Daycare when #2 comes along

I wasn't quite sure what to call this

For those with 2 or more kiddies – I’m just wondering if you kept the older child in daycare when #2 came along? Liam currently goes to DC 2 days a week when I’m at work. I have had people tell me (including the Plunket nurse) that we should try & keep Liam in there as I will need the break (this I am not arguing with!). However, we won’t be needing to hold his place there as I won’t be going back to work in the foreseeable future.

For those that did keep #1 child in DC, did you feel guilty at all?

Liam seems to be thriving at DC & we like the interaction he is getting with other kids (he has the tendency to be shy) & until he starts kindy there really isn’t any other option for care – is there? Our neighbour who is a trained early childhood teacher has offered to look after him at her home but we prefer the DC option simply because of him being able to interact with more children.

Any thoughts/experiences would be welcome.

We put Sienna in daycare when Noah and Lola were 4mths old as it gave me some timeout with just the 2 kids and then it gave Sienna a chance to interact with kids her own age and she loves it, so I would say keep him there.

if he is already in day care and doing well in there i would keep in there. the social interaction is obviously doing him well. it also keeps him in some kind of routine til he goes to kindy. im not a mum yet so this is just an opinion but ill be doing something similar as my 2 will hopefully close together and im all about routine and its a good way of getting kids together. as its only 2 days a week id say its a good break for you but he still has plenty of time at home :)

Thanks girls for all your opinions. I guess i need to discuss it with DH a bit more seriously at some stage.

emz, I really don't think we'd qualify for a subsidy but is there an easy way to find out? DH's pay will go up again soon when he goes back to sea & gets command pay & seagoing allowance.

We are both home full time atm (SAHD plus PPL for me) and still have DD2 in kindy two mornings a week. She seems to enjoy the extra activities available and I think it gives her a chance to "grow up" (be independent) a bit too. If you want to keep him in DC then go for it - you can always pull him out if you need to later. While it can be a pain doing the pick-ups and drop-offs, you may well enjoy the break from toddler questions a couple of times each week.

Gina was going to daycare 3 days a week when Emma was born and I was so grateful to have those 3 days! It gave me a chance to have some rest and focus on Emma while knowing Gina was taken care of. Gina really loves daycare too and we didn't want to introduce any more changes to her routine on top of the new baby. I did feel a little guilty about having Gina at daycare while I was at home but knew it was for the best.
Our situation was different however as I knew I was going back to work soon after and any break from daycare would have been a very temporary thing so didn't seem worth it.

DD who is 14 months currently goes to daycare 3 days a week when I'm at work. When bubba #2 comes along, DH is going to take a month off work so DD will stay at home for that month, then go back to daycare 3 days a week when DH returns to work. Only thing I'm not sure about is that she'll be turning 2 by the time she starts back so will be transitioning to the over 2 room - hopefully it won't all be too much of a change for her.

Financially it will be challenging having DD in daycare 3 days a week while I'm not working, guess what my maternity pay will be going on!