Daycare recommendations near Milltown / East Brunswick / New Brunswick / Highland Park?? (Middlesex: day care, home)

[mikieguns]

Hi. First time parents to be, with twins on the way. (crazy!). Started looking into daycare options and am blown away by the prices. My company has on site care with Brite Horizons but there is no way we can afford to put two infants in it ($1450 per kid!). So we are forced to look outside and in the surrounding towns. Cost is a major factor obviously, but we also don't want to settle for one that does not have good reviews and cannot trust. Looking for any insight / reviews / success or horror stories that anyone can share. Thank you so much in advance! Even someone's home (like dropping the kids off at a Nanie) could potentially be an option.

thanks!

[SweepTheLeg]

First, congrats.

Because it's a twins situation, a nanny may be your best best for cost-effective care.

Also, 1450/month per child seems like a rip especially since they're going to be sleeping a majority of the time.

You can look at care.com for some options. A friend works through them.

Here are my recommendations:

1) Negotiation. This is key. You're basically offering a day care company two children. You're not going to get 2 for one, but there are opportunities to negotiate a better rate.

2) Some places offer higher rates because of webcams and internet access. Personally, I don't want my kid on an internet webcam feed, no matter how secure they say it is.

3) You may want to look into bringing in an au pair.

4) Is working from home a few days a week an option?

[mikieguns]

So nobody else has any suggestions or reviews or recommendations? Please? : )

thanks sweep the leg.

[Exit10]

You can search for State Registered family child care providers in somerset or middlesex counties at communitychildcaresolutions.org. Rates should be more reasonable than centers. Greater individual attention, background checked, cpr cert, etc. Good luck!

[mikieguns]

thanks Exit10, I will take a look. Does anyone else have any suggestions? So far we visited Parker Stonegate in Highland Park, Noah's Ark in Highland Park, and Bright Horizons at my company. Stonegate seems pretty good so far, in terms of both price and what you get for the money. It seems well kept and the people seem very nice. I was not a big fan of the Noah's place, very small and cramped and not as professionally run in my opinion. Bright Horizons is probably the best so far, in terms of the facilities and what they offer, but it is also WAY more expensive. I am interested in looking into home care so i will continue the research. thanks!

[focus282]

I know that Bright Horizons' price seems outrageous, but, the caregivers there are absolutely amazing (I know from experience). There really is nothing around that even comes close to them. I assume you looked into the one in North Brunswick, by the Shoppes? The center is fairly new -- maybe only 2 years old -- so the ratio of children to teachers is amazing.

Also, are you sure that $1,450 is the cost for BSB employees? I know that they also have a small amount of "community" slots available -- make sure that you got a price for BSB employees, and not the community-based price!

If a home-based daycare is an option for you, then send me a private message. I have a close family friend in Milltown who runs one.

[mikieguns]

Hi. No I went to the Bright Horizons that is on site at my company. It looks fantastic but it will cost like $600 more per month there versus Parker Stonegate (for twins), just to put it in perspective. Yes we got the right price. thanks.

[mikieguns]

Does anyone else have any referrals or recommendations? We're not making much progress yet.

[Suburbsearching]

My sister is very happy with little geniuses in metuchen. She has used them for many years.

[kay116799]

If anyone is still looking for childcare message because I am hoping to start a home daycare however it won't be much of a daycare since I will only care for two children max. I am in the Middlesex county region