by: jannalabarriePosted on:

How soon is too soon? When and how to start searching for daycares

Congratulations, mama! You’re doing the hard work of nurturing, feeding, and housing a brand new addition to your family and to the world.

Right now, you might be basking in the new mama high, but if you’re planning on going back to work after maternity leave, you might want to start thinking about your childcare plans. 

Maternity leave varies widely across the United States. You might be returning to work weeks or months after giving birth. If you’re taking a longer leave, you might not have even thought about daycare or childcare yet. Well sis… you probably should.

Not totally sold on daycare yet? That’s okay. Even if you’re still deciding between home or center daycare, a nanny, an au-pair, or family care, it’s never too early to start the process.

Think I’m exaggerating? Daycare waitlists, especially at centers, can be incredibly long. It can take weeks – even years – to get your name off the waitlist. For now, just know that it’s wise to start looking into daycares in your area, even if you’re not sure what your plans are. 

When to start searching for daycare

The first step in enrolling our children into daycare is to find the right one. How soon should we start searching? The short answer is: as soon as you find out you’re pregnant. No, sadly I’m not kidding.

The search alone takes time, and it can take weeks, months or even years to get a daycare spot due to high demand. 

Although I knew I was going back to work after my five-month maternity leave, I wasn’t in a rush to call or look for daycares. Admittedly, I didn’t really want to think about going back to work and finding childcare, so I was resistant to starting the process. I also lived in a busy suburban area close to a major city, so I figured I wouldn’t have much trouble finding a daycare anyway. Wrong! 

Once I did finally start looking around the middle of the third trimester, I realized just how many childcare facilities there were in my area. Ironically, most of them had no availability and year-long waitlists. The demand for daycare (and childcare in general) is crazy!

I quickly got to work narrowing down my options and frantically adding my son’s name to various waitlists, but I would have been much better off and less stressed out if I had started sooner.

How and where to search for daycares 

All you’ll soon see, there are many places we can (and should) search for daycares beyond the basic “daycares near me” internet search. Each resource highlights different aspects of a facility or provider, and some daycares may be listed in one place but not another. It’s important to do a thorough search to get a complete picture of the daycare landscape.

Search engines

The first and most basic method of searching for anything – sleuthing on search engines like Google or Bing. You’ll get a long but probably not comprehensive list of many of the daycare options available in your area. 

Private companies like Care.com and Winnie.com also have their own childcare search engines where you can search for daycares and other types of childcare in your area. 

These searches are valuable for learning basic information about the daycare, reading reviews, and getting a general sense of how parents feel about the facility. 

State or territory resources

Most states have early childcare resources where we can search for daycares and other types of childcare online. We can get some pretty good insight into the more technical and procedural aspects of how the daycare is run, like inspection reports, compliance information, licensure status, and complaints. 

See a high number of non-compliances recently or worrying inspection results? You might want to delve a little deeper into that. Go to https://childcare.gov/ and search by state, then you can filter by the type of childcare you are looking for. 

Non-profit organizations

Non-profit professional organizations dedicate their resources to improving childcare research, access, and policy. These organizations exist on both the state and national level. Although we may not be able to specifically look up childcare through these organizations, we can get valuable information on where to go to begin our search. 

On the national level, Child Care Aware of America provides network and referral information to various state childcare resources; The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) allows you to search childcare facilities accredited by the NAEYC (but provides limited information as far as the facility); and the National Associated for Family Child Care allows you to look up individual accredited family childcare providers.  

Social media and online parenting groups

It’s a great idea to tap into the power of community knowledge when searching for daycares. Local mom and parent groups on social media websites like Facebook or Reddit offer a wealth of real-life information – all you need to do is ask for recommendations and they’ll come pouring in. 

How to organize your daycare search 

Once you’ve searched and shortlisted your potential daycares, organize them into a table so you can easily compare and keep track. It might be helpful to pay attention to some or all of the following categories when organizing your search results:

  • Cost
  • Distance/ location
  • Hours 
  • Teaching philosophy (Montessori, play-based, Waldorf etc.)  
  • State quality rating 
  • Licensing and accreditation
  • Contact (ideally the school director’s contact info)
  • Enrichment programs 
  • Waitlist add date (so you can keep track of when you added your child’s name to the waitlist)
  • Communication and monitoring method (text, app, video camera etc.) 

You might not be able to get much information on the following until you actually go on tours, but it’s a good idea to add them to your table so you can update it later.

  • Playground/ outdoor area
  • Staff qualifications
  • Comments (anything else you notice that stands out, reviews, your ranking of the facility)

Yeah, it’s a lot. See why it’s important to start early? Taken together, these things can begin to paint a picture about the overall quality of each daycare on your list.

Red flags to avoid when searching for daycares 

We’ve gone over a lot about how to search for daycares, but what about what to avoid?

When searching for daycares, it’s important to look out for potential red flags that might come up. Red flags might be indicators that a daycare isn’t following proper procedures or doesn’t have good management. Be on the lookout for:

  • Bad reviews or complaints that go unaddressed
  • Reports of neglect or abuse
  • Failed inspections 
  • A history of non compliance 
  • Suspicious or sudden closures
  • Severe injuries or fatalities 

What’s next?

You’ve finished searching and shortlisting your potential daycares – congrats, you’ve finished the first step!

The next step is to apply to the facilities that best suit your families’ needs. At this stage, we want to begin the application and waitlist processes, reach out to daycares, and schedule tours. We’ll learn a lot more about the teachers, the general vibe, and the day-to-day activities of the classroom.

Searching for daycares can be an overwhelming and time-consuming process. It’s best to get a head start on it as soon as possible to avoid last-minute stress and have the best chance at securing a spot for your child. 

Sources

“How to Find the Best Day Care.” Www.thebump.com, www.thebump.com/a/how-to-find-good-day-care.

“World Class Toddler Daycare & Preschool Excellence | Bright Horizons | Bright Horizons?” Brighthorizons.com, 2025, www.brighthorizons.com/article/children/when-should-i-start-looking-for-daycare.

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