[AmyAngel]

I'm probably going to be buying a house in the next couple months, and it will likely be 25-35 minutes away from where I work. (Hopefully not much more than that!) Even though it will probably be 18 months or so before I have my daughter home, I'm trying to plan ahead.

So, which do you think is better: a daycare close to work, or a daycare close to home? There are pros and cons to both, my thoughts are:

Close to work: more expensive probably, I don't know if there even are any close by so may make commute a bit longer, will have long drive each morning and evening with baby, can pick her up quickly and/or bring her to work if she's sick or if I have to work late, if I need daycare while I'm not at work (Dr. appts or if I'm very sick) it would be far out of my way, she'd have an hour or so less time at daycare but would spend that time in the car.

Close to home: probably cheaper, I've worked at 2 of them (10 years ago) so am familiar with the owners, shorter drive with baby, not much out of my way for commuting, convenient for Dr appts, (this is the biggie-->) if I have to work late or she's sick my parents or grandparents would have to get her or I'd have to leave work early (which would be my choice, but sometimes might not be easily done), would be with kids she might go to school or church with, more total time at daycare each day but less time in the car. I'll definitely have to rush home each day to get her, and probably change my work hours.

Should I consider a daycare halfway between? Might that be a better choice?

I'm planning to live so far from work because that's a less expensive area, and most importantly all my family and friends, church, Dr.s and dentist are there.

She could be between 8 and 18 months when I bring her home, probably close to 1 year. I'm tentatively considering inducing lactation, if that makes any difference in your advice. (Oh, and I'm single.)

Thank you so much!

 

[Harper]

Hi Amy,

I was considering this issue when my dd was little. We actually picked a place close to my dh's work which was about a 45 minute drive from home. We wanted her close to one of us during the day and I work in the city which would have been really hard. It was also our favorite place.

After she was born, we ended up getting an au pair instead. As she got a little older we were really happy we didn't go with the original plan. She really hated being in the car was she was a baby. HATED IT!! It would have been an awful drive for dh and dd. If we had to pick a center now, we would probably pick one close to home. If she was sick, her doctor is near home and one of us would have to leave work and go and get her. We have the added benefit of being two people so one of us can usually get away without a problem. But it sounds like you have lots of help from parents and grandparents.

So I vote for close to home--even if you are bfing.

 

[dlm194]

We chose close to home - however, it's on the way to my work. I only work about 20 minutes away but I figured if she was close to home, my dh could get her much more easily. He used to work over an hour away but just recently switched locations so he is 30 minutes away. If he goes in late or comes home early, our daycare is close. There is a nice daycare about 5 minutes past my work but it would be really inconvient for my dh so I would have to do daycare duty all the time.

Another thought I had was that hopefully it will help my dd meet kids in the area near her age.

ETA that my dd is often kind of tired after being in daycare so I like being close to home when I can pick her up and she doesn't have to deal with a long car ride.

 

[momtoTnT]

I also live about 25 minutes from where I work, and we opted for daycare close to work because all of our doctors etc. are in the town I work, not live. We also get to spend about an extra hour a day with ds - granted it's in a car, but we still get to see him

I wasn't too keen on the idea of dropping him off at 6:30 a.m. and not getting to pick him up until 6:00 p.m. - since DH and I carpool, I now get to be with ds until 7:30 a.m. (I hang out with him at the daycare for a while) and I pick him up at 4:40. In addition to the amount of time we get to see him each day, we also save money on childcare, which is important to us.

We do really really dislike that he spends so much time in the car - it feels like we're constantly running him around.

 

[idocrase]

I live 20 minutes from where I work - and thought about this issue a lot, too.

We wound up with a daycare close to work, and its been great! I don't know how old your dc is, but I love being able to walk to daycare on my lunch break and see my babe, play with her, and nurse her. It's been wonderful. It's also nice to spend the drive home in the car with her, talking to her and listening to her try to talk back to me.

Also, if there are errands to run after work, this way I take her with me, which is a little more work, but I enjoy the extra time with her that I wouldn't have otherwise.

 

[kimmysue2]

A a childcare provider I have both. But I think its more that I am closer to their work. Its easier if something happens to ones child while at preschool and be able to get over there faster.

 

[Fiercemama]

Pros and cons to both, of course. We wanted close to home, could find nothing, and ended up with next door to my office, which has worked out wonderfully.

Yes, being able to make arrangements for pick up very quickly is worth considering - for me its easy, because if I get a call that she's sick, I can take maybe 15-20 mins to wrap up my desk, knowing that its a 5 min walk to get her. Also, my sister works next door, and a coworker also is eligible to pick her up. Even if it just means picking her up because of a last minute crisis at the office and bringing her to my desk. It can buy me 30 mins!

We commute by public transit, so the commute is a bit of an opportunity for us to read, talk, look at signs, draw, etc etc.

Another plus for being near work is this. I have a better opportunity to be involved at the daycare. I can stop by on my lunch hour to drop something off for DD, I see her class walking outside my window sometimes, about once a year I go in and have a lengthy discussion with her teacher, I've become involved on the parent's committee. I think this has benifited our family tremendously. There's a lot to be said for childcare where the staff know that parents may drop in at any time.

Good luck with your decision, and WTG on planning for induced lactation!

 

[dawndup]

We ended up going with a place that's close to home; I would have preferred to find a daycare closer to work, but we couldn't find anywhere that was high quality and had openings.

If you can find really GOOD childcare at either location, wow! Good for you! But I would base the decision first on where you can get the best care for your child, no matter what the location is!

There are some nice things about having DD's daycare close to home, FWIW. When I work from home, from time to time, it makes life very easy. It's closer to her doctor's office. This actually makes it possible for me to bike to work or take public transportation. I can drop her off either with the car or the bike trailer and then haul myself to work. I couldn't do that if her daycare were close to work.

But all that said, I still would have preferred it, especially early on, if she were closer to work. It was hard during the time that I had to go in at lunch to feed her (because she would not take bottles). If something happens at daycare it takes me a half hour to go get her. The times she's gotten sick for example... her provider has to take her out of the room and play with her solo in the common area for a half hour until I can get there. I hate that they have to do that, but I can't get there quickly.

 

[charmander]

I second Fiercemama. Having a daycare that is close to work - in my case a block away- really helps when DS gets sick - I can be there in no time to pick her up. It also worked well she was nursing & I'd pop in a couple of times a day to feed her. (She is still nursing, tho only wants it at home & at night).

Also, it is a good feeling to be able to be involved in any celebration or party or event the daycare may have had during the day. Had the daycare been close to my home, I would have missed those things.

 

[maddysmommy]

I've just had to switch dcp's because I'm going back to school and I chose the daycare that is across the street from the building I'll be in as opposed to the one that's a block from my house. Mainly because of the commute (both centers are really good.) I knew that, if the center closes at 5:30 I would have to leave campus at 4:30 to ensure that I would be there on time and likewise if I have an 8:30 class I would have to drop Mads off at 7:30. Being close during the day makes those things so much easier. We'll be taking the train together, so it will be a fun bonding thing I hope. My 2 cents.

Leah

 

[hannahnc]

We picked a center closer to home. The centers by our work (dh & I work near each other) were $5,000 MORE a year! It's a ~20 min drive from work to daycare.

I work from home 2 days a week and go nurse her at lunch on those days.

Good Luck!

 

[monkeybum]

We also faced this issue. It was a real struggle to decide, but we went with closer to home for a few reasons and are very, very glad we did. However, it's a personal decision that depends on your situation, the quality of the care, how old your baby is, how far your live from your job, etc. I went back when DS was 11 months. My commute averaged 1 1/2 hours each way, (it was pretty far from home). Here were our reasons for choosing one close to home:

1. DH or my mom can help with drop-off and pick-up if I'm stuck.
2. Less drive in traffic (my 10 minute ride home is long enough - DS couldn't have stood a long commute if there was a traffic jam!)
3. If I'm home sick, DS can still go to day care, (a biggie).
4. If I'm travelling for work, working from home or at a meeting (or otherwise not in the office) DS can still go to day care.
5. I didn't know how returning to work would go, and wanted DS's day care to be consistent if I changed jobs, (which I have twice since I returned in January and he's beeh able to stay at the same day care, thank goodness!)
6. We hoped DS would make "friends" at his day care that he could continue on with at school as he got older.
7. Dr. and eventually Dentist Appt's are easier.
8. I can run errands on my way home and THEN pick up DS to save time.
9. We live in a great community and I wanted his quality of care to match the type of neighbourhood we live in. My office was not in a great area.

Hope that helps!

Kathy.

 

[AmyAngel]

Thank you all for your responses (Though I'm thinking now "Duh, should've made this a poll!")! It seems like different situations work better for different people. In my situation, my grandparents don't work, and although they couldn't take a child as young as her for continuous care, I think would be thrilled to get her for a few hours once in a while. My parents both get off work earlier than me, and my mom works close to where I will be likely living. I also have an aunt who is a SAHM (with kids in college and high school), so she would be available as well to occasionally pick up in an emergency.

So, I'm leaning toward close to home. What I will do though, is research daycares in both places and pick the best I can afford. I'm hoping the best choice will seem obvious! I'm planning at first to take as much time off with her as I can afford (I work for a very small company so no FMLA), and then if it seems her temperament will work for it I'll take her to work with me for as long as it works (or until I'm told not to. I'm not telling anyone at work about this "plan" beforehand, and since the bosses are in Atlanta and Colorado... :LOL ). I'm going to try and plan ahead, knowing it will probably all change when she gets here.

On a good note, I've found a GREAT renovated historic house that I think I might be able to afford - it's very small, but I think it will work. The buyer for my land that must sell before I can make an offer on a house wants to close within the next 2 weeks! My fingers are crossed!

 

[suz515]

I wish our daycare was close to home. Right now it's about an hour each way out of our way. It's tough. We found her when she lived closer, but then she moved and we didn't want to disrupt our children's lives.

If we had a daycare closer then we would LOVE it. I would rather have it closer to home- especially if the work situation changed for some reason.

Best,
Suzanne