Mila Rukavina is one of many P.E.I. infants in need of a daycare spot. (CBC)

Moving kindergartens from private daycares into the P.E.I. school system this year has freed up daycare spaces for three- and four-year-olds, but not for younger children.

The province said more spaces are needed for children aged two or younger.

A plan to open up private homes for infant care is behind schedule. The government said that is because there are not enough people interested in doing it.

The province is getting ready to launch an online daycare registry that should make it easier for parents to find any existing openings.

Linda Lowther, speaking for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, said it would smooth out the process.

"It's going to help streamline the process a little bit. When parents were looking for spaces for their children, they might actually put themselves on a wait list on ten, 15 different centres," she said Thursday.

The province said individual daycares will still be able to keep their own waiting lists and it was not clear how the two systems would connect.

At least 30 new infant spaces should start opening up in daycares by December as the province approves a second wave of Early Years Centres.

Too late for some

That will be too late for parents like Jodi McLellan and Johnny Rukavina. The Charlottetown couple are seeking a place for their 10-month-old daughter Mila Rukavina before her mother's maternity leave expires next month.

"Her name was on the list of one of the places the day she was born," said McLellan. Despite that, no spaces have opened up for Mila before next year.

That will create problems for the family.

"Jodi might work part time, we might have to get more of a babysitter arrangement a couple of days a week," said Rukavina.

"We don't have a lot of extended family on the Island. We are from away, so it's not as though we can call grandma to come over for a day."