Copenhagen - Child Care and Baby-sitting
Vuggestuer
Nurseries (Vuggestuer in Danish) take children from 6 month old till 3 years. You need to contact 'pladsanvisning' in your kommune, where you live, to apply. For the popular ones there are long waiting lists and the best way to go about this is probably to ask neighbours and friends with children the same age. Good or bad news about nurseries or schools travels fast.
The nurseries are subsidized by the state and the cost is 2790 DDK a month.
Private Nurseries
Another option is private day care which is an arrangement where a private person, usually a mother, is hired by the state to care for a limited number of children in her home. This is a more personal arrangement. Also in this case you should ask around as well at get the information at your local kommune office.
Baby-sitting
With children having all the options offered by the state, with nurseries where they are looked after in the afternoons, the evening is really when you might need some assistance. Although it must mentioned that there is almost no place where you can not bring your child. Denmark can surely be considered a 'child friendly society'.
There are of course some baby-sitting services available but most often parents, if they cannot rely on grand parents living nearby, will hire friends' teenage children, or a kid in their street, as baby-sitter. Talk to your your neighbours, they will probably be happy for their children to have a little job in the neighbourhood.
For babysitting by the hour you can find some agencies, look at notice boards or as mentioned ask neighbours or friends. Most Danes are reluctant to pick up a number from a notice board when it comes to leaving the responsibility of their children to others.
There is no general price for baby-sitters, it depends on how you manage to arrange this, though an official baby-sitting service or privately. As a guideline you should know that the 'official lowest salary by the hour' for a tax paying adult (18 years old or older) is 98.15 DDK.
