What Do We Do, Can't Afford Day Care for Another....

My kids (now 11 and 12) were just 16 months apart and we faced the same problem. We ended up getting an Au Pair (live-in nanny from another country - usually college age). We used an agency called EF Au Pair. The cost was the same regardless of how many kids you have. Granted, this was 11 years ago, but the monthly cost ended up being about $800. Our au pair arrived when the second baby was 11 days old. It ended up being a wonderful experience. We live in a little, 3-bedroom house, so it seemed cramped at first, but it ended up being fine. My kids saw the au pair as an older sibling since we were all living in the house and the au pair was able to see how my husband and I interacted with the kids, how we handled discipline, etc. Good luck and feel free to contact me if you want to talk about this further.

To tell you the truth I still havent found the answer to this one it is a struggle evry week for me I have a 15 mo daughter that goes to a inhome daycare but we are expecting anther in June and I have no idea what we are going to do then either. But I just want to tell you congrats on your second and Good luck !!!!!!!

there are several good nanny services here in the metroplex that do the homework of invesigating the nanny. all you need to do is look in the phonebook under nannies agencys and call adn make an appoinment.

If your husband's schedule is flexible, maybe he could be home with them for half of the day either mornings or afternoons, and then have a sitter come in and watch the 2 children for the other half. Or there are also drop-in daycares so that your husband could drop them off just when he needs to be out of the home. Either one of those options may cut the childcare cost down.

we struggled with this too until preschool time for the second one. then the grandparents offered to split the costs of a really good one so he could get a great start. needless to say, we are grateful beyond words that he will have 2 years of good preparation. the oldest boy is after school only, which is much more reasonalble.

We are pretty much on one income and we have 1 biological and a foster child. I work part time and use our church a lot, that has helped so much! Our church offers Parent's Day Out, drop in care 2 days a week. They are very reasonable, compared to other child care/daycares. We have used a sitter who has her own home daycare and that has helped keep the cost down. The big daycares are more expensive, we've found due to their overhead. I would try finding someone in their home or use your church as much as possible. You can find someone in the home/outside daycare by checking with Campfire. They offer a service of helping you finding childcare for free and if you need more help they charge some for it.

We used to be on 2 incomes, however I have a disability and I'm no longer able to work full time anymore. We've had to cut back big time.

We've learned to cut back on a lot things since we have had kids. Another idea is to check with friends and see if you can help each other out at times. I've heard of Moms doing that with other Moms. Starting a group, especially in the evenings, where if you want to have a date or go somewhere, your friends that want to help out would watch your kiddos and then do the same for you.

You had mentioned your Son, has Downs Syndrome. We've been members of the ARC. That would be a great resource for you and your Son. They might know of other ideas for childcare and saving money too. They also have meetings/group each month for support and general info on different topics. There is one in Fort Worth that meets at the Child Study Center that is great.

A flex schedule would be helpful, if your husband could be home more or change his hours any at all. My husband is now home 1/2 a day on Fridays every week. I set our appointments that day, if we can so we don't have to get a sitter the other days or use his sick leave. Good Luck