What to Charge for In-home Chidcare?

I pay $15/day; $75/week but she watches other children. I have paid up to $25/day. anything over 3 days I would pay the full week of $125/week.

Hi L.,
Well I'm gonna start with I am a home child care provider and right now I watch 3 children under the age of 2 and I have 2 of my 4 at home with me all day their ages are 3 yrs and a 4 month old. So I am very busy during the day.. but here's what I have found that works....
1st... get your son on a good schedule (if you don't have him on one) this will help you out greatly.
Such as
7:30-8:00 am wake up get dressed and a diaper change.
8:00 am breakfast
10:00 am morning nap
11:30 lunch time
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm afternoon naptime
3:30 snack time
Now this being said it doesn't mean that you have to follow these exact times but it gives you an idea on what to go with and set it up for what is your "normal" routine for the day. This will help you alot this will give you time to spend with the new baby while your son is down for nap (undivided attention). I call it your "groove" and everyone that stays home has one, so you will find yours.
As for how much to charge for daycare I would say that between $20-25 dollars, a day so that way if she decides at any point to go fulltime it would be $125 a week. Then you could break down the say $25 dollars into an hourly rate. This is how I would figure it... if the baby is going to be there 4 hours or less I would say $12 if the baby is going to be there 6 hours or more I would go $25 a day. which would be $75 a week. And any other days are an additional $25 a day. I would also make up a policy containing what day you are going to be paid and what happens if the baby becomes sick (are you willing to take care of him) and both of you sign it this is protection both of you. Hope this helps you a little W. mom of 4 and home child care provider

I think a reasonable price is somewhere between 2-5 dollars an hour. This is a really young baby and some charge an arm and a leg, but because this is your friend this range is fair. I would suggest that you put both of them on a schedule so that their feeding times will be slightly different. I have done this before. When mine were 3 and 1 and I was pregnant with another baby, I took care of my friends child for them for about 6 weeks until the baby was old enough for daycare. The schedule was very important. A baby this young will probably go on back to sleep after they have eaten but only if they are on a schedule. If they are not on a feeding and sleeping schedule you will be very busy and very tired. Good Luck

I live in a small town, so most of the prices I have read on here seem really high for me!! Example, no daycare here charges by the hour, and at 6 or 7.50 an hour for 8 hours, who could afford that??

Anyway, my suggestion L. is to call some of the daycare centers in your area,and some people who babysit out of their homes IN YOUR AREA and find out what a fair price is for your area. Obviously they are charging more for daycare in the cities as they would for a small farming community such as one I live in where $15.00 a day for an infant and $10.00 a day for potty trained children is the norm for a stay at home daycare and a little higher for a professional daycare.

Good luck with this though, it sounds like you will have your hands full.

I charge 4 dollars an hour

I think $6 an hour would be good for a child that young. My daycare charges $7.00 an hour for that age (it's an hourly drop-off daycare for people like me who only need care on a sporadic and temporary basis-- www.kidzkabana.com ), but obviously in-home care can be less than daycare centers because there's lower overhead. And you don't have to charge for meals because the baby is only gonna be taking bottles!

Wow! I know this was posted a while back, but I just read through the responses and am a bit shocked at some of the prices people mentioned. I have a 2 Star Home daycare and have been in business for 5 years. My rate for a newborn for 3 days a week up to 10 hours a day is $75. I consider 3 days or less drop in and my fee for drop in is $25 per day.

I would love to be able to get $100+ for three days, but I just don't see that happening!

I pay my sitter $5 an hr and she watches my 1 yr old 6 hrs a day 5 days a week and has to get up at 6 am to do so... I take enough food for my daughter and hers though and there is a 6 mth age gap between my dd and her dd. I also watch her dd when she needs someone to for free.

I charge $5/hour also, but the child I watch just turned 3. Since yours is younger, I would charge alittle more because it will be a lot more work.

Where I live I would say $75 for 3 days for a friend for an infant. That or trade child care with her so she can watch yours while you have days to run errands or go on a date with your hubby. Best of luck. C.

Hi L.

I run a home child care in Bethany, and I think the rates in general are lower in Bethany then Edmond. But I would take some of these things into consideration. What do you have to offer her, a state lic., infant, child first aid and cpr, are the hours she needs you before or after normal day care hours (6am-6pm is the most normal), is the child special needs or have colic, do you have to purchase any thing extra (bouncy seat, playpen, swing, bottles, bottled water, wipes, binkies, anything extra). Are you just looking to help a friend for a few weeks with the perk of making a few extra bucks, or are you looking into starting a home child care. This may sound bad, but what does your friend do for a living, if she is in retail I would think lower rates then if she is a lawyer (If she is married or w/ the babies father and one or both of them make good money don't feel so bad charging them a little more). If you are starting a business I would charge a respectable rate, don't give away your service. If you are just helping a friend and not looking to start a child care you can charge less. I, as a child care provider would not charge less then $125 for the three days, and thats for a lot of reasons. I would stay away from charging her by the hour, it can lead to to many problems (nickle and dimeing over a few min. here and there.) If you are not looking to start a child care and it is only for a few weeks to help a friend, the baby is a calm, healthy baby, and you have no out of pocket expense (the mom is providing EVERY THING), you have no Lic. or special training, you can still run errands or take care of personal things depending on what her and/or her husband do I would stay between $75.00 - $100.00 for the 3 days. I would discuss thngs like when her or your baby are sick, have a game plan, something you both agree on. Also if she misses any part of the 3 days because of any reason on her part does she still pay you. I would not charge her if you have a reason to not take her child. I would ask her if she plans on claiming what she pays you on her taxes, because she can claim child care. I would also take into consideration that if you are not Lic. to do this in your home how do you both see you as the resposible party god forbid something happens (baby chokes, falls, gets hit by the 8mo old w/ a toy, you get in a car accident). I'm no trying to be negative, but I would hate for anything to happen to any child or baby, but accidents happen and that could result in anything (not just a hurt child) from a lost friend ship, to huge law suit. Just some things to think about even for the short term. You might just want to talk about some of the things you both need to be considerate of because mixing business/money and frienship can really turn out bad, and you are not just borrowing her car or Coach purse, this is her child. And the same goes the other way, you are doing her a short term favor that disrupts your daiy routine, you will probably feel forced to respond first to her baby since she is paying you so you will inturn feel bad for making your child wait. So beyond a rate I would maybe talk with her about this stuff inorder to have an understanding, and agree to be open and honest w/ each other as things come up. What is she start showing up later and later to pick the baby up, what will you do. So my point is beyond rate I would talk w/ her about some of this so you both are happy and in agreement and there is no lost friendship.

Well I did not mean to make this a more compex issue then needed, but I hope you have a better idea not just what to charge and things to base it on, but also some other thngs to consider so it turns out great.

Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes. I would be happy to help with any other questions or concerns and I will try to be more brief (sorry this is s long).

T.