When to Start Looking for Childcare

See also: How to Find a Nanny ... How to Find Childcare ... When to Start Looking for Preschool

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Parent Q&A

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Hire nanny before we both go back to work?
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Feb 2, 2024

Hello,

We just had our child a few weeks ago and currently have a live-in nanny helping out for the child’s first three months. The nanny will no longer be available after then, however, so we are debating how to proceed from here.

My mother in law will be joining us after the nanny leaves for a month and a half (from late April to early June), and my husband staggered his parental leave so that he starts his leave towards the tail end of my parental leave, but we worry that this may not be sufficient help for baby since I (one parent) will be resuming work around the child’s 4 month mark in mid May. I may have a hybrid working model, so going into the office 3 days a week.

Given this, I’d really appreciate some advice about whether we would need a separate nanny to help out while mother in law is around, or if it would be okay to wait until after mother in law leaves in June (which coincides with my husband’s parental leave nearing its end, which would mean that both us parents would be working).

Also, any general advice about how to begin the nanny search process, as well as your thoughts on daycare timeline (when to start looking, how you went about the search, any recs..) would be much appreciated!

Feb 2, 2024

So mom is going back to work when baby is about 4 months old, at which time both dad and grandma will be taking care of baby? I don't think you need a third adult to take care of the baby at that time. You should be thinking about a nanny for when grandma leaves and dad goes back to work full time, in June, or in fact that should be dad's assignment during the period of May - be the lead on finding a nanny (for you both to agree on, obvs). Also you might want to think about staggered leave for yourself through the end of the calendar year or end of breastfeeding time. Don't underestimate how stressful it is to go back to work with an infant you are the main foodsource for, even if you're in the same house. I felt like my brain was split with all the effort of calculating feedings.

Feb 6, 2024

I would say just start the search for a nanny and when you find the one that you like, you can talk about start dates. Leave some overlap so that the nanny can shadow for a few days. Also, I would check in with mother-in-law so that you have a sense of what her expectations are to make sure you’re on the same page. I was all gung ho to do full time mothering to my newborn and it was just too much with breast feeding at night and insomnia and a colicky baby. I ended up hiring our nanny early, on a part time basis so I had some down time for a few hours a day.

Feb 7, 2024
First time parent, when to start signing up for daycare?
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Apr 2, 2021

Hi BPN. Soon to be first time parent, due in November 2021. I will be taking 3 months for maternity leave. In February 2022, I’ll be returning to work full time. How far in advance can I reserve a spot in a home based day care or child care center?

Apr 2, 2021

Child care center: get on the list now. Home-based daycares generally don't start filling spots until much closer to the time they open up, but it's worth doing your research now to find some that might work for you and being on their radar should they know of spots opening. Unfortunately, February is a tough time to start childcare since a big wave of spots open up in the summer months, so (at least in my experience, with two kids who both started around that time of year) you want to do all the homework you can now. Both my kids ultimately ended up in nannyshares since we didn't get off any waitlists in time, though, and that worked out fine too; those are trickier to find until the month or so before you need care.

Apr 4, 2021

It is never too early to look for centers and get on their list. Nanny shares/nanny you have more time for. Usually 1-3 months before you need it is enough to find a nanny. Like the other poster, we actually wouldn't have gotten into any centers if it hadn't been for one opening in my building at work and getting preferential entry there. Daycares are great, we LOVED ours, but for our second I can't even get anyone to email/call me back to even get on the waitlist! Good luck!

Apr 7, 2021

Do your research and interviews now. Some daycares will take a deposit to secure your spot early in advance, but they don’t always know if they’ll have a spot. I know my son’s daycare, Tiny Footprints in El Cerrito, is booked until Jan 2022. Since I’m due in Oct, I let the owner know I wanted to secure a spot in March. When I was pregnant with my first, I tried contacting 13 places and couldn’t get in anywhere. Then we got a place and the spot fell through so we did a nanny share until Covid hit. Now our son loves his daycare and it works great for us, so I would just say that things don’t always work out how you think they will, but try to be flexible and go with it.

Apr 7, 2021

We were on the waitlist for 8 months before we were able to enroll my son into his childcare center. Other daycares I spoke to had a waitlist between 3-12 months. I would reach out and start inquiring ASAP. They’ll usually let you know if you’ll need to apply sooner rather than later.

Apr 7, 2021

We had our daughter Dec 2020 (recently moved to the area March 2020) and heard we needed to get on waitlists. Although it was during the heart of the pandemic, most of what we found would not allow for waitlist signups until the child was born. We tried to get around those restrictions to no avail.

Three days after her birth, I immediately signed up for a slew of waitlists. But I don't have too much hope – my brother did the same for his daughter before he moved out of Berkeley to Park Slope six years ago. Right before we came to Berkeley – 5.5 years after signing-up – he got a call of a daycare opening. We tried to take without success.

Apr 7, 2021
How soon to sign up for daycare?
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Jan 30, 2021

My husband and I are expecting and due with baby boy in June 2021. We are wondering how soon we need to apply for daycares in the area? We are hoping to find one in North Berkeley/Albany area and have seen past posts that say waitlists can be a year long. Also, any recommendations for daycares you liked in this area? Thanks!

Jan 30, 2021

We live in Albany, I'm mom to a 2 year old. I started reaching out to local in-home daycares once I was out of my first trimester. Some daycares immediately said they didn't have spots available, but most I visited weren't sure what availability they would have until the time got closer. It was useful to start talking to daycare providers to get a sense of what was important to us, and to get on their radar. Once my daughter was born we reconnected with our favorite places and had a few options without our favorite places. Good luck!

Feb 3, 2021

Don't know of any in your area, but I'd suggest applying now. If you want to do a nanny/nanny share you're good to start looking a couple of months before you need care. But it is NEVER too early to apply to daycares. Many, many, daycares. The good news is that Covid has caused a lot of people rethink daycares, so it might be easier, but we applied to 3 before our kid was born and didn't get into any until he was 8 months old.

Feb 3, 2021

Hi,

Our son started daycare Feb 1st 2021 (at 4.5 months old).

We signed up in July 2020, so about 7 months prior to starting.

We chose an in-home daycare in Albany with one caretaker (+ some part time helpers), so only four children under 2-years old are allowed. We had to commit early, because the caretaker has to coordinate around the restrictions.

Feb 3, 2021

The pandemic seemed initially like it changed things and there were lots of openings at one point. Now there seem to be less openings. My son's daycare (Tiny Footprints) is booked through 2021! I would start looking and applying now.

Feb 3, 2021

I don't want to cause any anxiety, but the sooner the better! I signed up for various daycares when I was 4 months pregnant and didn't get off a waitlist until my son was shy of one year old. It's pretty crazy. Perhaps with COVID now there is less demand for childcare, with people wanting to keep kids home. I would try to get on as many as you can. Probably tough now to not be able to visit in person and get a sense of the place, but from BPN you can likely find a lot of great recommendations and information from previous posts. Good luck!

Feb 5, 2021
When to start searching for nanny share?
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Aug 7, 2020

Hi all, first time mom here due early January 2021. I'm looking for childcare starting August of 2021 and am interested in a nanny share. How much time in advance do I need to start my search? I know finding an infant spot for daycare can take at least a year but my assumption is nanny share is more last minute. Any advice on how and when to start my search? Thanks!

Aug 7, 2020

We searched about a month or 2 out and had no problems. We used BPN to find another family.

Aug 12, 2020

I think it is a great idea to post as I am sure you will get a range of different perspectives on this topic. The variety will hopefully help you triangulate on a path forward that works for you.

My suggestion would be to start in late May/early June. There tends to be a fair amount of turn over in nannies in the July and August timeframe as children transition into preschool or other school year based programs. Starting in late May/June will help give you a little more runway (as a first time Mom) to sort out what you are looking for and what options are available to you. You can certainly find a nanny in a matter of weeks but it can be a bit of a process to determine for yourself what you want. Adding the additional consideration of a nanny share means you will also need to bake in time to find a family to partner with. A good place to start would be to align around your general strategy. Do you want to find a nanny first and then find a family to share with? Do you want to find a nanny and then find a family to share with? Do you want to wait until closer to August and hope to find a family that already has a nanny? It would not hurt to be open to different pathways but the steps in each process and the lead times will be different. Happy to share my own personal experiences and answer any questions you have over a call or email. Best of luck.

Aug 12, 2020

Congratulations! You sound like a planner just like me! A great suggestion i followed was to first look for a partner family, and then jointly interview/select nannies. We found our partner family 3-4 months before desired start date and the nanny we began looking for about 2 months before and finalized about 1 month before. I think we were ahead of the curve though, and a lot of nannies aren't looking until 1 month or less in advance. BANANAS offers a free great training on How to Hire a Nanny 101 that we found very helpful. Happy to answer any more questions - we are so happy with our nanny-share arrangement!

Aug 12, 2020

Most nannies are searching for employment immediately or starting within a month or two. Focus on finding a family to share with first and then you can begin looking for a nanny togetehr 2-3 months before you need her to start. BPN or one of the parent Facebook groups (like Berkeley Moms, Main Street Mamas: East Bay) are a great place to find another family to partner with, and I've found the parent recommendation forums on BPN to be an excellent source of nanny referrals.

Aug 13, 2020

Hi, we have had a really good nanny share experience. No complaints. I would say it takes two months before the start date. I tried earlier to be prepared but it was pointless they can’t commit to you when they work gig jobs and take jobs as they come.

First I found a family who wanted to share and who we knew shared similar expectations. After this, we decided what we could afford. My family was no way ever going to be able to pay the full price of a nanny at market price. That would be 100% of my take home pay after taxes. We also didn’t want to low ball a nanny and we wanted to pay them well with good benefits. So the only way we could do that was to be on the same page as the other family. After we agreed what we could pay and what our schedules could be we began to look for a nanny. It took about 2 months to find one that fit.

keep in mind a nanny expects to be paid every time you don’t use here if that is her agreed upon schedule. So, if I call out sick I still pay her. If I go on vacation I still pay her. She told us up front she would not match her vacation time to our vacation time (some will). We always pay our nanny the two child rate (we agreed to one higher rate) vs the norm of the one child and two child rate. because in some way my family and the other family financially are relying each other in this way and split her wage in half.

the best part is the nanny is happy, cares for our babies, we trust her, and she is paid well. I can’t imagine having to be a nanny and always negotiating with two families who think differently.

One perk for her is that both families is that this year both families will go on vacation the same week so she will get a week of free paid time off (plus her regular vacation). I mean regardless of whether my family did or didn’t go on vacation we had to pay her. We figured with the other family if we coordinated our vacation it would be a great break for our nanny.

Many nanny shares have problems, it ends up being a 3 party negotiation. Ours has less because so far the two families act like one party. If you don’t have a budget then You have less to worry about.

Congrats btw!

Aug 13, 2020
When do daycares accept new kids?
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Aug 9, 2019

Hi All, we have a 15 month old and have been starting to look into daycares (have visited two with vacancies coming up) as we think our son will enjoy the social aspects.

I'm just wondering how hard is it really around here to find good options for a child that age? Should we be trying to get him in now as it's the end of Summer or do daycares take kids at all times through the year? In some ways it might suit us better to wait just a little longer and look for something starting in November... But we'd like to have a few options when we do look and we realise now might be the time to get him in somewhere.

Any and all thoughts on this topic would be helpful! We are new to the Bay Area and first time parents as well.

Aug 9, 2019

It depends. Some, like our school (The Model School in Berkeley, with openings btw) have rolling admissions and enroll all year long, others admit all new students at the same time (often Sept 1). Most people tour preschools between now and the end of the year, with notifications going out around March and April. Good luck!

Aug 21, 2019

I believe most daycares have rolling admissions. The challenge will be getting on a waitlist.

The way we've seen it work in the past is that we'll get on the waitlist with an intended start month. The daycare will try to process their waitlist to align with children "graduating" to the next level up. So for example, we may get on a waitlist to join in June, there is a kid in the class scheduled to move into the next older kid class in July, it'll leave a space open in the younger class, so we'll get a start date of July.

At 15 months, your choices are a bit more limited. At 18 months your options open up quite a bit; I think it has to do with licensing. You might actually end up only looking at places that accept 18 months and older just by virtue of what the wait lists look like. For reference, both of our kids started at about 3 months at one facility. One transferred at 18 months and the other will go to the same place when she's 18 months. We were on the waitlist for their final preschool for over a year for each.

If you're considering starting in November, try to get on a waitlist ASAP.

Aug 28, 2019
When to start looking for in-home daycare or nanny?
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Jul 7, 2019

Hi,

I'm due in October with our first. We'll need full time childcare starting in March, when baby is about 4 months old. I started looking several months ago, and got on several daycare center waitlists, but I don't expect to get off those lists by march, so I'm looking at either licensed in-home daycare or a nanny.

When I was looking at 4 months pregnant, I was told by Bananas it was just way too soon to know who would have openings. That said, I don't want to miss my chance to find a good fit for childcare for our family. When do you recommend looking? How far out will places know about their openings?

We're mostly looking in Berkeley, though we might consider Albany, El Cerrito, or Oakland if it was an amazing fit.

Thanks,

Caroline

Jul 7, 2019

It seems to vary a lot. With my first, I tried to look far in advance and in-home centers all told me it was too early and check back just a couple of months before we wanted care. With my second, remembering this experience, I waited until about six months before we wanted care and most in-home daycares told me they didn't have openings for more than a year. Don't know if that's because things have changed in the three years between my kids or if it's just a coincidence (these were all different daycares as we moved to a new neighborhood between kids). So we are doing a nanny share because I couldn't find an opening at a daycare that worked for us.

I'd recommend looking as early as possible for a daycare - the worst that can happen is they'll tell you it's too soon for them and then you can call back later.

Nanny timelines are totally different - if you want a share, you can look for a family to share with in advance, but you probably won't be able to find a nanny until closer to the date.

Jul 10, 2019

The way to think about it is, how far in advance do families give notice when they no longer need a nanny or daycare, and when do nannies start actively seeking another job? From what I've observed, it seems that a lot of nannies hit the job market about a month or so before they're available. In-home daycare providers often don't get much more than a week or two advance notice that an infant is leaving. If you get lucky, you hear about an upcoming vacancy further in advance: a family moving away or graduating to preschool. You might start putting out word of mouth feelers just before your baby is born, and start advertising and actively looking 6-8 weeks before you need care.

Also, when your baby is born, email the daycare centers where you're waitlisted to let them know and that you're still interested.

Jul 10, 2019

Hey, we are in the same boat. There are some daycares that accept early submissions - Berkeley ECEP being one. That said, it's a crazy process!! One places told us they were already full until Fall 2020!

Jul 10, 2019

For in-home daycares, I started looking about 3 months in advance and still managed to find a few places with openings, but I think that was in part due to luck. I don't think it's too soon for you to look at in-home daycares right now, especially since it will be much harder to do after the baby is born and you are busy with the newborn. Also, you would be looking for infant slots (as opposed to toddlers), so many in-home daycares have regulated ratios for how many infants vs. how many toddlers they can care for, which is also in part why getting on the waitlist is good. Nannies need less lead time in my experience, and we found one within 1 week, thanks to the great childcare resource on BPN. However, if entertaining a share or just want to have time for securing a nanny, it's never too early. All said, it is an overwhelming task, so it is definitely worth it to do your research now because then you will also be able to narrow it down to what fits your family regarding approach/cost/convenience, etc., i.e. bigger center, home daycare, nanny/share. Good luck!

Aug 1, 2019
Nanny shares vs. day care: cost and how far in advance?
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Sep 22, 2016

Hello,

I am a new mom trying to figure out what childcare we can afford for our daughter and also logistics. She won't need care until May 2017, and all of the "nanny available" postings on here are for nannies who are available immediately or a month from now. On the other hand, it seems that day cares are filling up for next spring already. If we decide to go the nanny share route, is there any way to "reserve" a spot with a nanny now, or should I wait until a month before I go back to work, and hope that I can find the right nanny? Then if we can't, would it be too late to get into a good day care?

Also, has anyone done research recently into what a typical hourly rate is for nannies and nanny shares? I am currently visiting a lot of day cares which seem to range between $1100-$1800. I'm assuming nannies are more expensive.

Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Katie

Sep 22, 2016

I can't answer your question for nanny costs but if I were you I would search for a good daycare and reserve your spot. You can always cancel it a month or so out if need be. Daycares almost always have waiting lists so there will be a child that would fill your spot pretty quickly if you do back out. That would at least give you an option to fall back on if you can't find a nanny you like for your budget.

Sep 28, 2016

I almost joined a nanny share with two other families last month before we got a spot in a day care, and the nanny was asking $15/hour per child. I don't know how typical that is though. From looking around on BPN, most advertisements for families to join a nanny share don't say what the nanny charges, but I do think I saw one post where the nanny charged $12/hour per child. Hope that helps!

Sep 28, 2016

Hi! Currently doing some research on this and interviewing nannies and it looks like nanny shares to run anywhere between $24-$30/hour (for two babies), so about $12-$15/hour per family. From what I've found, they typically start becoming available a month or two in advance, so it's probably too early to look for May 2017 at this point. Though you might be able to find a current share situation where someone knows they are leaving a bit farther in advance??

Hope that's helpful!

Sep 28, 2016

If you are looking for a daycare, you should get on a wait list now for when you need it in may. As for nannies you should look around now but keep in mind they won't necessarily be waiting for May to take the post.

Sep 28, 2016

Typical nanny rates are between $20-$24 per hour. I am doing a nanny share and we are shooting for $22/hr, so $11/hr per family. It will end up being comparable to daycare. I would recommend looking for a nanny 1-3 months before you go back to work, but if you decide to go with a nanny share, you can always try to find the other family now and then start searching for the nanny closer to the time you will need her. If you are worried about not having your ducks in a row, you can always get on the wait list for a daycare (some will charge a fee) and then if you end up using a nanny, you don't need to move forward with it. It is an additional cost, but you have to keep in mind that unless the daycare has some sort of "barrier to entry" to be on the waitlist, anyone could just put their name on there and it would be that much harder to get a place. I wouldn't send, for example, $250 to reserve a place, but $50 or so is a small price to pay to keep your options open. I hope this helps!

Sep 30, 2016