The Childcare Waitlist Game: Why You Sign Up While Still Pregnant
12 min readLast updated June 2026Beginner levelOfficial-source checked
There’s a sentence Canadian parents hear too late: “You should have put your name down while you were pregnant.” It sounds absurd until you try to find infant care twelve weeks before returning to work and discover the waitlist has a waitlist, the portal forgot your login, and one daycare has offered you a spot for a Wednesday in 2028. Lower fees made childcare more affordable — and good spots more fiercely hunted.
There’s a sentence Canadian parents hear too late: “You should have put your name down while you were pregnant.” It sounds absurd until you try to find infant care twelve weeks before returning to work and discover the waitlist has a waitlist, the portal forgot your login, and one daycare has offered you a spot for a Wednesday in 2028. Lower fees made childcare more affordable — and good spots more fiercely hunted.
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