Infant daycare spots in the Tri-Cities, and when families start looking

Infant care fills earlier than care for any other age group, and it is not because families searching for infant spots are more anxious than everyone else. It comes down to a staffing rule that makes an infant room the most expensive one for a centre to run, which means there are fewer infant spaces to begin with.

The rule behind the shortage

BC's Child Care Licensing Regulation sets a different staff-to-child ratio for every age group. For children under 36 months, one infant and toddler educator may care for up to 4 children. Once a group of that age grows past 4, a second educator is required, and past 8, an assistant joins as well. The maximum group size for the whole program is 12.

Compare that with Group Child Care for 30 months to school age, where a single educator may care for up to 8 children before an assistant is required, and the maximum group runs to 25. A centre with the same square footage and the same staffing budget can run a much larger group of older children than it can of infants and toddlers.

That is the whole explanation. It is not that infant care is less available by policy choice or oversight. The ratio that protects very young children in care is also the ratio that makes an infant room cost more per child to staff, so a centre licensed for a fixed number of spaces gets fewer of them at the infant end.

What the group size actually looks like

Two licensed programs can include children under three, and they land on similar numbers for different reasons.

Group Child Care (Under 36 Months) is a dedicated infant and toddler program, capped at 12 children, with the strictest staffing bands in the whole regulation: one educator for 4 or fewer, one educator plus another for 5 to 8, and one educator, another educator and an assistant for 9 to 12.

Multi-Age Child Care caps a group at 8 children of mixed ages. No more than 3 may be under 36 months, and if any child under 12 months is present, only one may be that young. One educator supervises the whole group of 8.

Both programs are small by design compared with the 25-child ceiling for children 30 months and older. Our guide to the ten types of licensed child care and the ratios and group sizes guide cover the full table for every program, not only the ones that take infants.

A worked comparison

Picture two centres of roughly the same size, each with three rooms and three educators to staff them.

The first centre runs three groups for children 30 months to school age. At one educator per 8 children, that is 24 spaces for that age group across the building, all from the same staffing budget.

The second centre uses one room for children under 36 months instead. Following the ratio for that program, one infant and toddler educator can only take 4 children in that room, less than half of what the same one educator could take in an older group. To fill that room properly, more staff are needed for the same number of children, or the room simply runs with fewer children in it than a same-sized room for older children would.

Multiply that difference across every licensed centre in the region, and the pattern becomes clear without needing a single Tri-Cities-specific statistic to prove it. The regulation that makes infant care safer, by keeping the adult-to-child ratio tight, is the same regulation that keeps the total number of infant spaces lower than the total number of spaces for older children.

When families actually start looking

The pattern shows up clearly in national data. Statistics Canada's Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements, released 21 October 2025, found that among parents of children aged 0 to 5 who were not yet using any child care, 31 percent already had their child on a waitlist in 2025, up from 26 percent in 2023. For children under 1 specifically, that figure was 56 percent, the highest of any age group the survey tracked, up from 47 percent two years earlier. The survey's own explanation is direct: many children under 1 are on a waitlist in anticipation of needing a spot once they are old enough to attend, not because they need one immediately.

That is national data, not a Tri-Cities-specific figure, but the mechanism behind it, the tighter ratio for the youngest children, applies everywhere the same provincial regulation applies, including Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam and Port Moody. It is why many families here start the conversation with a centre well before their due date rather than waiting until the baby has arrived.

What early contact actually accomplishes

Reaching out before a child is born will not produce a guaranteed spot, since no centre can promise care that does not exist yet. What it does is put your name, your expected timeline and your needed schedule in front of the specific centres you are considering, ahead of families who have not yet made contact.

A centre's own infant openings usually depend on when an already-enrolled child moves up to the next age group, since the group size is fixed by the licence. That timing shifts through the year and is not something a centre can predict with precision far in advance. Families who have already made contact are simply in a better position to hear about it when it happens.

Contacting more than one licensed centre is common for exactly this reason. It does not commit you to anything, and it means your timeline is not tied to a single conversation months in the past.

What to have ready when you reach out

A centre can only give a useful answer once it knows what you are actually asking for. Have ready: the child's expected or actual birth date, the schedule you need, whether that is full-time, part-time, or specific days of the week, and your preferred start date. Infant spaces and toddler or preschool spaces run under separate group sizes and separate rules, so a general "when do you have space" question is harder to answer than a specific one tied to an age group and schedule.

It is also worth asking directly which care programs a centre actually holds. Not every licensed centre takes children under 36 months. Some hold only a licence for 30 months to school age, so the age question needs to come before the timing question, not after it.

Checking what a specific centre offers before you call

The health authority's public list of licensed facilities names the care programs each centre is licensed for. For Port Coquitlam that is Fraser Health's Fraser North list. Our licensed childcare finder searches the Province's own open dataset by name, street or postal code, which shows whether a listed centre serves children under 36 months before you pick up the phone.

If a centre in your search does not hold a licence for children under 36 months or for Multi-Age Child Care, it is not an infant care option regardless of how the timing conversation goes, and that is worth confirming early rather than after weeks of back and forth.

The list also shows a centre's total licensed capacity for each program, which tells you the shape of the room before you visit. A centre licensed for 12 children under 36 months is running a full Group Child Care infant room. A centre licensed for 8 Multi-Age spaces is running one mixed-age group instead, with a different composition rule about how many of those 8 may be under 12 months. Neither number tells you whether a spot is open today, but it tells you what kind of room your child would join once one is.

What a realistic timeline looks like

There is no single published number for how long an infant care search takes in the Tri-Cities specifically, and any centre that gives you an exact figure is estimating rather than reporting a tracked statistic. What families can plan around instead is the shape of the process: contact happens early, often during pregnancy, a centre records the interest and expected timeline, and an actual offer depends on when a space opens in that specific program, which is tied to when a currently enrolled child moves up to the next age group.

That means the honest answer to "how long will this take" is usually "it depends," and a centre that says exactly that is being accurate rather than unhelpful. What shortens the practical waiting period is not a single application but staying in contact: confirming your timeline is still current, updating a centre if your needed start date changes, and asking directly whether anything has shifted since you last spoke.

If a centre-based infant spot is not available in time

Licensed home-based care is a second path worth knowing about while a centre-based spot is not yet available. Family Child Care allows one licensee to care for up to 7 children personally in their own home, and it is licensed and inspected on the same terms as a centre, just under a different program. Some families use a home-based provider as an infant and move to a centre once their child reaches an older age group with more available spaces. Our guide to home-based versus centre-based daycare works through how the two settings actually compare, beyond the question of which one currently has room.

Frequently asked questions

Why is infant daycare harder to find than care for older children?

The staffing rules are stricter, so a room costs more to run for fewer children. Under BC's Child Care Licensing Regulation, Group Child Care for children under 36 months allows one infant and toddler educator for only 4 children, compared with one educator for up to 8 children in the program for 30 months to school age. A licensed centre gets fewer infant spaces out of the same building and staff budget.

When should I start looking for infant daycare in the Tri-Cities?

Many families start during pregnancy or shortly after birth, well before the child is old enough to attend. National data collected in 2025 found that 56 percent of parents of children under 1 who were not yet using child care already had their child on a waitlist, the highest rate of any age group. Starting early is a response to that reality, not a sign of overplanning.

How much smaller is an infant group than a toddler or preschool group?

Under the Child Care Licensing Regulation, Group Child Care for children under 36 months caps a group at 12 children. Multi-Age Child Care, which can include infants alongside older toddlers, caps a group at 8, with no more than one child under 12 months if any that young is present. Compare that with 25 for Group Child Care from 30 months to school age, and the infant ceiling is roughly half.

Does contacting a centre before my baby is born actually help?

It lets a centre give you accurate, current information about their own program timing rather than a general answer, and it puts your name and expected start date on their radar for that specific age group. A centre cannot promise a spot that does not exist, but early contact means you hear about availability as it changes rather than only when you happen to call again.

Are infant spaces the same everywhere, or does it vary by centre?

It varies. A centre's licence names which care programs it holds and the maximum number of children in each. Some centres are not licensed for children under 36 months at all and only take children from 30 months up. Checking a specific centre's licensed care types on the health authority's public list tells you whether infant care is even offered there before you ask about timing.

Should I join more than one daycare's contact list while pregnant?

Many families do, since a centre's own timeline for an infant opening depends on when an enrolled child moves up to the next age group, which is not something a centre controls or can predict with precision far in advance. Contacting several licensed centres in the area you plan to use gives you more than one path to a spot rather than relying on a single answer.

What information should I have ready when I contact a centre about infant care?

The child's expected or actual birth date, the schedule you need (full-time, part-time, or specific days), and your preferred start date. A centre can only give you a meaningful answer about timing once it knows the age group and schedule you are asking about, since infant spaces and toddler spaces run on separate group sizes and separate rules.

Does a longer wait for infant care mean the search process is broken?

It reflects the staffing math built into the regulation, not a broken search. An infant and toddler educator can be responsible for only 4 children at once, the tightest ratio of any licensed program in the province. A centre offering that ratio is running a smaller, more staffed room by design, and there are fewer such spaces for that reason.

Is home-based care an option while waiting for a centre-based infant spot?

It can be. Licensed home-based programs such as Family Child Care take up to 7 children with one licensee, and some families use one type of care as an infant and move to a centre later. Our guide to home-based versus centre-based daycare works through how the two settings actually differ, beyond just space availability.

How do I find out what infant care options exist near me in Port Coquitlam?

Search the health authority's public list of licensed facilities, which for Port Coquitlam is Fraser Health's Fraser North list, and check which care programs and capacities each centre holds. Our licensed childcare finder searches the Province's own open dataset by name, street or postal code, which shows whether a centre serves children under 36 months before you call.

Before you visit

La Vie Est Belle Childcare Centre offers infant and toddler care for children under 3, alongside group child care from 2.5 years to school age, at 1103 Confederation Drive in the Citadel neighbourhood of Port Coquitlam. Availability changes through the year and depends on your child's age, preferred start date and schedule, so the most useful next step is a direct conversation. Contact us about current availability, or see our infant and toddler program.