How Quickly Did You Get Your Child's Name Down For Nursery

[miranda82]

So I am due in a few months and have been hearing from friends that its a good idea to get your child's name down with a good nursery as soon as you can. Is this true? I hadn't even thought about this yet as it will be a few years away before I would be thinking about nursery placements. Is there really any need?

[Fairylea]

I think it depends where you live and the nurseries themselves to be honest! I'd ring the ones you're interested in and ask if they have a waiting list and when to apply. I applied for the one I'd like ds to go to shortly after his 1st birthday (he'll be going when he's 3, it's a local state infant school with a nursery attached but it's very good so demand is quite high).

[BikeRunSki]

I went back to work a week before DS's first birthday, and put his name down when he was about a month old. With dd, I don't think she was even born! I wanted to be sure of particular days to work around my job-share partner.

[miranda82]

I hadn't even thought about doing this. Will the nursery then agree to reserve days that you want that far in advance? Even if it is say 2 years away?

[Friedbrain]

Normally a year is long enough

[rallytog1]

I knew I'd be going back to work when dd was 9mo so I put her name down when I was 7 months pregnant. I knew which nursery we wanted and didn't want to miss the opportunity.

[dannyboyle]

I'm sw. We on advice put name down before child even born and we were still on waiting list for a couple of days given child starting when 14 months old. If you want a decent nursery then get in early.

[onestepbeyond]

We had to put dd2s name down as soon as I found out I was pregnant in order to get her a place when I went back to work at six months - small, very popular nursery.

[Emus]

I put my then 5 month old down for nursery in August to start the following March and I could only get 4 days a week as they didn't have availability for full time! That was 7 months out but is a popular nursery.

[WidowWadman]

Nr 1 when she was 6 weeks old, nr 2 when I was still pregnant with her, both started nursery when they were 9 months old