Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He will be close to 6 months when I go back to work. We can afford both options, but I don't know if a nanny is worth the added expense. My husband is very concerned about hiring a nanny because we don't have many days we can take off ( I'm a nurse, and he's in finance). I'm sure many people have great experiences with nannies, but the couples we know that hired nanny ether switched to daycare, or ended up going through 1-2 nannies before finding one that worked. My husband thinks we should go with the daycare close to us and we can see how it works. We can hire a nanny if it doesn't work out.

We are both clean and we do have a housekeeper. I know some posters mentioned perks of having the nanny do babu laundry and bottles, but that won't be needed. I will do laundry, and we just put the bottles in the dishwasher and run it at night. I'm not that concerned about packing up for daycare because it's only an 8 mile walk.

What do you mean you don't know how many days you can take off? If your child is sick, they can't go to daycare, but they can stay home with a nanny. I took WAY fewer sick days than my friends whose kids were in daycare and I had a nanny.

OP here. I took an extended maternity leave and my husband took paternity leave. We don’t have much time ever we can take off if the nanny calls off, etc., My MIlL and backup sitters will be there if we need someone to watch him while he’s home from daycare.

Them your mother in law and sitters would also be available if the nanny ever called in sick.

They want to do daycare. Why do you care so much? Daycare are just as good. There are pros and cons to both, but daycare is fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He will be close to 6 months when I go back to work. We can afford both options, but I don't know if a nanny is worth the added expense. My husband is very concerned about hiring a nanny because we don't have many days we can take off ( I'm a nurse, and he's in finance). I'm sure many people have great experiences with nannies, but the couples we know that hired nanny ether switched to daycare, or ended up going through 1-2 nannies before finding one that worked. My husband thinks we should go with the daycare close to us and we can see how it works. We can hire a nanny if it doesn't work out.

We are both clean and we do have a housekeeper. I know some posters mentioned perks of having the nanny do babu laundry and bottles, but that won't be needed. I will do laundry, and we just put the bottles in the dishwasher and run it at night. I'm not that concerned about packing up for daycare because it's only an 8 mile walk.

What do you mean you don't know how many days you can take off? If your child is sick, they can't go to daycare, but they can stay home with a nanny. I took WAY fewer sick days than my friends whose kids were in daycare and I had a nanny.

OP here. I took an extended maternity leave and my husband took paternity leave. We don’t have much time ever we can take off if the nanny calls off, etc., My MIlL and backup sitters will be there if we need someone to watch him while he’s home from daycare.

Them your mother in law and sitters would also be available if the nanny ever called in sick.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He will be close to 6 months when I go back to work. We can afford both options, but I don't know if a nanny is worth the added expense. My husband is very concerned about hiring a nanny because we don't have many days we can take off ( I'm a nurse, and he's in finance). I'm sure many people have great experiences with nannies, but the couples we know that hired nanny ether switched to daycare, or ended up going through 1-2 nannies before finding one that worked. My husband thinks we should go with the daycare close to us and we can see how it works. We can hire a nanny if it doesn't work out.

We are both clean and we do have a housekeeper. I know some posters mentioned perks of having the nanny do babu laundry and bottles, but that won't be needed. I will do laundry, and we just put the bottles in the dishwasher and run it at night. I'm not that concerned about packing up for daycare because it's only an 8 mile walk.

What do you mean you don't know how many days you can take off? If your child is sick, they can't go to daycare, but they can stay home with a nanny. I took WAY fewer sick days than my friends whose kids were in daycare and I had a nanny.

OP here. I took an extended maternity leave and my husband took paternity leave. We don’t have much time ever we can take off if the nanny calls off, etc., My MIlL and backup sitters will be there if we need someone to watch him while he’s home from daycare.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He will be close to 6 months when I go back to work. We can afford both options, but I don't know if a nanny is worth the added expense. My husband is very concerned about hiring a nanny because we don't have many days we can take off ( I'm a nurse, and he's in finance). I'm sure many people have great experiences with nannies, but the couples we know that hired nanny ether switched to daycare, or ended up going through 1-2 nannies before finding one that worked. My husband thinks we should go with the daycare close to us and we can see how it works. We can hire a nanny if it doesn't work out.

We are both clean and we do have a housekeeper. I know some posters mentioned perks of having the nanny do babu laundry and bottles, but that won't be needed. I will do laundry, and we just put the bottles in the dishwasher and run it at night. I'm not that concerned about packing up for daycare because it's only an 8 mile walk.

What do you mean you don't know how many days you can take off? If your child is sick, they can't go to daycare, but they can stay home with a nanny. I took WAY fewer sick days than my friends whose kids were in daycare and I had a nanny.

Anonymous wrote:Strong daycare advocate! You have to do what's best for your child and your situation, but I'd absolutely try daycare first. In my experience, nannies make things easier for parents but daycare is easier for infants/kids in the long run.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He will be close to 6 months when I go back to work. We can afford both options, but I don't know if a nanny is worth the added expense. My husband is very concerned about hiring a nanny because we don't have many days we can take off ( I'm a nurse, and he's in finance). I'm sure many people have great experiences with nannies, but the couples we know that hired nanny ether switched to daycare, or ended up going through 1-2 nannies before finding one that worked. My husband thinks we should go with the daycare close to us and we can see how it works. We can hire a nanny if it doesn't work out.

We are both clean and we do have a housekeeper. I know some posters mentioned perks of having the nanny do babu laundry and bottles, but that won't be needed. I will do laundry, and we just put the bottles in the dishwasher and run it at night. I'm not that concerned about packing up for daycare because it's only an 8 mile walk.

Anonymous wrote:Daycare. Definitely. I’ve done it all. For one child, daycare is so much better. I would personally wait until 6 months though. Are you able to take extended maternity leave?

Your child will get sick more, so you will definitely need backup care.

Being an employer is stressful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a hard one - you seem to have really open eyes about it that neither option is without it's downsides. If you get an amazing nanny, it's wonderful. If your nanny ends up being not very reliable or just okay, or lots of back and forth employer/employee issues it can be difficult. What is the ratio of babies to caregivers in the daycare? And how many babies in one room? If 1:3 and only say, 6 babies in the room than I might try daycare since you can have MIL help out one day which we've found to be wonderful for baby bonding with grandma. I'm a daycare mom, but switched from a center to a home daycare because our center just had too many babies in one room (too busy, too much illness). Home daycare has been a good happy medium for us, but we straight up could not afford a nanny.

Looking back, if we truly could afford a nanny without it hurting much, I would do that for the first 2 years for the same reasons pp said - illness and also naps - just so much more flexibility to make sure your baby gets the sleep they need as many don't sleep well in daycare if it's one room and the baby is expected to sleep in the bright room (another reason we moved to home daycare). The illness is so hard on everyone and much harder when they are that little. But if it's a good daycare with low ratios.. so close to your house, it might be great too. And they will get the illnesses at some point so it's ok to just do it. It's just harder when they are little.

OP here. Both daycares have 12 students ( 6 weeks - 15 months) with 4 teachers. 3 babies to 1 daycare worker. We are not interested in a home daycare as we like knowing that daycare workers have full background checks, the facility is secure, and we can access multiple cameras throughout the day.

Just to clarify op- I wasn’t suggesting you do home daycare, it was the happy medium for us since we couldn’t afford a nanny. I’m sure you didn’t mean this to sound judgmental but to clarify in case any of your friends use a home daycare at some point - I also like to know my daycare workers have a full background check (?), of course. Home daycares have regulations in Virginia too, our home daycare worker is a former nanny, teacher, and certainly has a background check. You may have some misconceptions about home daycares, but wasn’t at all saying you should go to home daycare just that some of the reasons we switched from a center like napping flexibility etc may be considerations for why you’d prefer a nanny.

OP here. I definitely wasn't putting down home daycares. I'm not in DC. I've known people who have used in-home daycares and usually it's many kids to one lady running it. I'm sure they're qualified, but I prefer either having a nanny with nanny cams, or using a daycare where they have cameras I can check.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He will be close to 6 months when I go back to work. We can afford both options, but I don't know if a nanny is worth the added expense. My husband is very concerned about hiring a nanny because we don't have many days we can take off ( I'm a nurse, and he's in finance). I'm sure many people have great experiences with nannies, but the couples we know that hired nanny ether switched to daycare, or ended up going through 1-2 nannies before finding one that worked. My husband thinks we should go with the daycare close to us and we can see how it works. We can hire a nanny if it doesn't work out.

We are both clean and we do have a housekeeper. I know some posters mentioned perks of having the nanny do babu laundry and bottles, but that won't be needed. I will do laundry, and we just put the bottles in the dishwasher and run it at night. I'm not that concerned about packing up for daycare because it's only an 8 mile walk.