Infant vs. Toddler Care: What Actually Changes (and Why the Rate Does Too)

**Twelve months.** That is the line, and crossing it changes both the day and the price.

Under 12 months, an in-home childcare booking is **$38 an hour** instead of $32, and **$42 overnight** instead of $36. The part that surprises people: it applies to the **whole booking**, including the hours your four-year-old is also there. One eight-month-old in the house sets the rate for everyone in it.

That is not a per-child surcharge — there is no per-child charge at all. It is a recognition that the job itself is different.

What is different about the job

Compare what we need to know before a shift.

**For a child under 12 months**, the intake covers feeding method, feed frequency, sleep location, nap schedule, soothers, and allergy notes — and a required confirmation of the safe sleep setup: bare crib, on the back, nothing loose in it.

**For a child 12 months and over**, it is allergies, medical needs, and favourite activities.

That gap is the whole answer. Infant care runs on a schedule that the baby sets and the caregiver has to track — feeds every two to three hours, wake windows measured in minutes, a nap that collapses the evening if it lands wrong. Toddler care runs on a schedule you set, and the caregiver's job is to hold it while keeping a determined small person entertained and intact.

Neither is harder in a general sense. They are differently unrelenting. But one requires never being more than a few feet away, and the other allows a caregiver to make lunch while play continues in the next room.

Why safe sleep is a required field, not a note

Because it is the single highest-stakes thing in the house, and because assuming it is set up correctly is how mistakes happen.

We ask you to confirm it explicitly — bare crib, on the back, no loose items — or to tell us you would like the caregiver to advise. There is no wrong answer to that question. There is only a wrong way to skip it.

Where the money actually lands

A three-hour evening with a two-year-old: **$96**.

The same three hours with an eight-month-old: **$114**.

The same three hours with an eight-month-old **and** a two-year-old and a five-year-old: still **$114**. The infant sets the rate; the siblings are included.

That last line is the one worth knowing if you have a baby and older children, because families in that situation often assume they are the most expensive case and quietly stop asking.

When the rate changes back

Automatically, on the child's first birthday — the booking form calculates age from the date of birth you have on file, so the shift after that birthday prices at the standard rate with nothing to update.

If you booked ahead across the birthday, the price is calculated from the care date, not the booking date.