I am looking for some feedback on infant care in Center City. There aren't a lot of options out there for places that take as early as three months, but I've now been on tours at Friends Child Care at 15th and Cherry, Kindercare at 17th and Market and Apple Blossom Learning Tree at 16th and Lombard.

Friends is unfortunately a little far and a little out of our price range. So it is between Kindercare and Apple Blossom. Apple Blossom is very small and hasn't been open that long. I showed up for my first appointment and the director was out for an emergency but nobody had called to cancel my appointment. She did call the next day to apologize so I rescheduled. I liked the intimate atmosphere, at least for an infant, but I do worry about its reputation and newness. I asked her for some names of parents of infants in the infant room and she said she was going to collect those for me and to call back. Only I called three times yesterday and can't get anyone on the phone. So that scares me as well that there is nobody answering a phone.

Any recent opinions of Kindercare and Apple Blossom are much appreciated.

My son was at the Kindercare until a month ago. It's pricey! But we liked it. They are really warm and friendly, and laid back (to an appropriate degree)

It's clean and well run, but the only drawback I saw was that there is no outdoor play area. Some people there consider it a positive, because their indoor playground can be used in any weather.

My son LOVED it there. He started as a 4 month old. He was quite attached to his teachers. We only left because my office moved and we moved and the commute into and out of the 17th and market area was too stressful and long. If you're strollering it, it's great.

My friend did Apple Blossom and didn't like it because she didn't think the teachers were very good at organizing the toddlers. That's the best description I can make of her discontent.

What are the weekly/monthly rates in Kindercare?

We pay $210 week at kindercare for the preschool age. Rates are usually inverse to age as most of you know. To combat the indoor only space they do a "summer camp" and get the kids out 2-3 times a week in the summer months. The price (for our age) goes to $250 but the trips seem pretty interesting: local museums, aquarium, zoo, etc. When not taking a real trip they will go to a playground.

Stroller-ing up 17th is pleasant except for all the construction that makes me cross the street 3x from South to Market. There is also a small drop off zone on Ranstead to park.

It's currently at $297 per week for 5 days of infant care. It goes lower as they get older, and there are part time and half day rates as well. There is also a multiple child discount.

Once you have more than one, it may be cheaper to hire a babysitter....at least while they are in the infant phase where the daycare rates are the most expensive. Usually you pay the same rate for the first 2 kids with a babysitter. The nice thing about that is you miss alot of the colds/coughs/stomach rot that occurs during the winter!

I was wondering this but doesn't a baby sitter/nanny only work if you are not in a regular 9-5 job and have kids spaced closely?I am having #3 in August and will have one in K(who will need pre and post school daycare) and a 3year old who needs pre school. I would love to be creative with the baby and experiment with care if only because I will now have 3 drop offs in the morning before 745am- the thoughts of which makes me ant to pull my hair out. I have not even doen the math ( ia m in denial though I do know $297 a week is out of the question)and just keep figuring that once #2 goes to school I will feel very rich!

However the 3 year is really past staying hme with a sitter

Our only experience with Apple Blossom was calling to inquire about availabilities and to set up a tour but like experiences of other people, they would take a message but they never got back to us. We always had to call and follow up. Needless to say, we’re not using them.

As for Kindercare we did use them for a few weeks. We got a bit of a late jump with finding daycare for our infant. Many daycares did not have availabilities for our son when we needed it except for Kindercare. We took a tour of the place and it seemed acceptable. Though it wasn't our first choice, due to our procrastination, it was pretty much our only choice.

Someone had mentioned the lack of outdoor space, which was not an issue for us as our son was only an infant.

The price of $297 sounds right for 5 days of care.

The problem we had with Kindercare was whenever I stopped by during the day to visit my son, it would seem like the caretakers were stretched pretty thin. They had the minimum ratio of 4 infants to 1 caretaker and that was pretty standard for all daycares we visited. I found that one caretaker would be bottle feeding two infants simultaneously, while another would be changing all the diapers. The other caretaker would be at the table feeding a couple of the infants who were able to eat cereals and solids. There would be a couple times where I would fine my son in his crib crying or see other infants crying alone. It’s just heartbreaking to see. My wife and I decided that daycare would probably be more appropriate for our son when he is able to interact with adults and other children. Three months was just too early (at least for us) to send him to daycare.

We ended getting a friend of our parents to work as a live-in nanny and it’s been much more rewarding for our son as well as for us.

Unfortunately, I've heard that the cost of before and after care often rivals the cost of preschool/daycare, so the savings are very minimal. Has anyone else found this to be the case? What a disappointment...

__________________
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day that says, "I will try again tomorrow."

---Mary Anne Radmacher

Yup we are looking at $30/week for pre school(basically a drop off) and $70 for post school.