Jump to content

Recommended Posts

My wife and I are expecting a baby next spring (I know, 'tis very early!), and we were trying to figure out how early is too early to start registering for nursery places. We expect to need to use it when our baby's about 8 months old, and will probably be looking at a place for all 5 days of the week as both of us work full-time.


Thanks!

you might want to start off with a childminder, so check them out too. Some nurseries, such as the Villa, take children from age 2, but they have a very long waiting list so even if you decide to start with a CM, you may want to register for a nursery place anyway. Some places you can register before birth, some (like the Villa) you have to wait until after.


I would certainly start ringing and looking around now, while you have the energy! We left it stupidly late to look at anywhere other than the local one.

I am 13w pregnant with my second child and have registered this baby already with my son's nursery. Never ever too early! When I was pregnant with my now 2yr old son I registered him with three nurseries and didn't get a place with any of them.. Good luck and congrats x
Our son has been at Nellys full time. We've found it to be an excellent nursery, and the only way to get a place is to get your name down when you are in the early stages of pregnancy. It does feel a bit silly but loads of people, especially with two working parent do it very early.

Wow, thanks for the replies, guys! So I wasn't overreacting then! :-) I guess this isn't quite the right thread to ask general questions about nurseries (feel free to shoot me down), but I had a couple of other related questions:


* Could you recommend any nurseries that I can register the little one with before birth?

* About nurseries for very young kids, has any of you that's used them found an issue with the baby being very susceptible to infections?

I would go on the OFSTED website, you'll be able to do a search for all of the nurseries in your area,

then ring around and check what their registration process is. Of course you can put your name down for more than one, but as someone has already pointed out, a fee will apply. Nelly's & Mother Goose spring to mind in terms of a recommendation, but there are plenty of others.


Problem with nurseries, is that babies and toddlers will inevitably pick up various illnesses from each other. I felt guilty when I first sent my 8 month old. He previously hadn't ailed a thing, but then spent the next two years with what seemed like a constant cough/cold. Nothing serious, but a bit hard going at times.

Unfortunately you do need to get on those lists as soon as you can. Most do charge - the least we paid was ?20 to register, but I do recall that Excel2 in Peckham Rye wanted a whole month's fees, upfront and non-refundable although that did guarantee a place.


We started looking when I was about 3 months pregnant, and only got the offer of a place at the nursery we wanted when my son was 6 months old. He started part-time when he was 9 months, going perm at 15 months and yes, for about a year it did feel like a constant stream of coughs and colds, but then his immunity seemed to kick in a bit. I've probably just completely tempted fate and he'll have a raging cold when I collect him later!

Use the ofsted site to gauge the nursery options near you. Then arrange to go visit them. You do get a feel for which is best so would recommend you and your wife visiting together. You don't want to be too far from home and/or transport links as you will be doing the drop off and pick up. My husband and I do nine day fortnights so alternate a day off each wk so our daughter is only in 4 days and we are both dropping 10% salary only. 2 days off a month doesn't impact our jobs much. Might be an option. Good luck.

Another option is to look at nurseries near where you work. We did this with our first child as we couldn't get a place locally despite going on waiting lists whilst pregnant. There are obvious downsides to this - commuting with a young child the main one! Though that was generally not too bad. And we never had to worry about being late for nursery.... You may find the waiting lists are shorter too.

We only moved our son to a local nursery when I was pregnant with our second child so we survived the commute for 3 years.....

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Highly recommend Dulwich Eco Gardening.  When he came to quote Saied said he’d give our garden back so we could decide what we do next.  Under two weeks of hard work from Saied and Mo and we have the garden back and can see paving I’d forgotten about. Not only did Saied remove our very overgrown greenery. Nature had taken over. He also took back to our fence line overgrown ivy, apple and pear trees and and dealt with a neighbours bamboo that had invaded our garden.  We are now going to get quotes for what we do next so those quoting will be able to see the space.  Saied has suggested someone to quote and will be coming back when he does in case he has any questions or they can work together.  I thought Saied would be a good choice and he was. Quotes from others didn’t leave me with confidence for the end result. That was never a concern with Saied.
    • Having a BBQ (fingers crossed) in 2 weeks and need a small BBQ for veggie bits and any spare benches or garden tables and chairs to borrow to add to mine. Any going? Thanks in advance...
    • Oh dear, hope you are OK, I've had it three times and it was worse each time, but not a patch on many of those who got it before they vac' role out. Not commenting on the discussion as I got confused many days ago beyond the reminder that Corbyn would not compromise and the harm that could lead to him, the party and regards Brexit pre and post referendum the country.  Starmer goes too far the other way at times.  
    • I am  ill in bed with Covid. It's not that I "can't be bothered" to read things. I am feeling crap and don't have the mental  energy at the moment. I am not "brushing stuff aside and pleading ignorance." I am truthfully saying when I don't presently know enough about something to be able to comment. I have always been very careful to try to  differentiate between fact and opinion in both  my posts and other people's, and I am not clear what your point is. And I am certainly not trying to wind anybody up. This is a forum. If you don't want to respond to my posts, that's up to you. I'm not sure why you feel the need to announce it.   
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...