Chairman of the Childcare Corporation Alan Bentley who raised the issue writing in last week's Nursery World said he had been inundated with e-mails in support of the idea from providers in England, Scotland and Wales.
He said the response demonstrated that the need for such a body was 'long overdue'.
'I'm very pleased because I'm building up a list of people who may be able to set something up in their own regions,' he said.
He said that a trade association could be set up on a regional basis within a year.
Last week, Mr Bentley argued that the National Day Nurseries Association could no longer take on the trade body role without a conflict of interest because of the Government funding it received.
Following last week's meeting of the large providers' group, which is made up of the biggest nursery chains in the UK, Mr Bentley is preparing a paper to discuss the issue in more detail in September.
* Read the NDNA's response by Purnima Tanuku in 'To the point' on page 31.
ENDS