Preemies
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Finding a nanny
I need some advice about finding a nanny. Our twins are still in the NICU and not close yet to coming home, but I need to start looking as this may take a couple weeks with background checks, interviews, etc. I have a couple websites- care.com, sittercity.com but I'm wondering if you ladies know of any resources specific for nannies of preemies.
I unfortunatley have to go back to work on their due date, 10-24-10, but only PT for now (thank God). So I will need someone PT in the begininning and maybe FT later. Any advice you can give would be great. Thanks.
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Re: Finding a nanny
I was lucky and found a part-time nanny for July and August on care.com. She was getting her Masters in Special Education this fall. The grandparents also came in for two days a week and watched him (there are 2 1/2 hours away so they stayed in our 2nd bedroom--but it was really precious grandparent time for them--and it saved us money--and so homey, because they would cook us meals--I ate so well when they stayed with us). My husband and I would use some vacation time for the other days.
I looked for a nanny who had experience with infants. Some women stood out if they were wanting to be a nurse or they were interested in early childhood education. The most important question I asked was what was the youngest baby that they had taken care of. I was trying to figure how confident they were with infants--and if they were up to being open to how I wanted my baby to cared for and his issues--he was a preemie, and he had reflux.
It was more difficult to interview when he was in the hospital--I could show pictures on Facebook. And I felt like I was trying to get home to the interview and still have time to go to the hospital--felt like a crazy woman--showing pictures of my kid and trying to desribe him. It was so much better when I had one week home with him and knew what his needs were--it was easier to interview when he was home, and I could see how he interacted with the potential nanny. The nanny that we hired just clicked--I can remember my baby was crying during the interview, and I was like this new mom--and she was just easy going and tried to be calming to the baby in the interview.
My baby is now full time in a daycare at a retirement home. He cleared the waitlist (this was benefit for him being born early). I really love this daycare. They are so good with him. And they have been very patient with him--with tummy time, and feeding at a incline--and taking time to burp him. He has this smile on his face when I come to pick him up--so funny, because there are only baby girl infants in the infant room right now.
We found our favorite nanny by word of mouth...you might be surprised
We found our other nanny via sittercity.com. It's a great site and we interviewed 10 great people to pick ours. I know a friend who loves her nanny, who she also found on sittercity!
We used sittercity.com and loved our nanny. You pay a small fee and then can run background checks with the click of a button.
Does your neighborhood have a listserv or a moms and dads group? It seems people are always posting references for nannies on ours.
Our nanny did not have any experience with preemies and had minimal experience with infants, even. But she was very smart (had a college degree), was exceedingly kind and caring, and was very willing to learn. Sometimes the right traits make up for any specific experience or lack of experience.
Good luck!