How often do you have a babysitter and go out with just S/O?

palma44

I am just curious how often others get a babysitter and go out with just S/O or some form of a date night? I know this is a very personal decision, and very situational. 

We are lucky enough to have my parents close by and can get out often, I would love to get to go out once a week but sadly my parents have a life We haven't left DD with anyone but my mom and DH's mom yet, who lives 3 hrs away. What about you? Have you found just a "babysitter" who you can call up and have come over for a few hours for a date night, if so how did you go about finding a babysitter? 

christinaa722

We are actually going out this weekend! Yay.. But it's the first time since June ( my parents watch LO during the week so we not feel right about asking for weekends. My siblings have their own kids and lives so it's really hard DH's family has all moved three hours away so they're not at our disposal and they're the ones we really trust the most. So all in all, no we don't really have someone we can just call. I've got a few single friends and in kids in our youth group at church I could probably tap into if need be but we aren't there yet. We don't have a ton of extra money(see previous board post) so we do a lot of movie rental nights once LO goes to bed. Super boring but it's what we cn afford and have time to do.  

jennej24

Well, in our case she is almost a year and we have only gone out 3 times, our anniversary, my birthday, and my husband's holiday party.

We don't have a babysitter, we left her with my mom twice and once with a friend.

I have left her a few more times with my husband.

She is breastfed and terrible at night without me so I feel bad leaving her.

mexicolombiana

My girls are 1 year and 2 1/2 years old.  We've never used a sitter.  Probably won't for a while. Only my mom and DH's mom has watched our girls.  (Rarely his mom since the girls never see her).  We only go out to weddings and other such engagements. We haven't really had many date nights. We go out to dinner a lot with the family.  DD#2 is still BF and wakes up several times a night and is inconsolable without breastfeeding (yes my fault I know) so I don't leave her much at night. 

I'm sure when they get older we'll go out more and probably will still use my mom.  I'm lucky to have her 5 minutes away and she would be insulted if we used a sitter so it works out for everyone.  

MollySm

When Lucia was younger we made sure to go on a date night once a month. We left her with Gramma. Then Lucia got separation anxiety, Gramma went away on a lot of trips and we got out of the habit around when she was around 6 months old. We are trying hard to get back in the swing of things. SIL lives near us and has two kids, so we are working on a babysitting trade. She took Lu for us one evening, and now we'll take the boys for her. H and I have been out of sync, so I'm hoping we can get a good schedule set up.

Amanda2011

We have only gone out like 4 times without baby. My husband is in school so we have one of his classmates come over and babysit. It is a man, but he loves kids and  wants to be pedi. She loves him. He is from Japan and she loves when he sings in Japanese to her. Besides my mom he is the only other person we have left her alone with. 

HollyBee013

We try to do 2 times a month AT THE LEAST.  Always one overnite with either one of the grandparents, and then a babysitter for the other one.  We were fortunate enough that DHs cousin's ex-girlfriend (follow that?) was a nanny.  She and I became really close, even after they broke up and she is our go-to babysitter.  (And then we usually have mamosas the next morning!)  We pay her what we would a babysitter, its just really nice to have dinner, and then come home and chat it up with a girlfriend over wine to end the night!   We want another babysitter to call on though sometimes, and so we are asking some of my ex co-workers that have younger kids that live in this area!

footnotegirl

The first few months, we got out about every other week. More recently, due to a mix of holiday scheduling and Rowan being more difficult to get down to sleep (a babysitter can't do it) it's more like every three weeks. 

SteelCity44

I'm pretty sure my mom would never speak to me again if I hired a babysitter. We try to use family any time we need help, because they don't get to see him all the time. We actually went out for the first time alone this past weekend for DH's 30th birthday. A few weekends before that, LO spent the night at my parents' house, because I was trying to get work done (for work and housework), and they offered just to keep him for the rest of the night.

It was really nice to get out, but we can't always justify the cost. We need to find ways to spend time together outside of the house without spending money. We've talked about trying to do it once a month, but we're already going back out tonight for DH's company party. It starts after LO's in bed, so babysitting is extra easy. 

caybeh

We've only gone out twice alone since Eli's been born. Our parents both live a few hours away. We went out for our anniversary as my parents happened to be in town for something else, so they watched him. My brother and SIL live like 1/8 of a mile away and they watched him another time. I know they would watch Eli in a heartbeat, but they have a three month old so I feel bad asking them. Eli is BF and is sometimes a wild card to get to bed, so we feel bad asking anyone to watch him at night if we aren't going to be back before bedtime.

I have something I do twice a month alone, so my Eli is home with DH. 

So no babysitter here that wouldn't be family! 

CarmenP29

My husband and I have no family that is close by or able to watch our little one.  We have had family come in during the summer & Christmas and they watched her for a while so we could go out.  Now this coming weekend we are getting a babysitter (a lady who used to work in our daughter's day care) and we have an agreement that we will use her once a month - we just need a little together time.  Hope that helps! 

Wipz

never .. we don't go anywhere he cant go and we work opposite shifts and days off so we want to spend as much family time together as we can.  We never went out places he couldnt go before we got pregnant either.

Not even family have had him... much to their dismay  lol

diana.filipi

Maybe 2-3 times a year

laurakaz13

We have two wonderful sitters who have become good friends of our family.  We get a sitter at least one night a week so we can go out together or with friends. 

When we want to go away alone, we have my parents come down to watch DD.  They're retired and love it, but live in the Northeast and we live in the South. 

I would die w/o sitters.  I have one of them come over as a "mother's helper" a few times a week as well.