As a single mother, it is a real challenge finding and paying for child care that meets your and your children's needs. Although a whopping 72 percent of parents plan to use some form of child care within their child's first year, options are limited and costly. In a Babycenter.com poll, more than half of 9,500 parents reported researching child care options before the baby was born. In another Babycenter.com survey, 30 percent of 2,070 parents needed a month to find day care, while 36 percent needed three months.