For those moms with a nanny

MrsPharmGirl · July 2009

How did you find your current nanny? Word of mouth? Online? Newspaper? How did you do a background check? Did you check references, etc? How are you liking the nanny set-up? Is it working well? What made you hire a nanny instead of sending LO to daycare?

Sorry for all the questions. Just trying to figure out if we should go the nanny route or the daycare route...

carrie4g · July 2009

Craigslist (I posted, received responses, emailed additional questions and then started meeting with people). I tried word of mouth but didn't find anyone. We didn't do a background check. I called her references. We love love love our nanny. She's been with us almost a year. She brings her little boy, which has turned out wonderful for DS to play with and she never put her boy before the care of DS.

We chose a nanny over daycare because when I returned to work DS was 4 months and I was fearful of him being outside the home and not able to nap in his own crib, etc. It also makes my life way easier in that she does all the baby related housekeeping and does other stuff around the house for us (cleans the kitchen, mops floors, does laundry, etc). She has DS all bathed and dressed in a cute outfit with his hair combed everytime I get home from work. He and I get to just then hang out together.

You really have to go with your gut on this.

EastCoastBride · July 2009

Our neighborhood has a yahoo groups list serve. A family was looking for someone to do a PT nanny share. I responded and we joined the share.

Turns out the nanny used to be the nanny of a friend of mine. That was all the reference I needed!

Yes, it's working well. Due to the other mom just having had a baby, the share is always at our house (for now), which is NICE!

We hired a nanny because we only need someone PT. Daycare is only FT and really really REALLY expensive.

EverAfterinMi · July 2009

We found ours on enannysource.com. She's great! Yeah.. we checked references but didn't do the background check. But you can on the site for an extra $50. I tried Craigslist first and it was a farking joke. The people were horrible.. didn't show up.. just awful. At least the enannysource site holds them accountable to respond to email and show up for interviews or they are kicked off.

Since we have three.. daycare would have been way more expensive than a nanny is. That and getting three out in the morning so we can get to work on time? Um not going to happen!

DallasHorn · July 2009

We've done both - DC and a nanny. We hired a lady who was a teacher at my daughters daycare/preschool.. Obviously I relied on the fact that they had already done the necessary background checks. She had been my daughters teacher for a year at the time we offered her a position when I returned to work.

There are pro's and con's to eachside and I don't think either is perfects. Just different things work at different times/points in your life.

flyer23 · July 2009

DD was in a nanny share from 4-11 months of age, then went to a SAHM (she was the only baby, the SAHM's kids were school-age) from 11-23 months of age. We just transitioned her into preschool a few weeks ago.

We found both setups through craigslist.

We never did a background check with the nanny share. The other family in the share had been using her for a while, and she had great references, so we didn't feel the need to check up further. We did do a background check on the SAHM, and also checked references.

I liked both setups. The nanny share was really fabulous. The nanny was wonderful, and the other two girls (a 2yo and the nanny's own 4yo daughter) were so sweet and DD just adored them. It's been over a year since we've seen them all (we moved out of state) and I still think about them and wonder how they are doing.

The SAHM situation was a little tougher because when we originally started, there was another boy DD's age, which we really liked. His mom got laid off a month or two after we started and she decided to SAH, so that's why it ended up just being DD. At that age, I really wanted her to have interaction with other kids. But it still worked out fine and she thrived.

The main reason we chose the nanny share was that I think 1:1 attention is super-important for infants. A nanny share with two other girls who are much older/more independent is SO much different from a daycare with three other little babies. We did a share rather than hiring a nanny ourselves because we couldn't afford a nanny! The share was about the same cost as a daycare center.

The main reason we chose the SAHM was that DD was already going through a bunch of transitions moving out of state, and most of the daycares we looked at wanted to put her in toddler rooms, which have a lot of "rules." For example, one nap a day -- DD was still taking two naps a day at that age, AND we knew she'd have a lot of adjustment to moving across two time zones. If she had already been in the infant room and was just moving up a room, it might've been OK, but on top of her ENTIRE world getting shaken up, it was just too much. The SAHM was far more flexible about accommodating DD's needs and not forcing her to go to one nap, wean fully off the bottle, etc. until she was ready.

I totally agree with DallasHorn's assessment of nanny vs. daycare. I wouldn't automatically rule out one or the other -- take a look at your options in both categories, and pick your favorite. That's what we plan to do for child care with this new baby.

RobinLA · July 2009

I found our nanny through a local nanny group on Yahoo but she also posted on Craigs List. Her former employor actually wrote the ad and posted for her and could not say enough about her (they were moving so they only had her for 3 months). I only used her previous employer as a reference. I didn't go back any farther. And because they had just done the backround check, TB testing and CPR classes, I didn't really feel the need to do them again.

We LOVE our nanny. We truly lucked out. She is so amazing with DD - every morning when nanny arrives, DD is flying out of my arms. She loves her to death and vice versa. And she cleans my house from top to bottom which is fantastic. I didn't ask her to do that - just light housekeeping - but the woman refuses to sit down so when DD is napping, she's a cleaning freak in my house. And she's travelling with me in Sept when I have to go back East for work.

The nanny was the only way to go with us. In our area, DC for LOs under 2 is inhome daycare only - no centers - and that just wasn't for me.

So we spend more money but it turned out it's totally worth it. I cannot say enough about her.

MrsPharmGirl · July 2009

Thanks for all the responses ladies!! Hopefully we can luck out and find someone great!!

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