3 Common Mistakes Parents Make When Paying for Child Care

As a parent of three kids, I'm no stranger to the immense cost that is child care. And even though I don't spend much on child care during the school year, since my kids are out of the house most of the day, during the summer, my bills rise tremendously due to having to pay camp tuition.

If you're new to paying for child care, you might unfortunately fall victim to certain mistakes that could cost you. Here are three you'll really want to take care to avoid.

1. Not shopping for infant care early

Daycare center rules vary based on the age of your child. But the rules dictate that you typically need a smaller caregiver to child ratio for infants than toddlers and older children. As such, it can be difficult to secure infant care since those slots tend to fill up quickly. That's why it's so important to shop around for infant care way before you need it.

When I was pregnant with my son, I toured daycare centers during my second trimester and put down a deposit months before my child exited the womb. I had to do this because even though I was a good eight months away from needing care at the time I did my research (keeping in mind that many centers won't accept an infant younger than three months old), a couple of the places already had a waitlist for the month my child's care needed to start.

If you wait too long to secure infant care, you might end up having to use whatever daycare center has availability in your area. But that could leave you paying a lot more. And it could also mean having to settle for a daycare center you're not the most comfortable with. That's a whole other issue.

2. Not asking family members for help

Watching a young child is a tough job. And if you have older relatives who live locally, even if they're retired, it may not be reasonable to ask them to look after your 14-month-old from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily so you can go to work and save money on daycare.

But what you may be able to do is ask for a little bit of help. Let's say your daycare center has a half-day option that could cut your costs significantly. If your child is in the habit of napping every day from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., and you typically get home from work at 6:00 p.m., your retired aunt or mother-in-law may be willing to help out in the afternoon.

After all, it's not so hard to look after a napping child. You just need to be under the same roof. In that scenario, it may be feasible for a relative to fetch your child from daycare at the time of their nap, put them to bed, and then just handle a few hours of care until you get home. This arrangement could be even more doable if you happen to have multiple relatives close by with time in their schedules to share the load.

3. Not running the numbers to see if it even makes sense to pay for child care

When I had my son in daycare, I spent a small fortune. But the cost made sense because I was still bringing home a decent paycheck after covering child care and commuting expenses.

However, when I got pregnant with twins a couple of years later, I knew it wouldn't make financial sense to work full-time and pay for daycare for three kids at a time. So I shifted back into freelancing instead -- something I'd been doing prior to having my son.

Before you sign up to pay for child care, crunch the numbers and see how much money you're likely to bring home from your job. If you have more than one child needing full-day care, you may find that once you account for commuting, daycare, and taxes, you're only bringing home $200 or $300 a month.

At that point, you may be able to make tweaks to your budget to free up that money rather than work 40 hours a week or more for minimal financial benefit. Or, you might find part-time work that puts that cash in your pocket and doesn't require you to shell out money for child care.

It's difficult to get around the expense of child care when you work and have kids who are very young. But avoiding these mistakes could spare you a lot of financial upheaval.