I was once told that there is a govt rebate for parents forced to utilize a nanny service to care for their children due to shift work. I don't know if there is any truth to that but it might be worth investigating. I never looked into it further as I did secure a position at my nominate child care venue.

When DD went to child care, we put her name down (literally) the day after she was born to secure a position because I didn't want to miss out. I've heard that the centre attached to my work (I work in healthcare) has a 2 year waiting list. I struggle to understand this as how can you know that you will need to use the nursery in 2 years time? I know a girl who put her daughters name down (12 months old) and didn't get an allocated spot for 18 months past that. By which time she had secured somewhere else!

I hope you can sort something soon.