Prevailing type over time: The period from birth to 51 months was divided at 36 months given that a change is likely at that age since in the UK a free preschool is then available and the majority of children take up the offer. The number of months in maternal, home-based and centre-based care was counted. If a child had same type of dominant non-maternal care (i.e., home-based or centre-based) for at least 3 consecutive months or in total at least 6 months up to 3 years old that type was coded as the prevailing type. Using the same criteria, similar groups were formed for the period from 36 to 51 months. Next, a contingency table was created from the frequency distribution of prevailing childcare type up to 3 years and after the age of 3 to plot childcare patterns from birth to 51 months. This table yielded six different patterns.