When should a nursery place start?

[MrsBadger]

OK, so the baby is nowhere near here, we still haven't made any firm decisions on childcare or even how much maternity leave I'm taking...

however

My employer does an astonishingly good value 'salary sacrifice' scheme for its (generally very nice) nurseries to the tune of £400pcm full time.
There's a very long waiting list, and you can register before birth, but you have to specify the date you want the place to start, and if you change your mind you go right back to the bottom of the list.
So registering as soon yet as accurately as possible is advantageous.
(You can withdraw from the list at any time if you decide we'd rather have a childminder / nanny / SAHM.)

Now, with this in mind, would you:
a) gamble on your mat leave starting on the EDD and lasting exactly 6 months.

b) gamble 'short' ie put down a date when the baby might only be 5mo and you still have a month of paid mat leave left.

c) gamble 'long' ie put down a date when the baby might be 7 or 8mo and take a month or two at SMP.

d) not register at all yet?

Any and all opinions gratefully received...

[Fimbo]

Sorry I don't have any input to your question, but I didn't realise you were pregnant and just wanted to say congratulations

[MrsBadger]

thanks Fimbo!

[danceswithnewboots]

Ooh, I didn't know either! Congratulations! When are you due Mrs B?

[MrsBadger]

oh, not till August, and I haven't gone public IRL yet, so as my boss is off today I'm sneakily making all the baby-related phonecalls to HR, Personnel etc .

[MrsBadger]

anyone else?

[DizzyBint]

we registered before dd was born. i took extended leave and had the place start when we she'd be around 8 months. as it is she'll be a week short of 8 months. she starts on monday!

if you can be flexible with your maternity leave, ie take longer than 6 months then does it matter what the exact date is? i mean, like me make it for around 6 months or 7 months or whatever suits.

maybe i don't understand the question properly!

[MrsBadger]

it was the tradeoff between 'nursery before it's neccesary' and risking dropping to SMP (which the mortgage people would not appreciate)...

it's one of those small things I stress about getting just right when really there's a lot of leeway - I shall stop worrying and put 6mo!