Reply to What’s fair for nannies when they have a baby?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nanny here.  Something that a lot of parents don’t get is that, as a career nanny, I am better at this than you.

I have juggled 5 kids under 9, 3 under 2 (twins and a newborn), multiple sets of twins and one family of three kids. On top of that, I have always been a “family assistant” type of nanny.  When I worked with toddler twins and a newborn, I was making all the kids’ food, and family dinner twice a week and handling 90% of the laundry for the whole family and going to the grocery store about twice a month with all the kids, etc.  With my current 3yo twin charges, I manage everything about the kids’ wardrobes (shopping, laundering, and putting away), all their summer camp enrollments, all their extracurricular enrollments, all the food they eat, all the shopping and most of the errands for the family, any repairs or contractors needed for the house, I even pack lunch for MB.  And I did most of this since the kids were newborns!

I have a lot of advantages over a typical SAHM.  I have a TON of experience with newborns and I know how to manage sleep, feeding and soothing even a difficult baby.  I could babywear in my sleep.  And I have handled the transition of adding a baby to a household many times over.  When I knew I was pregnant, I began adjusting my charges routine months in advance so that there were two built-in times when I could easily feed or soothe a newborn.

I started bringing my baby with me at 6 weeks.  Prior to that, My DH negotiated a flex schedule and went in to work late, so I did the morning routine with my charges and dropped them at full-day camp, then their grandparents picked them up and a backup nanny did the afternoon.  By 4 weeks, I was doing am and pm (my mother watched the baby while I worked afternoons).  Then at 6 weeks, I had established breastfeeding and a decent nap routine, in spite of the fact that my baby had reflux.

Our routine was that my baby nursed and cuddled in a carrier during most of the morning routine with the twins, napped in the car en route to our morning outing, nursed in the carrier while the twins ran around at our outing and I easily followed them around.  Then at home the twins would have some independent play while listening to audiobooks while I got the baby settled for a nap, then lunch for the twins, they would have nap/quiet time and the baby would have some floor time, then the twins would do an art or sensory or science project while I fed the baby and prepped dinner.  The baby napped in a swing during dinner then I would give all three a bath and get into PJs.  The parents took over and I went home to put my baby to bed.

I charge on the lower end of my range but as someone else posted, 80% of a nanny who is a skilled caregiver and an energetic multitasker is better than 100% of a blah nanny who is mostly just keeping everyone alive.[/quote]

That actually sounds terrible for the twins. They are doing “independent play” all day while you nurse your baby. There’s no way you can truly engage and run after them during the outing, with the baby in a carrier. And how can you concentrate on guiding them through their art/science project if you are nursing AND cooking dinner?[/quote]

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