Anonymous wrote:I have worked in daycares and was also a nanny for 6 years (one family for 1 year and another family for 5 years). I can give you my thoughts based on my experience as a childcare provider. It's a personal choice and what works for one family might not work for other families. I also think it greatly depends on the provider. Daycares and nannies can't be painted with one broad brush. There are good and bad providers in both categories.

Generally speaking, the biggest benefit of a daycare is not having to find alternative childcare if a nanny is sick or unreliable. If you have a job with very little flexibility and/or don't have family or friends who can help in with childcare in a pinch, daycare is probably your best bet. On the flip side, a nanny can care for a sick child when a daycare would require them to be at home. When I was a nanny, my employers didn't have to miss work when a child had a fever.

Having a nanny is convenient because you don't have the burden of drop off/pick up. A nanny is also able to care for school age children when there is no school.

A nanny can assist with child related tasks like laundry.

Daycare has built-in socialization. However, nannies can also socialize by planning playdates, attending activities like story time, going to the park, etc. My charges and I were always out and about doing things. We stayed very busy!

Being an employer adds an extra layer of responsibility because you'll have to take care of payroll and everything associated with that. Some people don't want to deal with the hassle of that.

Other posters have given a lot of good pro/cons for both. You really need to trust your gut and go with what works best for your family. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 6 month old was very bad at napping at daycare. I don't see how any baby can nap that well if other babies are constantly waking/crying and there's generally a lot of noise because everyone's on their own schedule. To me that was a big deterrent against sending my 2nd to daycare that young. I felt terrible that he was getting way less sleep than he otherwise at home. Maybe wait a bit if you can until your baby is old enough so that everyone's on the same schedule.

Babies gets used to the sounds. Most Family Daycares has a separate room. The babies, the earlier you sent them they adapt quickly and sleep together. I saw a Daycare in Arlington, Virginia, there's was 9 BABIES IN THE SAME ROOM all sleeping together, while the other 4 who were 15 months were sleeping in blue cots.

Just lol. I love seeing this random "Family Daycare" proponent post in all the forums. I can only surmise that you probably run a family daycare and bring a very specific agenda to DCUM!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 6 month old was very bad at napping at daycare. I don't see how any baby can nap that well if other babies are constantly waking/crying and there's generally a lot of noise because everyone's on their own schedule. To me that was a big deterrent against sending my 2nd to daycare that young. I felt terrible that he was getting way less sleep than he otherwise at home. Maybe wait a bit if you can until your baby is old enough so that everyone's on the same schedule.

Babies gets used to the sounds. Most Family Daycares has a separate room. The babies, the earlier you sent them they adapt quickly and sleep together. I saw a Daycare in Arlington, Virginia, there's was 9 BABIES IN THE SAME ROOM all sleeping together, while the other 4 who were 15 months were sleeping in blue cots.

Early Educators have more experience and are teaching parents

Just lol. I love seeing this random "Family Daycare" proponent post in all the forums. I can only surmise that you probably run a family daycare and bring a very specific agenda to DCUM!

Anonymous wrote:I have worked in daycares and was also a nanny for 6 years (one family for 1 year and another family for 5 years). I can give you my thoughts based on my experience as a childcare provider. It's a personal choice and what works for one family might not work for other families. I also think it greatly depends on the provider. Daycares and nannies can't be painted with one broad brush. There are good and bad providers in both categories.

Generally speaking, the biggest benefit of a daycare is not having to find alternative childcare if a nanny is sick or unreliable. If you have a job with very little flexibility and/or don't have family or friends who can help in with childcare in a pinch, daycare is probably your best bet. On the flip side, a nanny can care for a sick child when a daycare would require them to be at home. When I was a nanny, my employers didn't have to miss work when a child had a fever.

Having a nanny is convenient because you don't have the burden of drop off/pick up. A nanny is also able to care for school age children when there is no school.

A nanny can assist with child related tasks like laundry.

Daycare has built-in socialization. However, nannies can also socialize by planning playdates, attending activities like story time, going to the park, etc. My charges and I were always out and about doing things. We stayed very busy!

Being an employer adds an extra layer of responsibility because you'll have to take care of payroll and everything associated with that. Some people don't want to deal with the hassle of that.

Other posters have given a lot of good pro/cons for both. You really need to trust your gut and go with what works best for your family. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The blog post that is the subject of this thread might interest you: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1120761.page (but beware the author makes the science seem a little more clear than it is, you should look at the individual studies cited in the post)

We have had our child in daycare since she was 5 months old. The biggest pro of daycare (assuming it is licensed) is that the state oversees daycares for basic safety and qualifications of the staff (not that they have amazing qualifications, just basic training and background checks). With a nanny you have to oversee all of that yourself. And the nanny will be in your home, so if you WFH that can be distracting. Also, there is a benefit to being around other children - our child was speech delayed when she was 1.5 yo, that also happed to be while she was at home due to the pandemic. When she started back up at daycare her speech exploded and her speech therapist told us that being around other kids can help with expressive language. Of course, it's possible she might have caught up anyway, but the therapist had obviously seen this happen before. Obviously, a nanny can also take a child to be with other kids.

The cons of daycare are it's a less relaxing environment for the child and they get less individual attention. Also, you have to pack up your child every day to take them to and from daycare. That process can easily add 20-30 minutes to your commute depending on how efficient the drop off process is.

We couldn't have afforded a nanny and it definitely wouldn't have worked for us with our WFH situation, but I definitely see the benefits.

I can think of nothing *less* reassuring than trusting the state to oversee basic safety of my child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 6 month old was very bad at napping at daycare. I don't see how any baby can nap that well if other babies are constantly waking/crying and there's generally a lot of noise because everyone's on their own schedule. To me that was a big deterrent against sending my 2nd to daycare that young. I felt terrible that he was getting way less sleep than he otherwise at home. Maybe wait a bit if you can until your baby is old enough so that everyone's on the same schedule.

Babies gets used to the sounds. Most Family Daycares has a separate room. The babies, the earlier you sent them they adapt quickly and sleep together. I saw a Daycare in Arlington, Virginia, there's was 9 BABIES IN THE SAME ROOM all sleeping together, while the other 4 who were 15 months were sleeping in blue cots.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The blog post that is the subject of this thread might interest you: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1120761.page (but beware the author makes the science seem a little more clear than it is, you should look at the individual studies cited in the post)

We have had our child in daycare since she was 5 months old. The biggest pro of daycare (assuming it is licensed) is that the state oversees daycares for basic safety and qualifications of the staff (not that they have amazing qualifications, just basic training and background checks). With a nanny you have to oversee all of that yourself. And the nanny will be in your home, so if you WFH that can be distracting. Also, there is a benefit to being around other children - our child was speech delayed when she was 1.5 yo, that also happed to be while she was at home due to the pandemic. When she started back up at daycare her speech exploded and her speech therapist told us that being around other kids can help with expressive language. Of course, it's possible she might have caught up anyway, but the therapist had obviously seen this happen before. Obviously, a nanny can also take a child to be with other kids.

The cons of daycare are it's a less relaxing environment for the child and they get less individual attention. Also, you have to pack up your child every day to take them to and from daycare. That process can easily add 20-30 minutes to your commute depending on how efficient the drop off process is.

We couldn't have afforded a nanny and it definitely wouldn't have worked for us with our WFH situation, but I definitely see the benefits.

I can think of nothing *less* reassuring than trusting the state to oversee basic safety of my child.

Anonymous wrote:The blog post that is the subject of this thread might interest you: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1120761.page (but beware the author makes the science seem a little more clear than it is, you should look at the individual studies cited in the post)

We have had our child in daycare since she was 5 months old. The biggest pro of daycare (assuming it is licensed) is that the state oversees daycares for basic safety and qualifications of the staff (not that they have amazing qualifications, just basic training and background checks). With a nanny you have to oversee all of that yourself. And the nanny will be in your home, so if you WFH that can be distracting. Also, there is a benefit to being around other children - our child was speech delayed when she was 1.5 yo, that also happed to be while she was at home due to the pandemic. When she started back up at daycare her speech exploded and her speech therapist told us that being around other kids can help with expressive language. Of course, it's possible she might have caught up anyway, but the therapist had obviously seen this happen before. Obviously, a nanny can also take a child to be with other kids.

The cons of daycare are it's a less relaxing environment for the child and they get less individual attention. Also, you have to pack up your child every day to take them to and from daycare. That process can easily add 20-30 minutes to your commute depending on how efficient the drop off process is.

We couldn't have afforded a nanny and it definitely wouldn't have worked for us with our WFH situation, but I definitely see the benefits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The blog post that is the subject of this thread might interest you: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1120761.page (but beware the author makes the science seem a little more clear than it is, you should look at the individual studies cited in the post)

We have had our child in daycare since she was 5 months old. The biggest pro of daycare (assuming it is licensed) is that the state oversees daycares for basic safety and qualifications of the staff (not that they have amazing qualifications, just basic training and background checks). With a nanny you have to oversee all of that yourself. And the nanny will be in your home, so if you WFH that can be distracting. Also, there is a benefit to being around other children - our child was speech delayed when she was 1.5 yo, that also happed to be while she was at home due to the pandemic. When she started back up at daycare her speech exploded and her speech therapist told us that being around other kids can help with expressive language. Of course, it's possible she might have caught up anyway, but the therapist had obviously seen this happen before. Obviously, a nanny can also take a child to be with other kids.

The cons of daycare are it's a less relaxing environment for the child and they get less individual attention. Also, you have to pack up your child every day to take them to and from daycare. That process can easily add 20-30 minutes to your commute depending on how efficient the drop off process is.

We couldn't have afforded a nanny and it definitely wouldn't have worked for us with our WFH situation, but I definitely see the benefits.

I can think of nothing *less* reassuring than trusting the state to oversee basic safety of my child.

Anonymous wrote:The blog post that is the subject of this thread might interest you: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1120761.page (but beware the author makes the science seem a little more clear than it is, you should look at the individual studies cited in the post)

We have had our child in daycare since she was 5 months old. The biggest pro of daycare (assuming it is licensed) is that the state oversees daycares for basic safety and qualifications of the staff (not that they have amazing qualifications, just basic training and background checks). With a nanny you have to oversee all of that yourself. And the nanny will be in your home, so if you WFH that can be distracting. Also, there is a benefit to being around other children - our child was speech delayed when she was 1.5 yo, that also happed to be while she was at home due to the pandemic. When she started back up at daycare her speech exploded and her speech therapist told us that being around other kids can help with expressive language. Of course, it's possible she might have caught up anyway, but the therapist had obviously seen this happen before. Obviously, a nanny can also take a child to be with other kids.

The cons of daycare are it's a less relaxing environment for the child and they get less individual attention. Also, you have to pack up your child every day to take them to and from daycare. That process can easily add 20-30 minutes to your commute depending on how efficient the drop off process is.

We couldn't have afforded a nanny and it definitely wouldn't have worked for us with our WFH situation, but I definitely see the benefits.