The boom is prompting calls for different funding models for childcare places to look after all the new arrivals. Already overloaded waiting lists for baby rooms in Canberra's childcare centres are expected to get even longer, with industry players warning a rethink is required if the sector is to cope with the looming demand.

Australian Childcare Alliance ACT spokeswoman Gwynn Bridge said staff frequently spent hours on the phone calling families to ask what days they wanted and if they still needed care.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the number of babies born in Canberra increased nearly every year for a decade between 2002-12, reaching a top of 5461 in 2012.

The Sunday Canberra Times has found the number of babies born in 2013 was higher again, with 6291 newborns delivered in the ACT's public and private hospitals.

The childcare alliance, which represents 70 per cent of long day childcare operators nationally, has called on the Commonwealth to fund extra spaces specifically allocated to babies.

''Centres in Canberra have many vacancies for the three- to five-year-old children but are jam-packed in the zero to two-year-olds room,'' Ms Bridge said.

''It is very expensive for centres to take in more babies because the ratio for carers to babies is 1:4.

''In the older aged group it is one educator to 11 children.''

Ms Bridge said ACT families were becoming creative in order to get by.

''Grandmas are working overtime now,'' she said.

''I think what the sector needs to do is change to meet the demand and what we need is proper funding so centres can increase their baby rooms.

''Instead of providing eight or 16 baby places maybe centres should be doubling up into another room to take more babies in.

''But there is no need for developers to put up new centres. Viability for the sector needs to be addressed and the funding is needed to do that.''

The federal government has commissioned the Productivity Commission to hold an inquiry into childcare and early learning, which has received hundreds of submissions. Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley said it would report on the contribution access to affordable, high-quality childcare made to increased participation in the workforce.

''We want to see a childcare system that supports women wanting to return to work,'' Ms Ley said. ''I will be considering the Productivity Commission's recommendations very closely.''

The number of babies born in Canberra in 2015 is expected to be higher again, when the new paid parental leave entitlements begin.

ACT Health said it was ready for the increased demand: ''Planning for maternity services has been done with the aim to ensure that there is sufficient capital stock across the territory to meet current and projected demand for maternity beds at least until 2022,'' a spokeswoman said.

She said ACT Health had opened two additional birth suites at Calvary this year.