Daycare/Nanny- WWYD? Long...
slwprincess
member
I once again find myself in a childcare dilemma. We finally have a daycare center that we love. Sophie is thriving and I really do not want to mess with her. It's pretty close to our house (10-12 min) but not super convenient for me now that Gavin is in school on the other side of Kennesaw and I'm working from home most of the time. Our solution is that DH usually drops her off in the am on his way to work and I pick her up in the evenings. Gavin is at school until 3 and then I pick him up and he has "quiet time" while I finish working until 5 pm. The days that I do go into the office, he goes to After School Program. So far, its working well.
This baby is due in Feb. I'm planning on taking 12 weeks maternity leave and then going back to work full time at home (going in the office once a week, twice max). I am perfectly comfortable sending baby to this daycare except that I worry about BF. I'm not good at pumping. Not at all. It gives me anxiety just thinking about it. I only get 1-2 oz each session and it's discouraging which leads to more anxiety which means less milk. With Gavin and Sophie, they went to daycare at my office for the first year so I could just go downstairs and nurse twice a day. This daycare center is not convenient enough for that. I could probably do once a day at lunch but even that might be tough. I do plan to combo feed so I'm not opposed to some formula but I prefer to minimize it until about 6 mos. I suppose I could just invest in a handsfree pump and get over it, but if that fails, I'd be really sad if I didn't get to BF this one as long as the others (9-10 mos) :-(
My mom is suggesting that we get a nanny. That way baby can stay here while I work but I can go down to the basement and actually get some work done. Plus, a nanny would really help out with carpool for Gavin and other stuff and give me the most flexibility when going to the office. Plus, I will be returning to work just as Gavin gets out of school for the summer so a nanny will also be able to watch him too. But I don't think that Sophie would do well with a nanny all day. She thrives in a structured classroom setting with other children. Always has. I think this would be way too disruptive for her.
So I'm wondering what to do. Ideally, we'd get a nanny for the baby/carpool and still send Sophie to a half day at preschool. Just not sure if we can afford that! Any ideas how much a nanny would charge for this? She'd basically be watching a baby full time and just handling Sophie/Gavin carpool. I can be fairly flexible with hours and I'm not really even needing someone with a ton of experience or education since we'd still be paying for preschool for Sophie and eventually for this baby too when she's old enough. Am I crazy? Should I just suck it up and send this one to daycare full time and cross the BF bridge when I get there? Any other suggestions?
Re: Daycare/Nanny- WWYD? Long...
When I had P I pumped in the car during my long commute. No one ever noticed. If you go on youtube you will find a video on how to rig a hands free pumping set up using elastics and instructions to do it in the car. It wasn't my first choice. But I found that because I was thinking about driving and not about pumping those would be my best pumps. I used a nursing cover or one of my husband's t-shirts. It looked like I had huge ta-ta's. I also made it a point to not pull directly next to someone at red lights.
https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/hands-free-pumping/
Yeah, this is kind of what I'm leaning towards. Just a little concerned about summer time when Gavin is out of school too. If we send him to daycare too- that means we are paying for 3 kids in full time daycare and I really don't want to think about how expensive that will be!
As for pumping, I had bad experience with it with both kids. I have pain and anxiety at let down for the first few months. Pumping only adds to the frustration. I loved nursing but pumping is not something that is realistic for me on a frequent basis. Once a day is possible but more than that is basically a death sentence for my supply.