KEY POINTS:
Babies are being placed in childcare younger than ever as parents return to work and study sooner.
Auckland centres licensed for children under 1 year report full baby rooms and longer waiting lists.
Enquiries to inner Auckland Uptown Kids Ltd used to be spread evenly for under-2 and over 2-year-olds, but manager April Turner said the under-2s have overtaken the older group in the past six months. "Most of our parents are working," she said.
Wendy Doland, of Everglade Early Learning Centre in Manukau City, says she's had to open a waiting list for the first time in her two years as manager. Last year she also noticed a surge in enrolments of 3-to-6-month-olds.
"In Auckland, I think, there's more pressure on families to return to work. To live here now you need one-and-a-half good incomes."
Official figures reveal the extent of the trend. In the 10 years to 2005, the number of under-1s enrolled in early childhood education rose by 34 per cent to 9533. This compares with a 16 per cent rise across all ages, according to the Ministry of Education.
The biggest boom, however, was in enrolments of toddlers under 2 years, which rose by 53 per cent.
Children are also being booked in for longer hours. Between 2000 and 2005, the average weekly hours per child in care rose 23 per cent to 16.6 hours. Home-based networks, which care for children in their own home or the educator's home, chalked up the longest weekly average of 22.4 hours, with childcare centres on 20.3 hours.
Childcare in licensed centres costs between $27 and $90 a day. Financial need, fear of losing their confidence or footing on the career ladder and personal fulfilment are behind parents' decisions to return to work earlier.
South Auckland teacher Angela and building contracts manager Kelvin Pilkington spend $340 a week on childcare for their two preschoolers. Tanith, 3, goes to a creche from 8am to 2pm and is then minded by her grandparents until Angela finishes work. Finlay, 1, has been in full-time care at Bright Sparks Centre since she was 2 months old. Eldest daughter Imogen is 6 years and attends the school at which Angela teaches.
Even after childcare costs, the couple, who aren't eligible for any Working for Families subsidies, are better off working full time.
"It's a matter of having to do it," Angela says. "You miss those little things - the first word, the first step - but if they're happy and going well in care then I can go and do what I need to as well."
Her toddlers are learning social skills and developing quickly, and she is impressed by the quality of care they received.
"It's a really buzzy sound when I go in in the mornings.
"Everywhere you look the teachers are interacting with the kids. It's quite a nice feeling."
It was the stimulation and fulfillment of work that prompted Auckland lawyer Deborah and her husband to put their two children into childcare at 6 months.
Both parents work full time, and Hugh, now nearly 3 years, and Anabel, 13 months, are booked into a centre for 40 hours a week, though sometimes their grandparents mind them.
Deborah says: "By the end of the six-month maternity-leave period, I was quite ready to go back to work. It wasn't financial pressure, it was more what satisfied me in my day-to-day working life.
"It means my time outside work with my children is very precious and we have good quality time. My own mum stayed at home with three children and I sensed her unhappiness. She openly admits now she was lonely and quite miserable.
"My friends who stay at home with their children are desperate to get away from them, whereas I can't wait to spend time with them."
She said she feels judged only when reading parenting books.
