Assumed we'd sort nursery after we arrived. Six months of waitlist later, lesson learned. How did others handle childcare, and what do you wish you'd started earlier?
Started our nursery search the day the move itself was confirmed, not after arriving — specifically because of stories exactly like this one.
Six months doesn’t even surprise me at this point, ours was a similar wait.
As a single mum I couldn't start work until my son had a place, so the waitlist was the single biggest thing in my first months. What worked in Porto was applying to several nurseries at once, including two I didn't love, and visiting in person rather than only emailing. The one that finally took us had a place come free because I'd visited twice and they remembered me.
Visiting in person made the difference for us too. Emails disappear.
Small update from me: we finally have a place from October. Six months and a lot of polite emails. Ana, visiting twice is exactly what finally moved it for us too.