if you had 3 kids fairly close together - when could a baby sitter handle all 3

[Anonymous]

Ours are roughly this spread (older were 4.5/2.5 when the youngest was born). We found our sitter at the gym daycare where we used to take them, so she knew the kids well and we knew she could handle a bunch of kids on her own. She started babysitting for us—including putting all three to bed—when the youngest was around one, I think. Same for my MIL, who had three kids herself. My mom, it was more like when the youngest was two, since she had two girls and gets overwhelmed with the three of them easily.

[Anonymous]

We started going out when our three were 6 mo/just-turned-2/just-shy-of-four. We only used professional nannies/teachers, though (mostly our nanny, though occasionally a preschool teacher). We “aged out” of good high schoolers when we had two under two!

[Anonymous]

I've babysat for 3 kids when they were like 3, 5, 7. Maybe the youngest was 2. It's doable. I think younger than 2 is tough for anyone but the parents to put to sleep.