Childcare options before starting in creche

shomy

Hi all,

We had our first child earlier this year, who is doing well! We've found a great creche that is very close to where we live. However, they can't take her before her first birthday, due to (a) waiting lists and (b) they won't take any children before their first birthday.

My wife is due to return to work in a few months, and even though we both work from home, we're both hybrid and probably wouldn't be able to mind the child and work at the same time anyway. So we need to find a solution for the period between my wife returning to work, and our child starting in the creche. Our parents might be able to help for a short period of time but not a lot, as they work, and live far away.

What options do we have/ do ye recommend?

SmallgirlBigcity

Could you stagger your shifts? My partner and I did that when our child was born and I went back to work. So I work 4 days a week (10 hour shifts) and I do Mon, Tue, Wed and Fri. He does Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat. I manage both work and my child on a Wed but his grandmother collects him from me in the afternoon. And she takes him for the whole day on a Fri. That's how we make it work. We're very lucky but if you could manage something similar maybe that would help. Our child started ECCE in pre school last Sept so that really helped me on a Wed. Before that, we just managed. He never went to creche. Hope this helps! Maybe you could get a childminder?

shesty

Childminder is one option for a few months.

Your wife and yourself taking parental leave on opposing days of the weeks for a few months, ie she works Monday/Tuesday, you take those days off (unpaid, unfortunately), and then she takes Wed/Thurs/Fri off.

Grandparents do a day, plus a mix of you both taking parental leave.

See if another creche could take the baby up to a year.

Is there additional parents leave available to both of you? Have you used all of this, can you use any of it to cover some of this time?

Can your wife extend her leave beyond 24 weeks mat leave using some or all of the following:

• X days of public holidays that happen during her mat leave (they get added on at the end),
• 16 weeks of unpaid leave that are available to her by law added on to the end of her 24 weeks mat leave,
• annual leave that she has accrued while she was off (so she may be entitled to 21 days leave a year say. If she is off for say 6 months, HR can work out how many days annual leave she can add to the end of her maternity leave, as it could be 1.2 days per month or something). Thes ewould be paid, if she is normally paid for annual leave.
• possibly taking a few weeks of unpaid parental leave (she's entitled to 130 days per child up to the age of 12),
• the additional parent's leave that is available to you both now, since legislation was brought in in the last few years.

Some of those suggestions are unpaid, but most parents I know are extending mat leave up to a year now using a combo of all of those things, as most creches won't take babies under the age of 1 now. It's not forever, it's only for a few months, so those are the options available to you both. You can't work from home and mind a baby at the same time - I know this from a lot of experience, so don't try. It is too stressful for you both.