How did you go about picking your in-home daycare provider?

[jengen]

I'm only 4 months along, but this is obviously weighing heavily on my mind, since DH and I decided I have to go back to work at least 4 days a week once our baby comes.
The area I live in is expensive overall and daycare prices at the typical centers range from $1300-$1600/mo around here, which is a bit more than we budgeted for. So, we are thinking in-home daycare. I got a list of the certified family daycare providers (up to 6 kids) in my town and there are 33 alone, never mind in the surrounding area. What do I do? Just start calling them one by one? I don't know anyone around here with small children that can make referrals. Any suggestions?

[pompomgirl]

I found my in-home daycare provider through a referral service. They made the appointments for me to visit the homes and interview the caregivers, and they provided me with references as well. But yes, if I were you, I'd just start calling a few of the numbers. Interview them a bit over the phone, and if you like how the conversation is going, ask to meet with them at their home. Also, ask if they have any references to provide you with (call them as well). Good luck! In-home care is great!!

[SaphirimalMei]

Start calling now :) A good way to eliminate centers right off the bat is by asking them if they anticipate availability around the time you are going back to work. You will probably cut your list in half right there.

We use a licensed home center and we absolutely love it! I hope everything works out to your advantage :D

[lee60657]

I am not sure where you live, but daycare centers in my area run about the same. I just wanted to throw out another option that you may not have thought about. We do a nanny share with one other family who has a son about one week older than my DD. They are a family we know so it works out well. We were very surprised to find that we are actually paying a bit less than some daycares in our area. We found our nanny using an agency...we have been very happy with the decision. Just another option to look into, you may be pleasantly surprised with the price! Good luck!

[IUAlum]

DH and I are starting our search into daycare for after I go back to work next year.

As far as Day Care Centers, I've had an easy time finding what I need. Thanks to the NAEYC home page, I was able to find accredited centers near us.

We are 90% sure we want to go that route, but I wanted to check out a few home day care centers in my area just to compare.

How do you find these? I'm having a heck of a time!

[BTB]

Since you're in Chicago, I can give you a few resources:

West Suburban Home Daycare Association: 708-848-8931
(if you call they can tell you if an HDA exists for your area, I think there's a group like this for the north and west sides too)

www.northsideparents.org
(an example of one such organization) :)

I found literally hundreds on yahoo.com by searching their yellow pages. Not that it's an ideal way to find a daycare, but if you're thinking center care and just want to see a few home daycares for comparison...

HTH.

[lowcountrywed]

How did you go about finding an in-home/family daycare? And how far in advance were you able to reserve a space? I'm needing childcare in August, and I'm finding that most in-home facilities don't know what their availability will be that far in advance (and of course, most of the centers are already full). TIA!

[ShannonGH]

I found mine just last week through a recommendation of someone we know through our church. I had requested a list of in-home daycare providers in my area through an agency in our city (that I found after searching on the internet) but I hated to just randomly pick names off of a list and start calling. Having a recommendation made me feel so much better about the situation. Also, we don't need childcare until August as well and, luckily, she knew that she'd be able to accept our DD then.

The only advice I can give is to just interview providers and, of the ones you like, ask to be put on their waiting list to see if something opens up in August. Good luck!

ETA: To add to my advice above, periodically keep calling back to the providers that you like (after you've interviewed them) to "check in" and see if they think they'll have an opening when you need it. That advice was given to me by an in-home provider that we interviewed that was nationally accredited and WONDERFUL, but way out of our price range.

[Brady]

I did a search online for licensed providers in my area. Once I had a list, I narrowed by distance (I wanted it closer to home than work), and made phone calls and set up interviews with those I felt comfortable with on the phone.

In-home is def. different like you said, in that, a lot of times it's more "I won't know if I'll have a spot available, call back in July", rather than being put on a waiting list in a center. Thankfully I found a provider I really felt comfortable with in January, and even though I didn't need her until May, she held a spot for me. So, it's usually all hit or miss with in-home. A lot that I spoke to did not have openings at all due to the small size of an in-home.

Good Luck.

[jenjen0713]

We found ours through a recommendation of a co-worker of DH. I was due in October and we met with her in May and reserved a spot for January (8 months later). Our babysitter knew she would have an open spot later in the fall and just saved it for us.

[AusAshMommy]

We've been through 3 already...for the first one, when Austin was 3 mos old, I just plowed through the local newspaper and found one...randomly...she was licensed by the county and we visited her home during the day to see the environment, and ended up staying over 2hrs, needless to say we chose her.

The 2nd was a recommendation from our 1st because she was closing. We met with her and were comfortable enough with her, however, after 3 mos of Austin screaming everytime I dropped him off we pulled him out...

The current one we have that we LOVE I got a reccomendation for from a co-worker. She's her neighbor. She's not licensed though and only takes in kids from people she knows. I also know her son through the local volunteer fire department I used to work for, he was one of my recruits...he's a great guy and if that's any reflection on his mother then I knew we'd be ok! My KIDS adore her and it's going to break us all into a zillion pieces when we move soon.

When we do move however, we're going with a center because it's time for Austin to move into preschool...and Ashley can be in the same location as her big brother.

[solongtogo]

Mine is 2 doors down from my house..she has a posterboard in her window which I saw on a walk.

[EJM]

There is a local company that for a fee will provide a list of home daycares in any zip code I specified. Once I had the list I went down it calling around 5-6 months ahead of when I needed it. Most of them told me to call back 30 days in advance. It was very stressful since there were hardly any options anyway, but we got lucky and a spot opened up at one of the few where I would have considered leaving DD.

[AirForceLove]

When our first DS was born both DH and I were still on Active Duty with the Air Force and we were able to use the Child Development Center on the base. We loved it so much. What was great was when all the babies were ready to move the next room they kept all the kids together.

When DH and I left Active Duty and moved to MI, we found child care through a friend of ours. Her kids went there. After our second DS was born, we found another place through an advertisment in the paper. We started using her because she was $340 cheaper a month for two kids than what the other lady was.

[Jackie&Tom]

When selecting an in-home daycare provider, did you spend any time observing? Can you tell me what it was like?

We're going today to observe and I was looking for some experiences of other moms!

Thanks!

[solongtogo]

Several times before the birth of my DD I would pop in my chosen in-home daycare unannounced and just chit chat and observe. Daycare provider never had a problem with it and always encouraged me to do so whenever I wanted. It wasn't incredibly formal...I would just watch her and how she would react to when one of the kids would come up to her with things and how she'd handle them. I also took that opportunity to clear up any last minute questions I had come up with. I love our daycare provider, she's fantastic!