So we are expecting a baby in November , and given the usual shortage of things in Geneva thought it would be a good idea to start investigating options for childcare...

Sadly, so far it is looking even more depressing than I had imagined, and is certainly making the idea of becoming a dad rather more scary than exciting. So if anyone can help, we would be incredibly grateful!

What we have tried so far (bearing in mind the baby is due in November so we will need something from March):

1) The commune we live in (Jussy) has no creche, but they are in the process of working with the commune of Meinier which is building a creche due to open in March 2012. We have applied, but won't hear anything until the end of the year as to whether we can have a place, and can't even call them to put pressure as it doesn't exist yet.

2) Vesenaz does have a creche, but apparently as we are not residents in the commune there is little chance of getting a place, and even if we did get one we would have to pay full rather than subsidized fees (roughly 3k per month )

3) The creches in Geneva itself are the same story - according to the organisation which oversees all of the creches, as we don't live in Geneva we will come bottom of the list when applying for a place (even though we both work in the centre of town).

4) My other half works for the University, which has a creche, but you cannot even put in a request for a place until September and the usual story about low chances...

5) We heard about Association Koala which organises maman du jours - they won't even accept an application until January and again said that chances of finding a place are very low.

Any hints about where to look or how to encourage them to accept us would be gratefully received

Sorry you are having a difficult time. Yes, it is hard. Most people I know already try to put themselves on the waiting lists the day they find out about the pregnancy, I'm not kidding.

Anyhow, I would suggest putting name down on any/all waiting list as early as possible and hope for the best. Look around for some neighboring communes with creches and try there as well. Look at private creches in particular, you will likely have more luck. The Canton/commune ones generally cater to the most needy, ie. single parents, etc. and other people (couple, non-resident, etc.) fall to the bottom of the list automatically.

Thanks RunningDeer for the encouragement. We are certainly trying the neighbouring communes, but it seems a little unfair that the creches in Geneva or the neighbouring communes will not help at all and will in fact charge more even if they can find a space, whilst our commune has only one creche which doesn't even open until basically the day we need it...

Any other hints or recommendations for private creches/maman du jours will be very gratefully received!

This is the reason (from your list) why most parents opted for a private maman du jours where you leave your child under their care at their own home. Our daughter was in this case until age 4.

As suggested above try to sign-up in as many chreche as possible and also look in the option i mentioned above.

PM me if you are interested in a private childcare, the person who took care of our daughter is still in the business. My daughter in now 12 .

Some of the people I know put themselves on the waiting lists when they start considering having a baby.

Call each creche every single day until they get so sick of you that they give you a place. Be as polite and friendly as you can, but continue bugging them until the end of their days.

Good luck!

Yes, it rather looks like a maman du jours might be the best chance. I will PM for the contact details - thank you!

Well it wasn't entirely planned, so that would have been tough! Maybe we have been rather naive about this, but we will keep bugging them and cross our fingers that someone feels sorry for us and lets us in...

Even if the BIPE says you will come bottom of the list for creche places in central Geneva, it's still worth applying. I applied when I was 3 months pregnant, was told I was v unlikely to get a place, but got a call 2 months before the birth to let me know I was in. You could also contact Koala (http://www.koala-ge.ch/association.php) for officially registered mamans du jour/familles d'accueil in your area - Tél. 022 349 30 66, or E-mail info@koala-ge.ch . It's based in Thonex and one of the communes they deal with is Jussy. Again there's a shortage of mamans du jour but worth a try. By the way, you can't register for a place when you've decided to get pregnant! There has to be a baby on the way, so I wouldn't worry about that!

By the way, re finding it more scary than exciting, I didn't even want kids but was persuaded to go ahead by partner - it has turned out to be by far the best thing I've ever done and much more fun that I expected.