Dual Nursery - good idea or not?

mercman_3

Due to limited places we can only get our 9 mth old baby into nursery for 3 full days at the nursery of our choice

We can however get her in for the remaining 2 days into another nursery

Is this a good idea or not?

will it cause her confusion or have no ill effects on her until she gets older

We may only have to live with this situation for 6 / 12 months or until such time as we can get other placement days in our nursery of choice

Any input will be gratefully received


Cheers

P&P

Spendless

Not quite the same, but both mine have done private nursery sessions in conjunction with a pre-school or creche. They were slightly older when they started this (2 years old). I never encountered any problems. If one nursery has completely different rules to another, you may encounter problems eventually when child is older but it sounds like you'll have a place at the first nursery by then.
Good luck

silvercar

I'm sure you will increase your chances of a full time place if you accept the 3 days now.

Plenty of babies are looked after by different relatives on different days of the week or attend a creche part time and go tot grandma on the other days. I wouldn't worry about it at this age. Starting it when your child is 2 or 3 may be confusing though.

fesdufun

I am sure your 9 month old will be fine with this arrangement. It is normally the parents that get more upset! You could take photos of each of the nurseries (the front door or a picture of the room) to show her each morning. Even at this young age it will help her to understand where they are going each day. Also it would be a good idea to call each nursery by their names rather than just referring to them as "nursery".

Some children go somewhere different every day. Children (especially babies) are very adaptable. And remember it is normal for your child to cry when you leave them, in fact it is a sign that they have a strong attachment. It is more worrying when a child doesn't cry.

Good luck. I am sure it will all be fine.

Rachie_B

personally i would try other alternatives first eg a childminder who can offer continuity of care the full 5 days

purely because i would feel better leaving my baby with the same person

but if you have no choice you could try it and see how you all go with the arrangement ?

at 9 months babies are far more aware of being left / strangers than if they were 6 months or younger, so it may just mean the settling process will take her longer as she has to do it twice IYSWIM ?

im sure if you do it gradually she will adapt and be fine

good luck

funky-footprints

personally i wouldnt do this, i would prefer a little stabilty, it took my son 6 weeks to settle when i returned to work, he refused solids during that time and would only feed from a bottle (he was 6 months) can your not accept the 2nd choice nursery just to create a little more stable environment for your child, rather than chopping and changing ? ? sorry to appear negative towards this, but i would rather a settled routine.

Miss_Behaving

Hi, I work in early years and to be honest, continuity of care is really important. Children thrive on routine and although most children sent to 2 nursery settings cope with the situation, it can be unsettling for them. From experience I can also tell you that if problems arise in one setting, it is the other one which will be blamed!

The other thing to consider is whether you are really happy with the situation - if you are worried and reluctant about leaving your daughter she will soon pick up on this which will cause problems with her settling (which in turn will stress you more).

You can only do you best and if this is the only option available at the moment you may need to do this until a full time place is available. As I said, the most important thing to consider is whether you feel happy and confident about leaving her in two settings. Good luck in what ever you decide to do

Counting_Pennies_2

From experience of seeing a friend who splits her childcare between different sources I would say don't do it. The little one got confused over who disciplined (and I mean that in the sense of teaching them life, not telling off)

Eating, sleeping, words etc are all done differently, so if you have two childcare providers and then yourselves, it could lead to confusion not only in terms of confidence but in terms of learning the way of life.

Also 9 months is the age separation anxiety is at its peak, so a smooth handover to one provider would be my choice.

I also think childminders at this age is a replication of the home environment.

Hth

ruthyjo

I went back to work for three days a week when my daughter was nine months old and sent her to the day nursery both of her brothers had gone to. Three months later I applied for and got a promotion at work that required me to work full time. Unfortunately her nursery did not have a vacancy on the two additional days. After looking at and being very unimpressed by the local childminders who had immediate vacancies I sent her to another nursery for the other two days. It was a new nursery just opening. I might have sent her every day except it was about fifty percent more expensive than the nursery I was already using and in a less convenient location. Anyway my little girl was very little and never seemed to suffer any ill effects from being in two locations during the week. I think if she'd been older she might have minded more. As soon as a vacancy came up I moved her to my first choice nursery (after about six months) and she was small enough to be unmoved by leaving and to forget quite quickly that she had ever been in two nurseries. BTW soon after that I had to negotiate a reduction of hours in my new role and go back to working three days a week because her brother (six years older) was practically having a nervous breakdown going to school, and an out of school club on the same premises staffed by school staff, every day. I guess that means it just depends on your child how much childcare they can cope with. If you think they can do it they probably can. (I knew ds would struggle when I took the job but really wanted it and got promises from his dad about childcare, short days etc which never materialised).

CGG

Three years ago my father was terminally ill in hospital. We were aware he was never coming home and so I wanted to spent time every day at his side as he was dying. I didn't want to live with any regrets afterwards that I should have visited him more frequently.
At the time, I felt that traipsing a toddler to a hospital every day was not a good idea. I found him places in two local nurseries.
My son spent 2 days in one nursery and three mornings in another. He was fine. He mixed well in both settings, had his friends in both. Yes, the nurseries had slightly differing rules.
All was well until one of the nursery workers made comments that in her opinion he was being 'stretched too thin'. I was well aware that they felt I should put him in their nursery alone, so they received the full funds.
I had to ignore those remarks. I was going through a very stressful time knowing my Dad was deteriorating every day. I didn't need some money grabbing know-it-all's adding to my grief.
Before I'd accepted a place in this nursery for my son, I had explained my home situation, and that in my opinion, I felt he would gain more from a
nursery setting where he'd mix with his peers, than he would with a child-minder.
They claimed at the time that they could understand that.
Yes, sadly my Dad died. I kept my son on at both nurseries until the end of the summer term, but never really forgave those comments.
My advice to you will be go with what feels right. I don't believe my son was 'stretched too thin', I know I dealt with the awful dilemma I was in, in the best way I could.

emma_b_4

what about a childminder to fill the other days while they can take her fulltime?
or a nanny share?

for nannies https://www.nannyjob.co.uk (im an ex nanny and also ex nursery nurse)