We have some grandparent support but not enough for a full workday. One option is a nanny at home with grandparents around; the other is a structured daycare near office. What practical issues did you only discover after choosing? If you faced the same decision and later changed your mind, I would love to know why.
We finally accepted that weekday systems need to be boring and repeatable. Same breakfast rotation, bags packed at night, and fewer decisions before 8 am.
This is close to what my spouse is suggesting too. I may have been overcomplicating it. The system had to work on a bad workday, not only an ideal one. We only reached that conclusion after trying the other approach first.
We tried something similar once, but probably gave up too early. How long did you continue before judging it? We simplified the routine before spending money on more help. We are in Hyderabad, so local logistics may be a little different.
This helps. I am going to add this to the questions for our next visit/meeting. We simplified the routine before spending money on more help. We made the change gradually rather than all at once.
Backup care was the missing piece for us. Even a great daycare cannot solve every fever day, holiday or late meeting. We are in Bengaluru and this came up for us last year.