Looking into daycares

[glitzy07]

Both H and I will continue working after the little one is born, and I know that in the near future we'll need to start looking into our options for daycare.

We have talked about it and were thinking of doing an in-home for the first couple of years, and then transitioning to a center with a pre-school type program. But we'll obviously see what we find when we start looking.

What point in your pregnancy did you start looking for daycare options? What resources did you use to start your search (specifically if you weren't looking into centers right from the start). Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated!

[karinothing]

Before I was pregnant. LONG wait list here. ON that note. I got a call today that one of our wait list spots opened up. DS is 14 months

Honestly, I just used google lol. I knew I wanted centers at metro locations or by my work.

[ssmjlm]

I started looking before we TTC.

Then I started calling at the end of first tri (we don't have huge waiting lists here).

Our #1 choice already has a waiting list to June, so we need to decide ASAP as we'll need care in August.

I think in-homes work on a much shorter timeline though. Maybe 2-3 months ahead.

[baconlettucetomato]

We're looking at centers but I already have a spread sheet of the places we're considering and after the New Year we'll go actually visit. If you're interested I can link the post I had a week or so ago with different questions/considerations for choosing a DCP.

[glitzy07]

Dec 17, 2012 14:15:17 GMT -5 baconlettucetomato said:

We're looking at centers but I already have a spread sheet of the places we're considering and after the New Year we'll go actually visit. If you're interested I can link the post I had a week or so ago with different questions/considerations for choosing a DCP.

That would be great if you'll share the link. I must have missed that post. Thanks!

Also re: centers vs in-home, we're not set on in-home but it was what we originally talked about a while back.

I grew up in in-home daycare, but my SS definitely thrived so much more after he transitioned from his in-home to a center. We just figured it might save us money in the beginning to go with an in-home, but then that brings it's own challenged of vacation and sick providers and the like.

[CloudBee]

Start looking now. We were signed up by 12 weeks with our deposit down. I got the last spot for the week I should be returning from a 3 month maternity leave. So almost a year out! It felt premature, but we would be screwed now had we not jumped the gun.

[baconlettucetomato]

This is from my BMB.

community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/70450454.aspx

This is from GP.

www.pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=gotpg&action=display&thread=101037&page=1

HTH! I've found it much easier to narrow things down since we made our criteria and are only going to see DCP that fit that.

[takeonyou]

For home daycares, start calling now and asking what their timelines are. I can know up to a year in advance or not know until 2 weeks out. It all depends. I keep a wait list though. So I happily interview and add families to the waitlist. If I have an opening, I go down the list first.

I actually haven't had to advertise in a long time because of the list. Once, a family signed up when they were pregnant with their first. By the time I had an opening, they had two kids who needed care. I now have #2 & #3 in my daycare.

[BAMFMrsB]

I have on-site daycare at work, so I booked his spot in my 1st tri. I think I was 8 weeks? Not sure. There was NO WAY I was missing out on getting him in there.

[CloudBee]

Also note that most centers can't guarantee your start date on the day/week you need it. Placement is tentative based on progression of current children in the room. If a child isn't ready to move on to the next level/room in time, your enrollmeny may be delayed.

[baconlettucetomato]

Dec 17, 2012 14:54:05 GMT -5 BAMFMrsB said:

I have on-site daycare at work, so I booked his spot in my 1st tri. I think I was 8 weeks? Not sure. There was NO WAY I was missing out on getting him in there.

Our corporate office has on site, so jealous. That would be super awesome.

[mrshandy]

It is really, really early for securing an in-home spot. Most of them don't know if they have spots available until a month or two out.

I found a list of licensed in-home daycares on our state website. We had secured a spot in a daycare center pretty early on, but kept our options open in case we changed our minds.

We did at the last minute and started DS at an in-home DCP when he was 12 weeks. We found our in-home based on a recommendation for an acquaintance. Is there a MOMs list-serve for your neighborhood or town? That can be a great resource.

He stayed there until he was 2 and now is in a pre-school/daycare type environment. It worked great for us.

[glitzy07]

OK, so it sounds like H and I should start looking as of yesterday.

I'm not sure about a mom's list-serve, nor am I really sure how to look for that but I know that one of our local TV stations has a mom's website off-shoot that maybe I can check.

I have a co-worker who lives near me uses an in-home, and once we're ready to share the news I was hoping to ask him if he knew of any openings with her or others around our area. Or even just for advice as to how they found her.

I'll also start looking into the centers that are around our house and giving them a call.

Keep the advice coming and thank you!

[everam01]

I also starting looking while TTC, then got on the wait list as soon as I found out I was pregnant.

I specifically wanted a center, and did research on a few of them, though I knew my first choice would be the one near my office. I've been pleased, and they've been great.

I personally did not want an in-home daycare due to accountability, but others like that environment more because of the smaller ratio or the flexibility.

[coffeeanything]

This may seem like a silly question, but how have you all gone about looking? I have spent time endlessly on google and found very little. And those that I do find they refuse to tell me their price range unless you come in for a tour. I find this to be really manipulative marketing and it ends up pissing me off so much I give up for the day/week/month. I work in a currently work in a school (so no leave unless it is a spring break) and an hour commute away (so not at all feasible to go for a tour during a lunch break or something) and I think it is kind of crazy to spend endless time touring centers that turn out to be outside our price range. Any suggestions?

[ssmjlm]

We've used a combo of recommendations and ones we knew were in the area.

Everyplace I've called has given me their rates over the phone.

[Deleted]

I will be the odd one out and say we found a center at around 20 weeks? Maybe even later. Two had no wait lists and could guarantee us a spot when we needed it and one had a 6 week waiting list. We ended up having to find a new center halfway through my mat leave and found one we loved within a day.

So I'm not saying dont start early, bc it certainly won't hurt, but the bump freaked me out that we would never find care and the reality was since we were relatively flexible, it was fine. If you have your heart set on a certain center though I'd call immediately.

[Deleted]

Oh and I found if I called the national number ( not the specific centers) it was easy to set up tours and get prices.

[Brie]

We started looking in second tri. I think I put a deposit down around 28 weeks. I procrastinated on that one big time and could only find one place with a spot open. Luckily I liked it.

[coffeeanything]

Dec 18, 2012 19:58:35 GMT -5 @mrsbecky07 said:

Oh and I found if I called the national number ( not the specific centers) it was easy to set up tours and get prices.

that's helpful, thanks... this may seem like a kind of silly question, but did you (or anyone) feel ever that they were judging you if you were not extremely available or had a really tight schedule in terms of setting up tours? That's what I feel like I am getting from e-mail responses but perhaps I am reading too much into them....

[Ashley&Scott]

We started touring around 15 weeks & had secured our spot by 22 weeks. We only looked at centers though.

[Ashley&Scott]

We didn't set up appointments. We just stopped in & asked for a tour on the spot.

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2012 20:08:11 GMT -5 coffeeanything said:

Dec 18, 2012 19:58:35 GMT -5 @mrsbecky07 said:

Oh and I found if I called the national number ( not the specific centers) it was easy to set up tours and get prices.

that's helpful, thanks... this may seem like a kind of silly question, but did you (or anyone) feel ever that they were judging you if you were not extremely available or had a really tight schedule in terms of setting up tours? That's what I feel like I am getting from e-mail responses but perhaps I am reading too much into them....

No but I have a pretty flexible schedule so that may be why?

Can you take a half day or so and look at two or three? That is what we did, knocked out several over an afternoon. Just take good notes after each one.