Good morning everybody,

Planning to move to Basel soon, I'm looking for a children daycare centre in Basel with the following two (non negociable) features:

1) for babies from 3 or 6 months old
2) flexible in terms of drop-off / pick-up times (which means: no minimum number of days, no fixed times, no need to inform in advance, etc)

If someone knows such a daycare, I would be extremely interested!

May thanks in advance,

Gilles.

Does this mean, no pay, no contract either?

Seriously, I beleive all places operate similarly in that you need a contractal situation which states how often and when your child attends, otherwise how will they bill you. Most creches, especially for small babies, are highly regulated as per number of adults per child, etc. They need to plan or have an idea of how many kids are there on which day at what hour for staffing and other planning (meals, activities, etc). Generally you can choose full or half days, and X number of days per week, which gives quite a bit of flexibility. But just having no idea when your child will show up would be most likely an impossible situation for any reputable daycare facility to provide. Also, for young children, the daycare provides a rhythem or structure to the day, so there are generally periods that are not possible to drop/pick up as it disturbs the other children, ie. nap time, and wouldn't be fair to your child either, ie. entering after snack time, etc.

There are drop off garderies in some shopping areas, but then again you take your chances, if full, you do not have childcare that day, very unpredicable if you need it. Thus, no contractual situation to provide daycare for you. And likely not possible for such a young baby either.

Perhaps look into a maman du jour, they may provide more flexiblity, but I would think still need some idea of when you intend to show up.

Wow! If you find a place like that here, please tell me

Most daycare centres have a fixed number of days, in my experience normally minimum of three days. These days are also fixed, meaning that you can't juggle the days around each week. This is to make sure they have enough staff to children, which is quite understandable.

The earliest daycare with the longest opening hours is the one my daughter goes to. The hours that you pay for are 7am to 18.30pm. You can drop off a bit earlier or pick them up later but you get charged for this each time. Bearing in mind the daycare assistants probably have lifes too and don't want to be held up at work (probably unpaid) I don't blame them.

Also, factor in that a lot of daycares aren't open all year round and may close for holidays. I'm lucky that the daycare we use is open all year except Christmas and public holidays.