nursery or childminder?

vroombroom

Hi everyone

after some advice please on child care....I'm going back to uni in Sept to continue with my degree. I'm going back 10:30-1:30 Monday and Tuesday and 10:00-4:00pm Wednesday.

I'm also returning to work part time (boohiss) probably in November but will be doing opposite shifts to my OH, who will mind the baby. As he works the days I will be at uni, we need to look at child care options and would like some opinions on nurseries or childminders - eg, what do we look for? what will be better in terms of socialisation and development etc? Baby will be 5 months old when I start x

thanks guys! x

pozalina

Hi, it is a very individual decision and you have to go with what you feel happy with. For me I chose childminder as I was not happy for my LOs (9 months at the time) to be cared for by many different, often very young, adults. There are pros and cons for each: if childminder is ill, for example, you are stuck (luckily my OH and I have understanding employers). For children older than 1yr I think nursery is fine as they can hold their own a bit more and the socialisation does them good. That said, there will very likely be other children at a childminders so they can socialise on a smaller scale. Childminders often take their mindees to toddler groups and the like.

I'm sure there'll be someone along in a minute to sing the praises of nurseries too!

t_obermory

At five months old I'd personally opt for a child minder as baby gets the continuity of the same person each day as opposed to several different people in a baby room at a nursery.

I'd go and have a look round a few nursery's and contact some child minders though as that's the only way you're going to get a real idea of what will work best for you.

balletshoes

At 5 months my DD went to a childminder, when she was 1 she started at nursery. I have no complaints about either to be honest at that young age, and it is a personal choice you make.

As has been said, a disadvantage of the childminder is if they are ill, you will usually need to make other childcare arrangements.
As to socialisation for the children, my childminders were all (I had 3 in total over the baby/toddler years) part of their local childminding groups, so they regularly took their charges out and about to playdates, babys and toddlers groups etc.

threemuttleys

Im returning to work in July, and my DS is going with a childminder. Nursery didnt sit well with me for such a young baby (he will be 9 months) and I dont like the idea that there will be lots of different people caring for him (who I may or may not get to know)

thriftymum1

when my DD was 19months she started at a "childcare on residential premises" I found this to combine the best of both worlds. It was 7 registered childminders all working from the same (huge) house. They were registered to look after 28 children at any 1 time but they usually had about 15-20 at once. DD was allocated a key worker (the childminder that would work with her on development etc) but was looked after by 3 of the ladies. I loved the fact that she formed such a strong bond with her key worker and that she was in a 'home-from-home' environment and my daughter loved mixing with lots of other children.
She moved to a childminders 3 months ago (age 26 months) and has not settled well at all. at home she is her normal happy, chatty self but at the childminders she is quiet, shy and often plays alone. I now spend my time at work constantly worrying about her and think i'd be the same if she was at a nursery being looked after by different people all the time.
Even though it will add 30 mins onto my commute each day, I am taking her out of the childminders and taking her back to the 1st place she went.
I think this choice depends completely on the child's personality (which at 5 months is sometimes hard to establish) and what you and your partner are happy with as parents. I think the best thing to do is to go and see as many places as possible to get a good idea of what is on offer in your area.

sorry for the long post lol

Nicki

My preconception from discussions with friends who have worked in nurseries is that nurseries offer a more production line method of looking after the children, whereas childminders can give a more personalized care. So whilst both would change a nappy if they smelled it was dirty, the nursery would line all the children up at 11 and change their nappies one after the other, then not again for another 3 hours or so, whilst the childminder would do the nappy when she could see it was very wet. Similarly with food and snacks. The nursery would give these at set times, whereas the childminder would juggle depending on whether the child was hungry or sleeping. Personally, if I had to choose I'd go for a childminder I trusted with a baby so young. I think babies and toddlers can learn a lot just observing day to day life in the home and going out and about to different activities such as the library and mother and toddler groups and I can't see how this can be recreated completely in a nursery setting.

koalamummy

Vroombroom are your days and times at uni fixed for the next academic year or will they change after Christmas when the next block of modules start? Also worth bearing in mind is how you will be traveling to/from both work and uni....if you find that you need to use public transport for uni due to parking restrictions you need to give serious consideration to the accessibility of your chosen childcare especially during the depths of winter when you need to keep both your little one and yourself dry and warm and healthy in our delightful British weather.

I realize that I am in the distinct minority here but I much preferred nurseries to child minders for my boys in the early stages as I found that the standards of care were much more closely monitored. I was always seriously unnerved by the numbers of infants who had been permanently injured or even killed whilst in the care of minders however good the majority are too many seem to be able to slip through the net . That is however my personal opinion and should be taken as such.

rachbc

My dd went to a nursery when she was 11 months - the staff ratios are the smae as for a CM - 1 adults to 2 under 1s and she had a keyworker who did all her changes, food, kept her profile up to date, put her dopwn for naps etc etc. So whilst there were 3 other staff there she forms a bond with her worker. My nursery was very child centred and not at all production line - and I got to see it very frequently as I used to pop over to breastfeed dd twice a day in the early days!

Also bare in mind that for CM also look after old kids after school and there is no upper limit on the no of over age 8 - one I looked at 11!!!

its horses for course - I woudl defiantely advise looking at a few of each and goign with your gut feeling

balletshoes

I do have to add, my DD has been at 3 nurseries, and at 2 of them she had a key worker, and she did form a bond with that person over the other staff at the nursery (in fact at her first nursery her key worker went with her to the "2s" room when she moved up for the first week or so, to help her settle).
Until she was 2 and out of the babies room, there were no "production line" methods used at her nursery. At 2 meal and snack time became more uniform, and at 3 (again, move to the "big kids room") the day was more structured - which I don't think is a bad thing, as its along the lines of the school day.

galvanizersbaby

Nicki wrote: »

My preconception from discussions with friends who have worked in nurseries is that nurseries offer a more production line method of looking after the children, whereas childminders can give a more personalized care. So whilst both would change a nappy if they smelled it was dirty, the nursery would line all the children up at 11 and change their nappies one after the other, then not again for another 3 hours or so, whilst the childminder would do the nappy when she could see it was very wet. Similarly with food and snacks. The nursery would give these at set times, whereas the childminder would juggle depending on whether the child was hungry or sleeping. Personally, if I had to choose I'd go for a childminder I trusted with a baby so young. I think babies and toddlers can learn a lot just observing day to day life in the home and going out and about to different activities such as the library and mother and toddler groups and I can't see how this can be recreated completely in a nursery setting.

lol! not sure what sort of nurseries your friends worked at but at ours they changed the babies whenever they needed changing and similarly feed them when needed.
The older children had set mealtimes and snacktimes though (similar to school environment)

OP - I would agree with others who say go and look round a few nurseries and a few childminders and see what feels right/will work best for you.