Need childcare opinions
My baby is 4.5 months and my husband and I have taken turns taking leave to care for him. Despite assurances we would get in on time, our daycare doesn’t have space at either center, so our son is going to an in-home babysitter starting today. I’m not thrilled bc my husband and I both had bad experiences at in-homes growing up. Need help figuring out a path forward once space does open up! In the US if that matters. Options:
- In home: Its a lovely woman who cares for only one other child. Fully licensed. Baby would get more individualized attention and be exposed to fewer germs than a daycare center. But there’s no oversight or redundancy—I have to trust her and there’s no backup if she had a family or medical issue. She is much cheaper and I like that I’m supporting a woman of color’s small business. There’s also no curriculum, it would be informal play all day and it’s a house setting, no real dedicated play space other than the living room floor.
- The daycare has a set curriculum, oversight, cameras, an on-site playground, and redundancies if a caregiver is sick. There’s an administrator to respond to any issues and there are tons of positive reviews online. It’s more expensive and baby would get more germs.
- There’s also a smaller in-home/day-care hybrid nearby that’s smaller and cheaper than the daycare, but has a curriculum and is bilingual. Setting up a tour.
Thoughts given Covid/pricing/individualized care? Once a spot opens up in the daycare we don’t have long to decide, so pushing the decision off won’t be an option for long.
Posted Dec 13, 2021, 12:06 PM UTC
12
With a baby that young, I’d go with your current in-home setup until your child is 12-15 months old. With the giant caveat that you remain comfortable with your caregiver. For starters, at 4.5 months, you don’t need a curriculum. Your baby just needs attention, tummy time, room to move around. Also, I’d want to avoid my young baby getting sick, as much as possible. So personally, I’d go babysitter until you’re at least out of the fever/respiratory virus danger zone (~6 months) and likely would wait until a year when they’ve got at least a dose of all the childhood vaccines.
While I don’t have any experience with a babysitter, I’ve seen others recommend spending some time initially during your child’s first days to observe/help transition. Also, you should be able to drop in with no push back. If there’s any, I’d consider that a red flag and would move on.