Beginning search for infant care

[shiny]

My husband and I are beginning our search for infant care in West Seattle. We’re due in March but we’ve heard that you’ve got to get a head start when looking for a nanny/daycare. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!

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[KristaCCAP]

Congratulations. If you haven’t considered it, I would highly recommend looking into an au pair. I am the local coordinator for West Seattle and would be happy to talk with you about the program.

It is much more affordable than most nannies and you don’t have to worry about transporting your baby to daycare or exposing them to germs in daycare.

Au pairs provide 45 hours a week of child care for about $320/week.

Feel free to contact me if you would like more information. 206-235-5738

Krista

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[flowerpetal]

That’s amazing that you can get quality care for $7.11/hr. How do au pairs differ from nannies?

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[loho2000]

Hi Shiny, I have an 11 month old and toured many West Seattle daycare providers when I was on materinity leave. It is good you are looking now as the good places all have waiting lists. Here is my opinion on the top good places and the ones that fell to the bottom of my list that I toured.

In-Home Care

1) All West Seattle in-home daycare places I was not impressed with the programs. This was disappointing because my first son was watched in an in home program and we really liked it.

2) Did not look at nannies or au pairs

Daycare providers w/ a designated facility or building available

1)Belle Mente – totally awesome. It is hard to get a hold of her sometime, but its well worth it!

2)Ages in Stages – great place, my son is currently enrolled here now. We love it!

3)Fauntleroy Children’s Center – ok, but way too expensive and too long of waiting list.

4)Blue Skies Montessori – horrible.

5)All About Kids – did not like. We enrolled our child here, but then pulled him our after a few weeks. They have a good infant room, but the teachers and owner are not very nice.

Good Luck to you!

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[mrhineh]

Take a tour at Providence Mount Saint Vincent, the Intergeneratioanl Learning Center. It does have a long waiting list, but for a good reason. It is a fantastic program, hands down. We have two children there. Do a search on WSB, there have been many conversations about various day care options and opinions here.

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[swimcat]

I called Mount St. Vincent this morning, and their wait list is closed because the list is so long. So you can cross that one off your list of places to check out.

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[swimcat]

Flowerpetal, someone else could probably provide greater details about the au pair rates, but when I looked into it last year, it cost more than $320/week because there are additional expenses. You have to provide housing/food for the au pair (private bedroom and maybe bathroom too), and you pay a certain amount for tuition for the au pair to attend school. One person I met in a class said her au pair was so immature and unhelpful that it felt like she paying to raise another child herself. I’m sure that is a rare occurrence though. I think if you have two children and have the room in your house, an au pair makes more sense.

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[Diane]

re: flowerpetal, That’s amazing that you can get quality care for $7.11/hr. How do au pairs differ from nannies?

~

yes, what m said

a nanny is professional educated and experienced in child development

usually a nanny does not live in your house

an au pair is usually very young woman from Europe

au pair program offers them similar to exchange student opportunity to live with family in US for a year

nannies live local, so if it’s not a good fit, you can easily make a change

there are ways to make change if au pair doesn’t work out, but more challenging

costs for au pair are weekly pay plus room/board, not even sure what other extras

au pair usually does not own a car; nannies usually do

for same rate of pay, you could hire local educated live-in nanny

~

the families I know who have embraced the au pair arrangement did so because:

parent from Europe, wanting the cultural exposure for kids and language

parent was au pair in youth, wanting to give back

it’s a big commitment, much to consider

I would highly recommend talking to families who have done this for pros and cons

~

in the Seattle area, we have a wealth of child care options

with wide range of quality, education, experience

whatever you need, it’s available

~

except, yes, The Mount, Intergenerational Learning Center, closed their wait list a while back

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[flowerpetal]

Thanks Diane. Conceptually the au-pair program sounds fine. I can see where challenges might arise; but as we all know, challenges arise with nannies and other childcare settings too.

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[KristaCCAP]

Hi there-

Au pairs are different from nannies in that they are live in and part of an amazing cultural exchange. They come from all over the world. My current au pair is from Argentina. We have also had an au pair from Brazil and Thailand. They have ranged in age from 19 to 26.

You do provide room and board, but I really have not seen an increase in our food or utility expenses. We provide up to $500 toward an educational requirement, but typically can handle it for much less. All of my au pairs have taken classes at SSCC.

The level of education for au pairs varies, same for nannies. Our first two au pairs were college eduated. Our current au pair is 19, incredibly mature and speaks three languages.

I have three children and we have had a great experience with our au pairs. I wish I had known about them when I had my first baby.

It is not the right program for everyone, but for us we couldn’t ask for anything more.

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[shiny]

Thanks all. This has all been so helpful! We’re relatively new to Seattle (and to the idea of being parents!) and just didn’t know where to start! I’ll definitely check out your suggestions.

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[Magpie]

My daughter went through cultural care for an au pair. She does live with them, but it has been a good decision for her. She is 19 and from Austria and has become part of the family. A few small communication issues at first, but nothing at all major and she is wonderful with the baby. However, once she discovered that Costco carried giant jars of nutella and ate 2 loaves of bread with it in a weekend, we weren’t sure if she would still fit in to her clothes when she went home. My daughter did a lot of checking and since her au pair can only stay a year, she will probably get another one next year. Also, with her schedule and the type of job she has, the baby hasn’t been getting day care sick and my daughter doesn’t have to miss work for a sick baby.

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[KristaCCAP]

The great thing is that can actually stay for up to an additional year. They can extend 6, 9 or 12 months. I was always worried about how my kids would react changing au pairs, but so far it has been great. We miss the old au pair, but love meeting the new ones. We are in touch with our old au pairs and hope to visit them in their countries some day.

I am available to answer any questions people may have and can offer a discount to anyone who is interested in applying. 206-235-5738

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[Joyce]

I appreciate all the info on this thread. My husband and I are expecting our first child in December, so I’m starting now looking for childcare. We’ll need something full time beginning in May. Does anyone have any recommendations for in-home care or nannies? I’ve looked at most of the larger centers and am frustrated by the waiting lists.

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[kirida]

I found our latest daycare by signing up with http://childcare.org it was definitely worth getting access to a local database that showed results for in-home daycares and larger facilities around my neighborhood, especially since the daycare we chose (and absolutely love) didn’t show up in any craigslist listing.

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