When did you start looking at daycares if your return date wasn't fixed yet

bronze_kite_713422 Oct 2026

Six months pregnant, first baby. My return to work is tentatively around when the baby is seven or eight months, but that could move by a couple of months either way depending on how leave and the team situation work out. I called one daycare near Masab Tank this week and asked about infant waitlists. The answer was that it varies. Not helpful when I'm trying to work out whether I'm already late or way too early. I don't want to pay a registration fee for a date I might not keep. At what point did you start visiting, and did you put down anything to hold a spot?

1 comment

jade_pebble_393523 Oct 2026
I started visiting when my son was about four months old and that felt slightly late for the two places I liked, but fine for the third. None of them asked for money just to visit or to be told about openings. Would it help to ask them a narrower question? Instead of how long the waitlist is, ask how many infants started with them in the last three months and when those parents first contacted them.
- bronze_kite_713423 Oct 2026
  That is a much better question than the one I asked. I'll call again on Monday and frame it that way. The four month mark is useful too, it means I can visit after delivery instead of trying to do it now in the third trimester.