daycare costs??

my husband and i are talking about starting to have a family, and we are trying to decide if we are financially prepared for a baby. I know that we will never feel that we are totally financially prepared, but being that we are in our thirties we do not want to wait to long. we will have to pay for daycare as we both will need to continue to work, and we don't have anyone in our family that will be able to help us out. I have heard that daycare can be approximately $1000/month. Is this correct? is this a low figure or about average? thanks for any help you can give me.

Re: daycare costs??

It depends what route you take.

live-out nanny; live-in nanny; in-home daycare; daycare center?


my daycare center is $290/week for an infant - it gets slightly lower as they get older.

Re: daycare costs??

My center is $250 a week for infants/toddlers and $240 a week for preschoolers.

Re: daycare costs??

In a word...EXPENSIVE!!!!!! I pay $1127 per month for DD's daycare (she's 5 months old). I think that's about average. You can probably find one for less...and a some will be more.

I figure it this way...they watch my DD for 45 hours a week. When you break that down...it's on $6.26 per hour. That's really not a lot considering they are caring for my baby all day long.

Re: daycare costs??

Yes - for a good daycare, you will pay about $1200/mt for full time (everyday, approx 10 hrs/day)

Re: daycare costs??

Thanks for all your replies, I appreciate the information!