when to book into daycare

[lizzymcfizzy]

I'm not even pregnant yet but I keep getting told how hard it is to get into daycare facilities. I don't even know if I'm going to use daycare yet, I may be able to rely on my mum but;

Should I be booking into a daycare centre waiting list as soon as I can?

Have any of you had this problem?

[Chickadee]

I was told to book early, phoned one place to be told they had no waiting list so didn't bother. A month before going back to work I started phoning around to discover every other daycare ran waiting lists! One place I put Chloe on the list, and didn't get a call back that a spot was available till a year later.

It depends where you want though, that was in Perth in a suburb reasonably close to the CBD. We've since moved further out and spots in the local daycare were available immediately.

It also depends when you want to start - some daycares move children up to the next age class exactly on their birthdays (or 6 months old, 18 months, etc). Others do a big move of kids at the start of the school year - the oldest class empties as kids start regular school so the oldest kids in the next younger class are moved up, and so on until spots in the babies class are free. So you might find a lot of spots become available in Jan/Feb, and if you miss that you might be waiting a while. That's what happened at the place that it took a year for me to get a call.

[xkwzit]

Hi
I put DD1 down for daycare when she was about 6 weeks old and didn't get a call until she was 11 months :eek: . I put DD2 down 3 months before she was born and got a nursery spot about when I wanted it at 12 months. I would put your name down in a few places once well into your pg. You can always turn down a spot if you don't really want it.

My mum is also looking after DD2 after I went back to work 3 days/week from when she was 6 months old. I've taken one day/week at childcare just so that she has a spot. With DD1 I made the mistake of turning down a nursery spot and very nearly missed out on a toddler place for when I wanted it.

Cheers

[Belby]

Hi guys,
I work in chidcare and it really varies from area to area and between centres. Some centres always have waiting lists and others seem to sometimes have them and sometimes not. The centre I worked at varied, sometimes we would have a waiting list for a few months and other times we were low on numbers and were waiting for new children to apply. It also varied between the different rooms. THe baby room always had a waiting list whereas the other rooms only sometimes did, just depends on the ages of children wanting to start. All I can suggest is to ring and find out about the centre and if they have a waiting list they can give you an estimate of time frame and it is up to you if you want to put your name down.

I suggest though that you go and visit the centre personally, meet the staff and be shown around. I believe this is the best way to get a feel for the centre, and if you come away with a good feeling then that is the centre for you. THere is quite a variety between different centres. When I went for the job interview where I work I was shown around and came away with a positive feeling, everyone was warm and friendly, the atmosphere was calm and the children seemed happy and relaxed, and there was lots of evidence of interesting varied activities going on.

Just my opinion, keep smiling

[H&B'sMum]

I put my name down at 7 different centre when I was 12 weeks pregnant. I wanted to start at the beginning of a year which is easier to get into. Out of the 7 places I was offered a place at 3 of them. Some centres don't let you put your name down until you are 12 weeks along. I even know one centre where we have bring a Dr's letter confirming you are pregnant. It does vary a lot from centre to centre and from state to state. So ring up centres and find out about their waiting lists and their policies on waiting lists.

Good luck.
I've just noticed you live in Maitland. I live in Newcastle. It depends where you work and if you want your child in a centre near where you work or near where you live. I know that waiting lists are bad in this area. If you want a list of centres I can recommend a few (I work in Child Care in the Newcastle area) just pm me and I can let you know.

[RachaelsMum]

I put my name down at the local daycare 6 months before my daughter was born. I was offered a place for her when she was 7 months old so it was over a years wait.

We live in Brisbane about 15 mins from the city and all the day cares near us have waiting lists. Some wouldn't even take my name because their lists were so long.

The key for me was keeping in touch with the one I really wanted. I rang them every few months just to make sure they hadn't lost my details and this ended up being how we got the place because one day when I called a position had just become vacant. I don't know if this means I just timed it right and I jumped the queue but who was I to argue!

Good luck!