Last-minute childcare advice

[Anonymous]

Are there any services in DC, or places you would recommend posting a job listing for last minute/emergency full-time, short-term (~2-3 months) childcare? I am a SAHM and have recently been diagnosed with a medical issue that may require extended hospitalization this fall (but also may not). Apparently if things do deteriorate to the point of hospitalization it can happen quickly, so I am trying to get a childcare plan in place in case that happens as we do not have any family in the area. I would rather not hire full time care unless I know I need it, which would mean urgently looking for someone to start ASAP if it does come to that. Any insight or suggestions anyone may have would be much appreciated, thanks!

I tried posting this in the nanny forum but didn’t get any response so am hoping it is ok to repost here where it may get more eyes.

[Anonymous]

I think White House Nannies is a good fit for this. We used them to cover our nanny's two week vacation one summer, and then about nine months later, when our nanny got super super sick and was suddenly unable to work, we were able to get care (though it was often a different person each day). You pay something like $350 upfront to be in their system for a year and fill out some paperwork, and then any day that you need care, you can just request it through their Portal. It's $50 a day to WHN when you use it, plus you pay the nanny directly.

We ended up using them just about every day for six weeks. We had two nannies that we asked them not to send again after one day, but even those, the kids were safe and decently cared for, and the nannies were clearly professionals with experience (one I caught on her phone multiple times, one was really into gender roles and so basically wouldn't listen to anything my husband said without checking with me, which is not our vibe). All the others were really solid, a couple were great, and one we ended up offering a full time job to.

[Anonymous]

Local listserve/neighborhood group chat/Facebook page. My parent group chat has a lot of people with part time nannies they’re looking to find extra employment for or sharing babysitter recommendations. If you posted what you have here you’d probably get 3-4 recommendations pretty quickly.

[Anonymous]

I would try care.com. There are always a decent number of available nannies on the site and everyone we've hired from there has been great.

[Anonymous]

Everyone we've hired him Urban sitter has been great

[Anonymous]

Are you on a moms’ list serv in your neighborhood? Mine is where I would post.

[Anonymous]

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:I think White House Nannies is a good fit for this. We used them to cover our nanny's two week vacation one summer, and then about nine months later, when our nanny got super super sick and was suddenly unable to work, we were able to get care (though it was often a different person each day). You pay something like $350 upfront to be in their system for a year and fill out some paperwork, and then any day that you need care, you can just request it through their Portal. It's $50 a day to WHN when you use it, plus you pay the nanny directly.

We ended up using them just about every day for six weeks. We had two nannies that we asked them not to send again after one day, but even those, the kids were safe and decently cared for, and the nannies were clearly professionals with experience (one I caught on her phone multiple times, one was really into gender roles and so basically wouldn't listen to anything my husband said without checking with me, which is not our vibe). All the others were really solid, a couple were great, and one we ended up offering a full time job to.

+1 to WHN, we liked them very much.

[Anonymous]

Care.com is good

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any services in DC, or places you would recommend posting a job listing for last minute/emergency full-time, short-term (~2-3 months) childcare? I am a SAHM and have recently been diagnosed with a medical issue that may require extended hospitalization this fall (but also may not). Apparently if things do deteriorate to the point of hospitalization it can happen quickly, so I am trying to get a childcare plan in place in case that happens as we do not have any family in the area. I would rather not hire full time care unless I know I need it, which would mean urgently looking for someone to start ASAP if it does come to that. Any insight or suggestions anyone may have would be much appreciated, thanks!

I tried posting this in the nanny forum but didn’t get any response so am hoping it is ok to repost here where it may get more eyes.

Contact Susan at Nannypoppinz. Explain the situation, and let her post your profile. However, she will likely not want to schedule interviews until you're ready to hire. On the plus side, if you have the profile done and nannies have already said they're interested, then it should be a matter of 2-4 days before you have a FT nanny once you tell her you're ready.

[Anonymous]

My kids daycare has "drop in" rates. You register your kid, then you pay like $65 a day (I'm not positive about the amount) when you drop them in. Every daycare that's not completely full will allow you to do this.

My inhome daycare also does this and it's $50. She probably has an hourly rate too if you only needed 2-3 hours for an appt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids daycare has "drop in" rates. You register your kid, then you pay like $65 a day (I'm not positive about the amount) when you drop them in. Every daycare that's not completely full will allow you to do this.

My inhome daycare also does this and it's $50. She probably has an hourly rate too if you only needed 2-3 hours for an appt.

Also, the hours at daycare will be much better than a nanny. Daycares typically run 6am-6:30 pm, which would allow your spouse flexibility in picking up.

[Anonymous]

what sort of awful place charges $50 a day for a kid in DMV? They probably have 10-12 kids and 2 people, and just keep kids alive.