In this paper we examined the determinants of child care choices among families with young children in Spain, by means of a conceptual framework that encompassed need, costs, and availability. Based on data from the Spanish Time Use Survey and Household Budget Survey, our study indicated that, regardless of model specification, the age of the child, the mother’s labor force decisions, and the prices of child care services available were the most important factors that mothers considered when they chose a type of child care. Day care center services substituted for babysitters when the price of babysitters rose; and relative and parent care substituted for day care centers when these services became more expensive. We found no different sensitivity to price changes for working and non-working mothers. From a public policy perspective, child care price subsidies were found to have much stronger effects on child care decisions than child allowances or public provision of school slots.