back up care

[Anonymous]

My husband's employer provides backup care with a nominal co-pay. My question is we have the option of in-home via a nanny agency or Bright Horizons for center based. An other MB who have opted for in home? I am not overly comfortable having a complete stranger with my 6 month old so we have opted for Bright Horizons for the one day that our nanny will be unavailable next week. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Kind of depends on the situation. If your child is home because of some illness then inhome care trumps a daycare center. But there is the issue of the comfort level.

We have used an agency for backup care and it has worked well - and when we've known in advance that we'd be needing it we were able to learn about the nanny they would be sending, and even sometimes talk to her by phone before she came. That helped a great deal.

But in your situation I think the Bright Horizons option works perfectly well also (especially if it's in a setting where one of you can visit during the day).

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

We have the same options through my husband's employer. We have used a bright horizons center many, many times and we are very happy with that option. We have used nannies twice and one was good and one was just adequate. I use the center unless the kids need to be home (mild cold, etc).