child care problems

[Kittykat198]

I wondered if anyone has any advice about finding childcare. Apparently you have to put your name down for places prebirth. I don’t have family support and am really struggling to find a place.

our local council apparently also doesn’t have a family advice service, we haven’t seen the health visitor to ask (they were suppose to see us at 14 days I think? Midwives left a message, I left a message and no joy). The council website lists childminders but is 3 years out of date (tried calling).

starting to pull my hair out a bit. I didn’t want to have years of fertility treatment to just shove my baby with any old child minder or nursery and now have no options at all. I also can’t afford to not work.

[Purpledoggy]

You can look for local childcare on the Ofsted website by entering your postcode. If you have a local Facebook page this can help for personal experiences/recommendations and also some that are harder to find on the Ofsted page. Some registered childminders won't come up on the Ofsted search list as their name and address can't be published (not sure of the exact reasons but my stepsister, who is a registered childminder, does not come up on an ofsted search even though her reports are on there if you go via the local council page - possibly as she has children living there). Have any of the ones you have tried given you an idea of the wait list time? xx

[Kittykat198 in reply to Purpledoggy]

2025 from the 2 that bothered to reply. I knew things were bad for child care but this is ridiculous!

Will look at ofsted website to see what I can find. Thank you!

[Purpledoggy in reply to Kittykat198]

Wowsers that is insane! I guess you may need to look quite a bit further afield as a temporary measure and go onto wait lists for something closer. Good luck, hope you find something soon xx

[Lydialego123]

wow that is a long waitlist, I signed both of ours up just after they weee born with our nursery and had no trouble, sorry to hear you are struggling . Our local council website has details on childcare services in our area, so maybe see if yours does the same? Best of luck x

[Hidden]

have a look into nanny shares it can work out same cost as nurseries x

[Pnw2020]

Hi. Have a look at this website for nurseries.

daynurseries.co.uk/

Often people put their babies down on several waiting lists so places might come up sooner particularly if you can be flexible with days etc if not working full-time.

Also from my experience best to call a nursery if you can x

[Kittykat198]

thank you. It’s feeling very impossible at the moment

[Twiglet2]

I asked a local community Facebook page for nursery and childminder recommendations and they got in touch from there quickly if no space etc. I found the gov and other websites useless and no one got back to me or had king wait lists. The private nursery near us had no wait list for under 2s at that stage luckily for the couple of days I needed I then found it easier to up the days once I was in there in case that method helps? I am so glad we choose a nursery as having the other kids around has really helped our boy develop socially (no siblings or cousins his age)

Both my partner and I applied (and fought) for condensed hours in work too which has reduced the need for childcare as well in case that’s an option. Good luck xx

[Chiefy]

We have had to be flexible in terms of days. We applied at 3 months to start at 7 months and could only get 2/3 days availability. I had to go back to work 3 days at 7 months and use holidays for the remaining 2 days.

We managed to go up to 4 days at 15 months and we can't get a full time place until his 2nd birthday in October.

Luckily my husband is self employed so he has had to take on the childcare for that one day a week. It is a nightmare and I feel your pain.

Is there any way of being flexible and building up to full time? X

[Kittykat198 in reply to Chiefy]

we think we may have a child minder now part way through the week but my partner has some flexible working he can use and I think we will have to use holiday until we can get him in at 2.

It is really annoying me that people don’t respond or put on their websites they have no availability!

It’s comforting it’s not just us but I feel angry that we are all in this situation!!!

[May37]

I put my daughters name for a nursery whilst pregnant, when the time came I found somewhere nearer. I think I brewed in match and she started June. Also looked at childcare. Co.uk and ask on local fb group