Notes/schedules for caretakers

jd614

My mom and mother in law will be watching DS when i head back to work next week. I want to leave them notes with the rough schedule he is on but its not a perfect routine. I also wanted to leave a sheet and have them fill in times of when he ate and slept so that I can see how his schedule changes throughout the days and they each have an idea what they are walking into each week when one takes over for the other. Can you think of anything else I should be leaving them instructions wise? I want to try and make sure his patterns now are somewhat followed since he will have multiple caretakers.

jill0211

With my first baby I had a small spiral notebook. So whether my mother or husband or I had my daughter we would just pass the journal around. As routine changed I would make notes. I wanted them to write down time of eating, how much, naps, pee/poo, etc. it was awesome being able to just look at it and update as needed. We did this for the entire first year. It's so helpful to be able to look back as I'm due with 2 and when my newbie mom friends ask me questions I just pull out the notebooks.

rockychryslerb2010

I had a spiral notebook that we used to track bottles, naps and diapers in the early days.  Nanny would use it during the week and she would write really detailed notes if she knew my parents would be watching him during the weekend because of events.

We had more of a routine in the first 6-9 months, and nanny was instructed to do things on demand.  She got to know E's habits and signs, so she knew when to put him down to nap, feed, etc.  I did set limits like making sure he didn't sleep for more than 2-3 hrs a day as we were getting onto a more set schedule.  We also hard targets for the amount of breastmilk each day.  Around 10 months we finally got to a better, set schedule, just in time to drop down to one nap!

I would leave instructions for what a typical day would look like, but for me it was more important that our caregiver knew E's signs and fed when hungry or put down before getting overtired.  So caregiver had typical schedule, but had authority to make changes as necessary.