Babysitters

ashes1010

How did you pick a babysitter when your twins were babies? Apart from my brother and my parents, I still don't feel comfortable leaving the girls with just one person. Our former night nurse will babysit on occasion but she costs a fortune. I feel like 2 babies is a lot for most people to handle on their own. 

When your twins were babies, did you go out often? Am I expecting too much at this stage? I just want to be able to go out for dinner every few weeks!

chickaboo1974

we were never the couple to go out a lot before babies- but we have not go out since they arrived.  I did have a babysitter last summer- to give me a break and so I could work in our yard for 5-6 hours once a week ( I love to garden ).  She was a college student home on summer break and came recommended from a Mom in my twin club.  She had watched her girls- so I felt comfortable leaving them with her. 

jxd215

We try to have a date night at least once a month - I think it's really important for our relationship. We are lucky that we have family close by, so we usually just leave the kids with grandparents. We have occasionally asked one of DH's students (he's a college prof) that we trust to watch them for short periods ( mostly when they're sleeping anyway.) As a backup non-family babysitter, we would ask one of their teachers from their former daycare. Many of the daycare teachers there would babysit (though not current students, that was against policy) so if you have any daycare connections that might be a place to look.

finallyreilly

We did not go out much, but when we did, we used one of the teeangers in our neighborhood that had lots of babysitting experience.  We almost always went the twins went down for the night and would be home before they would wake up for a feeding.  If we needed a sitter during waking times and couldn't get a family member or friend to do it, we sucked it up and paid the nanny.

erinruns

At that age it was either my parents, the nanny, or I put them to bed and went out after.  And honestly, I didn't go out often because I was wore out!  But once they turned a year I started getting out a little more.

americana

I understand your anxiety. It's hard enough leaving one baby with someone else, but 2 is even harder (as you know from experience)! Our family lives long distance, so we don't have anyone to drop the girls off with. My friend was around till the girls were 5 months old and we were lucky that she was able to sit a couple times. It was hard though cuz the babies had colic and were just A LOT of work for one person (even me or my hubby) to tolerate. We have a nanny but she goes home to Peru a 2-3 times a year for long periods so we had to find a babysitter to come in her absence. I asked my neighbor's daughter since she has those long college breaks and she was up to the challenge. I will say my other neighbor said she wasn't the most competent sitter - had to call her mom to help change a diaper. BUT I guess she got a lot of practice there because she's been absolutely great for us!! hehe. That all being said, we rarely go out because we can't afford the cost of a date and a sitter. Oh money, why don't you grow on trees?

 Is there a mom's group in your area? Get on a message board and ask for some references.