For those that had night nanny...?

Hibiscus2007 · May 2010

We are interviewing a night nanny tomorrow and was wondering what questions we should make sure we ask her. She is a nursing student in pediatrics and she has night nanny twins and triplets once before.

What time did/do your night nanny's work? What did they do, get bottles ready, etc?

TIA

OHteacher · May 2010

We didn't interview b/c ours worked for a family friend, but I may ask them their strategies for extending sleep, how long they will let babies cry before attending to them, etc. Also how they will communicate (log) the night's happenings.

We had them from 10-6 three times a week for the first 2 months, then down to twice a week now. Soon moving to just 1x a week.

Ours did baby laundry and washed bottles. I EP, so the bottles were already ready.

BizEB · May 2010

I had a night nurse with my son three nights/week. It's been awhile but I think she worked 10 pm to 8 am. I will have 24/7 help with the twins so she'll do everything- bottles, cleaning of bottles, laundry, helping me bath twins, etc.

For my night nurse, I asked her how she would handle different situations- colicky baby, reflux baby, baby who won't sleep, if she disagrees with parents, etc. I asked about how she gets babies on a schedule and how she sleep trains (I didn't want to do CIO at that age). I formula feed so I asked how she feels about that- didn't want anyone guilting me for not BFing.

For the twins nurse, I wanted to know about her twins expeirence, how she gets them on the same schedule, how she juggles things if one twin is needier, etc. I also clarified what I want her to do and made sure it was fine with her- preparing and cleaning all bottles, cleaning nursery, emptying diaper genie at least once/day, twins' laundry, helping me with bathing twins, etc. I kept a log with my son and will keep one with the twins- most nurses probably expect that.

ETA: If you are BFing, you should ask how she'll handle that. Some nurses are better with that than others.

pea-kay · May 2010

We had one twice a week for six weeks, when the boys were about 2.5-4 months old (I was back at work, and they weren't sleeping much.) She came from 10-6, and just fed them and changed them and got them back to sleep. I had all the bottles ready for her. I don't even think she ever left their room, but that was her choice. (We had a mini fridge in the boys' room.)

pea-kay · May 2010

PS Congrats on the babies! Are they all home now?

Rose.9.6.03 · May 2010

We hired a night nanny for when my DH traveled on business. I honestly don't remember what questions I asked her beyond if she had experience with multiples. We used an agency, so she was screened, had worked for several other clients, and was bonded and insured.

I had her come from 11 pm until 7am, which maximized the number of feedings that she did (midnight, 3 am, and 6 am). I did all the bottle prep, since I was EPing at the time. Her only responsibilities were taking care of the girls - feeding and changing them. One of mine had colic and sometimes would be up for a few hours in the middle of the night, so she would have to keep her happy. But if the girls were sleeping, the night nanny would use the guest room for sleep, reading, or t.v.

I always woke at least once, generally a few times, during the night to pump and check on the girls, and everyone was always happy. I had a good experience with my night nanny. Good luck with yours.