Daycare/kindy/playcentre & when to start?

Kate, just remember that Leah will still be having a good nap when the baby's born so you will have a break. I honestly haven't found it that hard having 2 (except for the fact that #2 was a demon - but that has no bearing on handling 2 at all really, just that she was difficult).

I had Jack in Dc at 5 months, Ava at 5 weeks, only because of work.

I would think DC would be your best bet, but most do have set hours or minimum hours. I only had Jack in for 5 weeks by himself before I went back to work and TBH it was a right PITA picking up and dropping off simply for a few hours break. I'll probably be pulled up on this but, as a mother (or any parent), your break is when the kids go to bed. Our mothers all did it without having to put the kids in DC without you going to work. My Nana had 11 months between her 4th and 5th kids and she didn't feel the need to put them in DC - you honestly do cope (it's what we were made to do).

But, if you can justify the expense, yeah I would go for DC.

I do have an issue with people thinking their kids need to go to DC to socialise though - most of us didn't go to kindy or anything until 2.5-3 and I would think we're managing quite well.

Yeah, for the cost of daycare, you could get an Au Pair instead - we hire them out through my nanny agency at the same price. I have to say, a lot of mums end up at home taking sick leave coz their child gets sick so much from daycare!