Finding a sitter for morning monitoring appointments

[Anonymous]

OP-I'm an after-school nanny who picks up occasional morning work like this. Usually it's a short shift, so you may need to increase your hourly rate to make it worth the drive for your sitter---I don't take a 2 hour job unless I'm making $40, a 3 hour job for $50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The other issue is that my child doesn't know these other SAHMs who I could ask about babysitting. I'm worried about him freaking out and crying the whole time he's with them in a strange environment.

Wouldn't he do that with a random babysitter too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The other issue is that my child doesn't know these other SAHMs who I could ask about babysitting. I'm worried about him freaking out and crying the whole time he's with them in a strange environment.

Wouldn't he do that with a random babysitter too?

For me, I think it's one thing to freak out with a babysitter that does this professionally and another to drop your freaking out kid on a neighbor with their own kids that's doing you a favor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP-I'm an after-school nanny who picks up occasional morning work like this. Usually it's a short shift, so you may need to increase your hourly rate to make it worth the drive for your sitter---I don't take a 2 hour job unless I'm making $40, a 3 hour job for $50.

OP here. Are you in NoVA by any chance? Where can I find after-school nannies? Care.com and sittercity didn't have anyone I could find interested in short morning hours. And yes, we were willing to pay $20 per hour for this type of job. I've already had to postpone my IVF twice so I'm concerned about postponing again due to childcare issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The other issue is that my child doesn't know these other SAHMs who I could ask about babysitting. I'm worried about him freaking out and crying the whole time he's with them in a strange environment.

Wouldn't he do that with a random babysitter too?

OP here, yes he might with a random babysitter but at least he would be in his own familiar environment vs. a new house with SAHM friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bring your toddler. Strap him in the stroller. Load up an iPad or similar with shoes and games. Ply him with coveted special snacks. Most monitoring appts are pretty quick. They might move even quicker if you have a screaming toddler.

The process of getting blood samples and ultrasounds take between 5-15 minutes max!

I took my kid to monitoring appointments then dropped him off at day care before going to work.

[Anonymous]

This might be one of those situations where you sometimes have you bring your child with you. You could talk to your monitoring office and ask them when the least busy time within the monitoring window is, then show up at that time. Once you sign in, maybe you could even take your toddler outside of the office/waiting area, and ask them to call you on your cell when it is your turn. Hopefully they would be accommodating.

I know some people beg others not to bring children to IVF appointments, but as someone who has been through IVF, I understand that sometimes you don't have many other options. I occasionally saw kids in the waiting area during my appointments and it never bothered me.

And, even if they weren't in the waiting area, who's to say you won't see pictures of the nurse's kids hanging around her station, or the board that my center had with pictures parents sent of the babies the center had helped them conceive? Or, leave the office after your appointment and see a child in the elevator? Kids are everywhere and can be a very painful reminder when going through infertility, but they are a fact of life and are not the root cause of our pain.

Just my two cents if you need to go that route. Call the center and ask for their recommendation, you are certainly not the first person to be in this bind.

[Anonymous]

its almost summer. High school students will be off soon and college kids already are. Why don't you post something on fb about needing a sitter. You don't need to post specifics just write that you need a short term sitter for the mornings and see who responds. I'm sure you have friends in the area who use sitters or they might have a neighbor with a high school kid who could help.

I'm shocked that you couldn't find anyone on sittercity. I posted something and had many people contact me. I ended up picking two sitters and still use them both for date nights and when I need to go to appts. How are you not getting any interest? How are you wording your ad? I think I just wrote something about how i needed a sitter for immediate short term early morning work and occasional evening sitting.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, there is a Facebook group called Northern Virginia Babysitter Network, or something like that. Do a search for Nothern Virginia Babysitter. I found a great sitter that way. Granted, I did do a background check on her that I wouldn't have done on a sitter that was referred to me by a friend, but she understood that I met her through Facebook and she could be anyone.

You could post a message on the FB babysitter group explaining that you need someone to watch your child for X amount of time on X day and see who responds/what their situation is.

There is also a network of in-home daycare providers in the area called Infant Toddler Connection. I went to their introduction session when my son was young, and while their in-home daycare providers are looking for full-time kids in their care, they will also take occassional drop ins (I believe) as space allows them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm about to start my first IVF cycle and I am unable to find anyone to take care of my toddler during my monitoring appointments. My husband has to be at work at 6 am and can't take off the morning unfortunately (he does shift work and has to be there for the entire shift starting at 6 am). I'm a SAHM and we have no local family. I have a few SAHM friends I may possibly be able to call but they all have young kids too and they'd have to bring them and be here super early and I'm not sure it's going to work out (none of these SAHM friends live anywhere near me). They also are always late to things so I don't know if I can really count on them to be here on time so I can get to my appointment on time. I can't bring my toddler (2 years old) to the appointments, he is very loud, doesn't sit still and wouldn't do well in that type of setting.

We don't have a babysitter and I have no idea how I'm going to arrange childcare. Most of my friends work full-time and use daycare.

I have gone on care.com and sittercity before and have not been able to find anyone for these early morning hours.

What should I do? I have already postponed my IVF cycle twice due to childcare issues.

If you need your SAHM friends to do you a favor, you need to take your kid to their house. Ask them. Be prepared to drive your kid to their house.

If you have to take your toddler, you have to take him. Strap him into a stroller with some snacks and an iphone. Not ideal, but you have to do what you have to do.

[Anonymous]

I had the same problem OP. Sometimes, you just have to bring the kid to the appointment. I had to do that once.
Ask a neighbor if she will help out, ask friends or neighbots if they have a kid home from college who can watch your toddler. In one instance, I did ask the clinic of I could come in later than monitoring hours because I couldn't find anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP-I'm an after-school nanny who picks up occasional morning work like this. Usually it's a short shift, so you may need to increase your hourly rate to make it worth the drive for your sitter---I don't take a 2 hour job unless I'm making $40, a 3 hour job for $50.

OP here. Are you in NoVA by any chance? Where can I find after-school nannies? Care.com and sittercity didn't have anyone I could find interested in short morning hours. And yes, we were willing to pay $20 per hour for this type of job. I've already had to postpone my IVF twice so I'm concerned about postponing again due to childcare issues.

I'm in Alexandria, if there's an email address I can reach you at we can talk scheduling and see if I would be able to do it. I use care.com, Sittercity, and DCUM---the trick to care/Sittercity ads that I respond to is having a profile picture and a thoughtfully worded ad---At least half the ads are auto-filled in, I don't bother responding to those.

[Anonymous]

I think it's super selfish to reject all good solutions to your childcare issue and then break the no children rule because you "couldn't" find care. Super selfish and lacking empathy. It makes me angry that people are suggesting that to an OP who has clearly not exhausted all avenues for care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's super selfish to reject all good solutions to your childcare issue and then break the no children rule because you "couldn't" find care. Super selfish and lacking empathy. It makes me angry that people are suggesting that to an OP who has clearly not exhausted all avenues for care.

What "no children rule" are you talking about? When I went to CFA for treatment, they had a toy bin in the waiting area for older siblings.

[Anonymous]

Get a sitter on care.com. It's really weird to me that you won't use a babysitter or have anyone watch your kid. I have a child as well and it's hard to leave them but you need to get over it. Your doing a disservice to you and your kid. What happens when he goes to school?