Jasmine Johnson thought she was planning ahead when she rang her local nursery at 20 weeks pregnant to arrange a place for her baby - only to be told it was full until September 2025.
Her baby will be almost two years old before a place becomes available - and Jasmine will miss out on the first year's worth of funded childcare for which she is eligible.
Experts are warning nurseries and childminder places are becoming even harder to find for parents because of the plan to expand government-funded childcare hours for working parents in England over the next two years.
BBC News analysis estimates demand is likely to rise by about 15% - equivalent to more than 100,000 additional children in full-time care.
Jasmine, a primary-school teacher from a village with just one nursery, hoped to return to work in September 2024 but says she now has "no other choice" but to ask her parents for help and apply for reduced hours at work.
If her application for flexible working is refused, she will have to resign from her job.
"When the announcement [of the increase in funded hours] happened, I thought, 'This is brilliant timing for me and will help me get back to work,'" Jasmine says. But the situation now is making her "anxious even thinking about it".
