There is such a shortage of day-care programs for infants and toddlers under 3 years old in many areas of the city that the push for available spaces begins in the womb.
At one Upper East Side day-care center, moms-to-be only three months into their pregnancy sign up to lock in a spot for when their baby is 3 months old and they’re ready to head back to work.
“I even had a few women who are not yet pregnant call asking for information,” said Debra Tuohy, director of House of Little People Too on East 90th Street, which cares for 27 kids ages 3 months to 2 years, 9 months, each at a $1,050-a-month fee.
Finding away-from-home care for preschool kids of any age is a major problem – but is most acute for the under-3 group, said Nancy Kolben, director of Child Care Inc., a nonprofit resource and referral agency.
“The problem is growing because more and more families with kids under 3 have working mothers,” she said, adding that there are only spaces available for 20 percent of the tots who need them.
“Infant-to-toddler programs around the city have huge waiting lists,” Kolben said. “There isn’t enough care, and it’s too expensive for most families.”
The average annual cost of day care for the under-3 group in a center-based setting is $9,360, she said. The tab is slightly less in another regulated option – family child care, in which providers are registered by the state to take care of children in their homes.
There is limited financial help for a very small percentage of lower-income families who are fortunate enough to get a child-care subsidy – but who then still have to wait for openings.
The shortage means that “thousands of families in the city are making do,” Kolben said. Some turn to people in their neighborhood who are not trained or registered.
Brooklyn lawyer Stephanie LaTour wanted her twins, Robert and Stephen, to start day care last September when they turned 15 months old – and she and her husband, Marc Dolan, got their sons into the center that was their first choice by applying when the boys were 8 months old.
“When the boys were christened, someone told us, ‘If you want day care for next year, you’d better start looking into it soon’ – and I thought that person was crazy,” she laughed.