVID. It could get shut down at any time, etc.

Yes, it is very expensive but in my opinion, it is an investment in my family's sanity and is well-spent. And if you have a second kid in the next couple of years, it's not significantly more than a two kids in a center.

+1. My sister’s daycare center had one case of covid and closed overnight for two weeks.

Anonymous wrote:I am Not sure what people mean by “educated”. I found An amazing, phenomenal nanny who yes has a hs degree but worked at a daycare for years pre covid and is very knowledgeable about all things infant. She’s amazing. I dont need a Harvard MBA to watch my baby during covid. Shes $20/hr and she’s a bargain my mind. Op I think you can find someone similar.

Generally “educated” means a college degree in ECE or years of teaching experience with the prerequisite 16 credits to be a daycare teacher. It’s important to a lot of parents who want to keep the nanny through to kindergarten.

But glad you found someone who you love and trust.

I have done daycare, nanny share, and our own nanny. If you can afford your own nanny, I would unquestionably go that route, especially right now.

In normal times, it's fewer sick days, way more convenient for the parents to not have to schlep back and forth, wonderful for the baby to get to sleep in his/her own bed for nap, and your baby gets 1:1 attention. Right now, sending a baby to daycare would be very stressful because every fever, cold, etc. will have you worrying about COVID. It could get shut down at any time, etc.

Yes, it is very expensive but in my opinion, it is an investment in my family's sanity and is well-spent. And if you have a second kid in the next couple of years, it's not significantly more than a two kids in a center.

I am Not sure what people mean by “educated”. I found An amazing, phenomenal nanny who yes has a hs degree but worked at a daycare for years pre covid and is very knowledgeable about all things infant. She’s amazing. I dont need a Harvard MBA to watch my baby during covid. Shes $20/hr and she’s a bargain my mind. Op I think you can find someone similar.

If I could have taken a year off of work, I would have. OP, it doesn't sound like you see many benefits to this, but if you are breastfeeding, trying to keep up supply and work while sleep deprived can be brutal. It feels like everyone is getting shortchanged. Also, you can't get the time back and it's lovely bonding time. I'd do a nanny or nanny share after the first year. The frequent day care illnesses is a huge turnoff for me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In normal times, babies get sick a lot in daycare. Any little fever and you’re home with the baby for a couple days. With covid, it’s even worse and certainly more frightening.

Go with a nanny. Plus a good nanny will do child-related chores like the baby’s laundry, washing bottles, cleaning play area and toys, and making baby food.

+1

The nanny will be more expensive but will make your transition to work so much easier. There is no advantage to socialization before your child is preschool age, and he will get a lot more out of the one-on-one attention of a loving caregiver than the less individualized attention at daycare at this age. And yes, even before Covid daycares have policies where children must be sent home if they exhibit any symptoms, from a slightly raised temperature to a cough, in order to protect the other children. But because they are in daycare, they are also exposed to more and get sick more often. It's a frustrating cycle. With a nanny, you're kid will be sick less and the nanny should be fine caring for him when he is, as long as she doesn't get sick. Much more reliable.

+1 to that. Not having to deal with drop off and pick up makes working much easier. Though if you’re planning to work 40 hrs a week outside the home, you need your nanny 50 hrs a week.

I’m also in chicago with the same dilemma although we can’t really afford a nanny with our incomes so we would need savings to cover the difference. What is tilting me towards daycare is the hours issue. We’d have to pay overtime to cover the hours we needed. I would also do a nanny share but I’m an essential worker and I don’t think a family would want to risk exposure with my kid. But nanny share seemed to be the best compromise.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In normal times, babies get sick a lot in daycare. Any little fever and you’re home with the baby for a couple days. With covid, it’s even worse and certainly more frightening.

Go with a nanny. Plus a good nanny will do child-related chores like the baby’s laundry, washing bottles, cleaning play area and toys, and making baby food.

+1

The nanny will be more expensive but will make your transition to work so much easier. There is no advantage to socialization before your child is preschool age, and he will get a lot more out of the one-on-one attention of a loving caregiver than the less individualized attention at daycare at this age. And yes, even before Covid daycares have policies where children must be sent home if they exhibit any symptoms, from a slightly raised temperature to a cough, in order to protect the other children. But because they are in daycare, they are also exposed to more and get sick more often. It's a frustrating cycle. With a nanny, you're kid will be sick less and the nanny should be fine caring for him when he is, as long as she doesn't get sick. Much more reliable.

+1 to that. Not having to deal with drop off and pick up makes working much easier. Though if you’re planning to work 40 hrs a week outside the home, you need your nanny 50 hrs a week.