Night shift mamas, Daycare questions?

lvnandmomx3 · Sep 19, 2008

I pay $550 a month for 7:30 to 6pm I can use max hours if I want, for 1 child. I did the math and if she is working 4 hours per day she is getting $18.75 an hour if she is working 8 hours then its $9.37 both above min wage. Minimum wage here is $8 an hour I think, and that is what most daycare facility workers make. I would work out and hourly rate and pay her by that. I'm not sure what the going rate for babysitting is.

Blee O'Myacin, BSN, RN · Sep 19, 2008

I pay my sitter 8 bucks an hour. It's slightly over minimum wage and I pay in cash.

If you are so inclined, why not pump and let the sitter feed the baby so you can have some interrupted sleep? Even just one feed would give you a decent stretch. Especially since he's probably sleeping for longer stretches at night and is most active during the day. (I know you didn't ask for this bit of advice, but your sleep is important and since you work 2 nights per week, it's only adding a few more bottles or feeding cup into the mix).

Blee

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Sep 19, 2008

Where is grandma? Just kidding, but you do seem to be paying a lot for so little care of your kids. I would readjust the pay rate, 8.00 sounds fair to me, pump the breast and bottle it for at least one feeding. She is making more for watching your children, with food included than some new grads. Good luck.

ncoli123 · Sep 20, 2008

I pay 130 per week for day care, including a healthy breakfast, lunch, and snack. But it is convenient to have someone in your home and that will be there in an emergency...can you maybe use her more efficiently?

Ivanna_Nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2008

I guess I seem to be lucky....

I have a 3 year old and a 9 year old. The big one goes to school and the little one to the sitter. She charges 3.oo for one kid and 5.oo for the both. She feeds them, and on days when necessary takes the big one to and/or from school. I work 3 12's, and on a full week, I use her about 22 hours... usually 45-90 dollars is the weekly range for child care. ~Ivanna

ilstu99 · Sep 20, 2008

$75 a day? No too shabby depending on where you live in the country.

Until you take into account that she's bringing her own child, and presumably also using your groceries/utilities/toilet paper, etc....add-in that you aren't really getting any restful sleep because you're essentially taking care of the baby...and calculate that for typical business week = $375....

Now $75 a day sounds like a lot.

For F/T home daycare, I paid $80 a week for one infant. At today's rates, that would be about $120. The only thing I provided were the diapers and wipes.

If you have other options, I would certainly explore them.

GaMBA · Sep 21, 2008

I live in Atlanta. Daycare for infants in my particular area runs anywhere from about $125/wk to $225/wk, with the average seeming to be roughly $150-$175/wk. This is of course based on the research I did when looking for a daycare for my little boy last year. Other parts of town run higher, some lower. One place on the north side of town quoted me $1400 per month. I am still speechless over that one. My son's current daycare is open 6:30 am-6:30 pm and cost $155/wk for the infant room. Price decreases $10/wk as they get older and move to different rooms. As another poster stated, he gets 2 square meals a day plus snack, and can be at the daycare the full 12 hours. He also gets to do learning activities, outdoor time, and all the other typical things they do at daycare.

Here in Atlanta there are a few daycares that are open 24 hours. I haven't visited any of them but I did call one and you can either drop your child off there on an as-needed basis for $11/hr, or you could pay the weekly rate of $180, with your child allowed to attend (if I remember correctly) up to 5 consecutive days a week for no more than 12 hours at a time. SImilar to normal daycare but with way more flexibility. Perfect choice for the night shift worker. If you drop your child off at night there, they just put him to bed, no meal or anything, and of course, no baths. I think they do give a snack in the morning, not sure about breakfast.

november17, ASN, RN · Sep 21, 2008

We pay $4 an hour per child for daycare (I'm a former nightshift Dad not Mama). My wife works in the daytime though. So for my two kids it would be 9-3 (7 hours) of daycare, just so I could sleep while my wife was working. So $28 bucks a day; three days a week would be $84; or $336 a monthish.

We had to shop around to find a decent place though, and it all worked out because the place ended up being within walking distance. Some of the others we originally sent our kids to were a lot more expensive and further away.

Most of that was paid out of my flex account so at least I got a pretax deduction out of it. Now they're all in school or preschool so it makes life a lot easier since my wife can get them after work, although we do pay $12 a day to have them in daycare after school on the days that I work. I'm a day shifter now so I don't get home until shortly before 8pm.

All three go to private school though, so the tuition is a bit expensive (unfortunately my flex account wont cover tuition! gah)

GaMBA · Sep 21, 2008

I forgot to add that some daycares in my area allow what they call drop-in rates, where you drop your child(ren) off for a day or so, as needed. It usually can't be more than 2 days per week. Some places also offer part-time daycare (also 2-30 days/wk). The typical drop-in rate for the daycares I looked at was $30-$50 per day. I hope this info helps! :-)

november17, ASN, RN · Sep 21, 2008

The drop off rate is a lot higher than $4 an hour where we go! I think it is $7.50. It helps to plan things out. We do pay the 7.50 on the occasions where we want to go catch a movie or something