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One massive thing that daycare includes for free which a nanny simply cannot easily do is social engagement and development.
One of my friends hired a full-time nanny once he and his wife started working from home at the beginning of the pandemic, his now 3 year old is just starting preschool in the fall and they are quickly realizing how hard of a time their child is having being around other children, especially at classroom scale. They are even considering holding off on preschool all-together and sending their kid to daycare for a day or two per week to start making them more comfortable being around other kids.
Make sure you account for this extremely important aspect regardless of what you decide.
The biggest daycare pros for me are cost and a quiet house all day. A good nanny should be able to teach manners, utensils, and school readiness stuff just as well (other than social interactions as mentioned). We’ve never had a nanny but the flexibility to work late and have a familiar babysitter seems like a big pro. And if they will cook or clean at all as well.
We went for a nanny after talking to a few people that had their kids in daycare. A few thoughts:
1) Kids in daycare can get sick a lot - you always need a backup
2) Nanny is more expensive (though not sure if accounting for above)
3) super important to organize play dates - we strive for 2 play dates a week so our kid still gets some social interactions with other babies
4) I didnt feel like our 6 months old would receive the same level of care in a daycare - it is a full time job, so not sure how you can handle a 4:1 ratio
5) our nanny is super flexible - if i need her at 6am, she will come
Once our kid is 18 month we will likely place him into daycare though
Keep in mind, your kid is going to get sick sooner or later, so in some respect, you are just delaying the inevitable.
We sent ours to daycare at 9 months after realizing he’s not getting enough stimulation from the nanny. We were really concerned about him falling very sick but he was fine first 2-3 weeks and then unwell for a couple of days. And then one such thing almost each month. But it's not bad, we know he's building up the immune system. He's having a great time at daycare - interacting and learning from other kids. These days he starts jumping out my arms to get into the room as soon as he sees his friends.
Biggest pain is the covid protocols (I am not opposed to it but it's a pain!) - if anyone in the class or their family gets covid, the class is shut for 10 days (now 5 if you can show negative test). And that means, you don't have any care or need to have nanny options.
What would be the per hour rate for the nanny?
30 hours a week at $20 an hour will run you $2400 a month (roughly)
Depending on where you live, daycare is $1k to $3k - plus you have to take them to/from but you may get more hours
We’re doing nanny now and will probably switch to daycare between 12-18 months
Yup the transition challenges are real. Thankfully we have a very supporting preschool. We didn’t do day care but don’t regret it - we decided early on that we’d rather wait until it is absolutely necessary to go through a regimented / slightly impersonal routine of day care, school, etc. Obviously that’s not practical for everyone. As mushy as it sounds, we wanted our new human to be among family / visiting grandparents and have access to us at any time. Challenges related to Transition to school are temporary and it’s just another phase that will pass.
I’ve done both
Nanny = more expensive but far more specialized and focused care
Daycare = less expensive and more life/skill/social/immunity building
This is all excellent feedback. Our kiddo will have the nanny 9-5 M-W, half day Thursday, and 2 of the days will be sharing with another friend’s baby. And then good socialization with other friends kids on the weekends, so hopefully that will be enough to help him learn how to be social with others.