Childcare Options in Oakland for babies

Hi all,

My husband and I are soon to be first time parents, and we live/work in downtown Oakland. We are on the fence about doing a nanny share or daycare, but curious what other parent recommend for childcare options near downtown/Lake Merritt or Rockridge/Temescal areas. I don't even know where to start! Our due date is 12/28/16 and we would be looking for care beginning June/July 2017. Would love any tips or thoughts, especially if we need to be getting on a wait list soon! Also, if any other expecting moms would be interested in meeting up to talk about nanny share options I would definitely be open to that.

Thanks!

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Hi!

Congratulations on the first baby! My husband and I are also having our first, a little boy, with due date 12/21/16. We live in Adams Point, so just two blocks north of the lake. We're also thinking about daycare or nanny share. I'd like to meet up to chat about some options and see if our plans might be a good fit.

Best,

Melissa

Congrats on your first child! Start here - at BPN - to search for childcare. Comb through the listings and think about what kind of situation you want. We had our first kiddo in 2012 and lived in downtown Oakland, and the number of options at that time was very, very small in the immediate neighborhood. Nothing close enough to walk to. Nanny share was not on the table for us due to cost, but we did tour some in-home daycares, mostly on the north sided of the lake, and there were some nice ones. We ended up going with a daycare center in South Berkeley that was just a mile or two past my office, and loved it.

If you're not looking for care until June or July, I don't think I'd worry too much about wait lists until the new year. Go ahead and tour to get an idea of what you like, if you have the time now, then ask your preferred location about when they do wait lists, and how early you can get on it. Nannies are generally not interviewing more than a month or two out from when the job would start, often even less.

Good luck!