Advice regarding nanny or caregiver for 10 month old
Hi-
I am moving to Oakland at the end of March and I am trying to figure out if it is best to get a nanny or childcare center for my 10 month old. The rate of the nannies I have interviewed is $25-30 per hour, does this seem to be the average rate? I also found a daycare center but they have a capacity of 24 infants which seems a bit high to me, although their caregiver to infant ratio is 1:4. I will need childcare full time and being a first time mom I am really overwhelmed especially moving to a new area. Any recommendations on daycare centers or where to find nannies would be greatly appreciated.
thank you!
Mar 8, 2020
Parent Replies
We are in a similar situation with our 9-month old. The nanny rates you mentioned seem reasonable for a nanny share, and I think it is typically a little cheaper if it is just one child. Is the daycare center you mentioned Child's Play Wonderschool? If so, we were told that they will not have any full time spaces available until December. We were only able to find one daycare with an opening any time soon (Dimond Babies Nursery, Monique Fanney, dimondbabies [at] gmail.com), but we have decided to go with a nanny share instead. In general, it seems like there is way more demand for infant daycare than there are spots available. There seem to be more options available once they hit 2 years. Good luck!
I only have experience with nannies and nanny shares, but I would agree that 24 infants seems like a lot for one daycare facility, although the child/caregiver ratio seems reasonable. Daycares can be extremely competitive just to get a spot in the Bay Area though, so if you're able to get a spot and it's more affordable, you'd be lucky to find an open spot with short notice. Re: nanny rates for a single child, $25-30/hour is pretty standard. I personally was able to find a nanny with a lower rate but she has only two years of experience as an au pair (although she's FAR better than the other two nannies I have experience). If you're looking for a nanny, I recommend posting on this site with exactly what you're looking for and also browsing other parents' and caregivers' posts with recommendations. You could also join the Facebook groups Berkeley Moms (covers all east bay) and Main Street Mamas: East Bay and posting about your needs there. MSM East Bay is how I found my first nanny share situation. Good luck!!!
Thank you all for the great information! I appreciate all of your insight. We decided to hire a nanny full-time. We did check out Child’s Play Wonderschool and it did have a waitlist and we also weren’t sure if it was a good fit for our daughter. I am hoping the nanny works out for us!