If you have a nanny, pls come in

sescms2004

We are starting to interview nannies for our twins.  I will be working from home from 9-6 each day, but will need a nanny to care for the twins while I am working.  I was hoping to get some advice from you ladies as to the most important things to look for in a nanny.  Also, what are some of the main questions we should ask during the interview?  We are new at this, so looking for some guidance.  I am a very Type A - like to do things myself - type person, so looking for a nanny to take care of our kids is very difficult for me, but we need my income.  I feel a bit better knowing that I'll be here at home while the nanny is here, but being a new mom, I'm having a hard time putting the lives of my babies in someone else's care.  I'm sure it will get easier with time, though.

Thanks for any advice you can give on the interview process!

finallyreilly

We have a nanny.  I work away from the house Mon-Thurs.  We only interviewed anyone that met our basic requirements - First Aide/CPR certified, 10 years minimum nanny experience, experience with either multiples or groups of children of similar age at one time, non-smoking, and lives within 10 miles of our house.  In addition to the basics, we wanted someone with reliable transportation so we could count on them and lots of references we could call.

We really connected with our nanny as soon as we interviewed with her and everyone we called had very positive things to say about her.  I was home for a few days with her before going back to work and she did excellent with the children.  It was a huge relief to be able to leave the house and feel like they are in good hands.  We interviewed candidates with less experience that we could have paid a little less, but opted to pay to have peace of mind.

LALASEPT05

We have a nanny too and I work from home one day and am in the office 3 days. We interviewed quite a few people and I found that I figured out what was important to me by interviewing candidates. It ended up that like the previous poster said things like CPR and emergency training are important and if you go through an agency everyone will have that. But it was very important to me that they have experience with newborn twins/ multiples. They had to know how to feed two at one time, be able to get them on a schedule so they nap at the same time, and I loved that our nanny had worked over nights as a baby nurse previously and that she could help me transition from day time to the night time routine. I also think there is a personal aspect to it...you have to be able to communicate with the nanny. One person we interviewed had English as a second language and while I'm sure she was great she was just very literal in interpreting things we asked and it made communication difficult and so that wasnt' good for us. We ended up going over budget a bit because we liked one particular person...but the peace of mind was worth it. Good luck.

janjag

Since you are working in the home, you will need someone who you really click with.  I really like our nanny, but she still drives me nuts a bit (ok, I am pg ). 

I work PT (outside the home), and the nanny has always followed my lead as to how to care for the babies.  I never relied on her for getting into a schedule, etc.  Not that I'm against doing that, but she wasn't capable of that sort of thing.  Someone who has that experience would be so nice... even more so for you since you'll be home.  If you have someone struggling you might find it really hard to get work done... Being a type A, you'll want to solve all the problems

When I went to work I'd already had the nanny come for almost a month.  She acted as a mother's helper during that time.  By the time I was heading to work, I really trusted her to care for my LOs w/out me hovering. 

babydontforget

I also work at home, and have been considering a nanny for when I go back to work. My job is here, but it is hard, and there is no way I would be able to do it with the babies here unless I could find a nanny that I really trust, with whom I could communicate extremely well. When/if I start interviewing (I'm also considering a center), I'll be going on my gut, like when interviewing a roommate.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes...