OP: At first, around 30 hours a week, then 40-45, depending on how much my spouse and i can stagger schedules. We realize if we do a nanny share, we will have to guarentee pay for a certain number of hours. But that is the same as day care, since we will not get money back if we use it less.

How many hours will your newborn be in daycare?

OP: Thanks again everyone, looks like day care might be better for our situation especially given the cost and logistics of nanny share.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think either of these solutions is going to be better for your PTO situation. Your child will almost definitely get sick his/her first year in daycare, but your nanny will almost definitely take some vacation days or get sick herself. Or your baby will still get sick from the other child or the nanny, or you will feel like your child is too sick to go regardless.

I never took vacation or sick days my first year with a family.

Generally, I think of daycares as being better from a PTO perspective. They cover individual vacations and sick days, so you only have to worry about your own kid.

I don't think either of these solutions is going to be better for your PTO situation. Your child will almost definitely get sick his/her first year in daycare, but your nanny will almost definitely take some vacation days or get sick herself. Or your baby will still get sick from the other child or the nanny, or you will feel like your child is too sick to go regardless.

Sick policy is definitely something to work out with the other family. Our sick policy is basically no high fevers over 101, vomitting & diarrhea when it's clear it could be contagious (since they are babies sometimes they have diarrhea unrelated to sickness), rashes of unknown origin. Colds are fine. We also have a pick-up policy in place if one of the children falls ill. It's more flexible than daycare overall, but less flexible than our own nanny of course.

Something to keep in mind from reading your posts when it comes to nanny share vs daycare. We found that our nanny share is MUCH more money than daycare. We do $22 split evenly on the books with 45 guaranteed hours a week and $75 a month stipend pretax for health insurance. All in it's about $2500-2600/month. If money isn't a concern for you or if you live in an area where the nanny share rate is lower, it might be more comparable to daycare. We remain on 5 lists and probably won't get in until DS is 18 months and though we love our nanny, it's a huge financial hit for us.

Another thing to keep in mind is that many nanny shares come with PTO for the nanny. We give her 10 days--one week of both families choosing usually between Christmas and New Years, and one week of her own choosing with I believe quite a bit of notice. In addition, she has 5 sick/personal days. There is no carryover. Some daycares will have in service days, etc. so maybe it's similar. But my DH has crappy leave, and I have great leave so for us I usually end up taking the day off.

OP: Between the two of us, stretching PTO to work part time and telework, we anticipate needing full time care around 8-12 weeks. Since we like our day care options (and they start taking infants at 6 weeks), a major factor is dealing with sick days. We won't get out of our PTO hole though so we will always be in the negative (again, don't get me started....!)

Anonymous wrote:OP: We are expecting our child soon and are on day care lists but considering other options. We don't have a family identified, which is why I wanted to get a sense of what is common practice. We are concerned about handling sick days because of very family unfriendly PTO policies (don't get me started on that!)

How much leave will you take? Am asking because the age of your baby makes a huge difference in a share situation.

OP: We are expecting our child soon and are on day care lists but considering other options. We don't have a family identified, which is why I wanted to get a sense of what is common practice. We are concerned about handling sick days because of very family unfriendly PTO policies (don't get me started on that!)

How old is your child, OP?
Do you already have a potential share family?

OP here: Thank you, this is what I was looking for. I understand the other family plays a big role in deciding what's OK, but having general parameters of what is/not helpful will inform my decision for daycare vs nanny share.

You have to work all of this out with the nanny and the other family. In fact, probably the most important element in a share is finding a match with the other family.

I would not expect the nanny in a share to do any chores that only related to the host child. So while she would fix meals for both children and clean up after them, as well as keep the host family's house tidy, she probably wouldn't do laundry.

Most shares will discuss sick child policy. Some might be ok with a cold, but no stomach bugs, others might enforce the 24-hour fever rule.

You're getting a break on the cost of a nanny with a share, more control than a daycare center over who and how your child is cared for, but there are downsides. Having to keep a sick kid home can be one of them. Covering your nanny's days off and own sick days is another.

Anyone? Is this the right forum?

What is typical protocol for child-related household chores a nanny will do when it is a share, vs a single? For single-family nannies, I see that they often are in charge of a child's laundry, etc. If it is a share, and they alternate houses, is it expected they do that type of work for the house they are in? Also, what happens if one child is sick? I'm looking at nanny share vs day care and a downside of day care is apparently how often your child gets sick and you have to take of work to stay at home. But if we have to stay home when our child is sick in a share, the difference isn't as big. Single nanny is not an option for cost reasons.