The eternial babysitter/ daycare question..

I am pulled in two different directions on this..  Should I take my 4 month old daughter to a daycare center or find one babysitter who can watch her..  there are plenty of pros and cons to each of the choices.. Im just torn... and if I do go the babysitter direction how much is fair? I don't even know .. I was thinking to watch my daughter two days a week 100 bucks would be fair? ( 2  8 hour days) and then my dh can watch her the other two days that I work... What have been some of your experiences on both daycare and one on one babysitting

[kennedydp5]

i don't have experiences to share since we have never had a babysitter and when my dd's were in daycare i worked there as well and recieved their care for free...

but i will say that the average price here for a child under 1 year old is around $150- 160 per week...  and that's for 5 days a week.  so you paying $100 for 2 days a week to me, is perfectly fair!

[tiredbuthappy]

i worked in daycare for years, and all that time i was positive that i would rather send my own kids to daycare than a babysitter, unless i knew the babysitter personally. Sure there were some incompetent people in the center, but there were always enough other people to make sure that nothing happened. There was always someone to see if there were problems. Incompetent people were fired or reassigned. I always feared that there was no system of checks with a single babysitter. Overall, i felt the socialization and activities provided in a center could not be matched by a private babysitter. and most centers are licenced, and you can even find some god one accredited by NAEYC (the one i worked at was one).

THEN, i had a baby. I put her into a large chain daycare with a pretty good reputation- Kindercare. It was terrible. The staff turnover was ridiculous (mind you, i worked in daycare, so i am aware of staffing problems, etc... This was absurd). They did not provide consistant staff for my baby. My DD is very content, so i feel she did not get much attention. And since she wasn't screaming, she was not being fed enough. This was also due to the fact that within a day they had so many people in and out to cover their poor staffing that no one knew what was going on. There were 2 days where all she was offered the whole time she was there was 2 ounces of milk!
I pulled her after 3 months of this BS. i realized that i could not leave her there when i didn't trust her new teacher to be alone with her.

We are now in an in-home center. A lady who takes care of her own 4 yr old son along with a total of 3-4 other kids. She is licenced by the state. I am happy with the arrangement. DD is exposed to older kids and is really benefitting from the interactions. But i am dropping off and picking up with the same person every day. This is very important to me. There are some drawbacks, partly because they are quirks specific to my caregiver. For example, she doesn't have a set nap routine, so DD often comes home exhausted from not sleeping enough.

The best advice i can give you is to ask people for recommendations on specific places. I think we cannot say that in general a center or a babysitter is better, because it depends on the specific caregiver.

You can probably find someone to watch her for $100 for 2 days, but that is kinda low. You will definitely pay more for a daycare center!

A quick word of advice if you decide to have your husband watch her on days off- DH has a rotating schedule, so there are days during the week that he is home. On week A, DD stays home 1 day with him, and on week B she stays home 2 days with him. But on all weeks, my husband gets one "day off" where he stays home and DD still goes to the sitter. This is very important to help us get cleaning and errands done. It's also important for his sanity. He does so much cleaning, cooking, laundry, yard work, etc... on those days. It actually helps our relationship too because things are getting done and there's less stress.

[tiredbuthappy]

$150-$160/week! Wow!
Here, for a child under 1, daycare centers cost at least $1200/month (and that's cheap). At least $300/week.

my inhome provider charged $65/day for infants under 12 months ($55 for anyone older)

[kennedydp5]

wow!  my nephew is 20 months and i remember when sil and bil were shopping around for childcare...  they also went for an in-home daycare b/c they got a good recomendation and she was $160 per week.  i know some of them are a little more but i believe that is the average....  but holy moly, $300 a week??????  i wonder if the ones who provide the care in the centers there get paid better than here, too!  :)

[tiredbuthappy]

Nope. people working in private centers get paid cr@p. hence, the high turnover. not sure where all the money goes. i worked for a very reputable nonprofit organization. the tuition for the kids was very high. and with a college degree (BA) i started at $21,000 /year. disgraceful if you ask me. and if you had a child and you worked there, you only got 50% off childcare. i had coworkers who had to leave when they had their second child because it actually would have cost them money to continue working and having 2 kids in the center. others worked just for the insurance.

[babyscience]

I am for daycare centers, just like what tiredbuthappy said There are always people around.  So if one gets frustrated or is tired then the other can hop in.  When you have a sitter, you have to trust that person completely.  If you go for the at home one, make sure you get a good recommendation

[vsentz]

holy mother!!!! 300 bucks a weeeeek?!?!?!?!?

wow...

I am gonna pay a lot less than that.... (now I feel terrible...)

I am dealing with the same situation girl... unfortunately we have to work to make this... work! =( I would love to stay with her and sometimes I feel I am not a 'mother enough' for her since I am sending her to a complete stranger to care for her... when I should be the one taking care of her!!! =((( I am completely crushed by this and sometimes I even see her and think... I am so sorry I cannot be your full time mommy  baby.... ='(((

I had one bad experience with a home daycare... but she was on in 20 I am sure... I know there are some pretty good ladies out there that would take good care of our babies! =)

I just got off the phone with one that will watch babies because she is a SAHM and her 2 kids are all day in school.... she is not gonna do this for money... (so she said), but just for having someone to care for (in other words... something to do???) during the day...

I thought that was not bad... her rates are SUPER reasonable and she sounds really REALLY nice!!! =) so I'll meet her monday =)

Good luck pinkbelle! I know it's a tough situation.. but I think you'll finally find someone to care for your cutie-pie.
Personally I prefer a one-to-one childcare, meaning, she will be watched by the same person everyday... and this lady said she'll only take another baby or two after Maddie... so that's not bad! my last one had at one time like 5 of them! =S

[kennedydp5]

tired-  i was lucky in recieving the free childcare while i worked there, but it was a privately owned center.  my dd goes to pre-k at a chain center right now and i asked her teacher if the workers get free care and she said no, its discounted also.  i really wish childcare workers recieved better pay...  they are taking care of children and also are required to take a certain # of hours of childcare classes like each year i think.  

[peekawho]

My kids went to KinderCare too, when they were a bit older...I'm thinking they were 2-3 when they started.  Before that, I worked nights so I just slept in the daytime when they slept....which meant I hardly got any sleep.  

A lot depends on which center, and which day care teachers they have.  My first son was quite advanced, they taught him to read when he was almost 4..and I mean, the kid could read the Readers Digest long before he was 5 years old.  He enjoyed his time there, loved "school" and did quite well.

My second, though, went to the same center but of course had different teachers.  The care was sloppy, no real teaching going on....we changed teachers but by that point he hated it and would have nothing to do with it.  So we pulled him and I just went without sleep for a couple of years, working at night and staying up with him in the daytime.

[kennedydp5]

peek, i went to KinderCare when i was little and now dd is going to a KinderCare for pre-k!    smal world...  or just a really big chain!!!  :)

[Tanker Chic]

I never liked the idea of leaving my son alone with someone in private, so I chose a public daycare.  The first one didn't work out to well.  I think they treated my son very well and were kind to him, but they did not follow my directions and I did not like that.  I love his new daycare and so does he.  

Good luck whichever you decide.  

[kjbutcher]

I have an in home daycare (for the next week) and would not send my son to one.  I would definately find a daycare center.

[pinkbelle]

Thanks Ladies.. im still undecided.. we have been interviewing tons of potential baby sitters but none of them meet my standards to watch my precious little girl... so for now family is doing it.. ( my mom, my cousin.. people that i trust with my life)