Taking care of an infant and older child?
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Anonymous
| Just wondering if it's typical for a nanny to take care of an infant (say 5 months) and a 2-4 year old at the same time? How do you engage in age-appropriate activities with the older child while still caring for the needs/sleep/feeding schedule of the infant? |
Anonymous
| Do you have any mom friends you can visit? |
Anonymous
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Sure - that's very common. Often the nanny is hired for the first child and then a second comes along.
You work it out by wearing the infant, taking lots of walks to playgrounds and the baby sleeps in the stroller, building in lots of active play time with the older child while the baby is napping, scheduling an activity/class/part time preschool for the older child for some block of time, etc... |
Anonymous
| Thanks for your response! Caring for one has been a lot of work, I'm just not sure how I will fit in time for another infant while still giving the 2 year old the same attention. |
Anonymous
You won't. The 2 year old will naturally receive less attention and that is JUST FINE. Like PP said, schedule individual activities for when the infant is napping. Other than that, it's mainly just the logistics of two schedules, getting two children out of the house/around the neighborhood, small things. This is a pretty natural progression for most kids and you should be able to handle it just fine. |
Anonymous
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It gets easier as they get older.
The 2 year old will learn to share your attention, and that's not a bad thing. There will be time for a little one on one during infant naps. The naps the 2 year old isn't also sleeping. What helped me with my older charge was having a special bucket of toys/ books that I would get out when I had to do something with the baby. Oldest charged also liked to "play nanny" would sit next to me with a doll while I changed diapers , gave bottle etc. |
Anonymous
| Thank you, I'm glad I found this website. Another question -- they are currently paying me $17.50 per hour for watching the first. They said they will pay me $20 per hour when their next comes to watch both, which seems reasonable to me. Is that the going rate for two? I also help with laundry and do light housework although they said they understand if I don't have time for that once the new baby comes. That they just want me to put all my attention on the kids. |
Anonymous
Your rate really depends on so many different factors... |
Anonymous
| Like what? They live in NW DC... |
Anonymous
| Sounds fair (even generous) to me OP. A $2.50 cent raise is pretty significant and they sound quite reasonable in their expectations. |
Anonymous
| $20 for 2 or a raise of $2.50 sounds fair to me. |
Anonymous
| It's fair only if the particular nanny thinks it's fair, and wants to stay on. |
Anonymous
| Nanny shares go for $18-20 per hour for two kids... so it seems right to me. And for the OP, if the weather permits, try to do things outside park/playground where you can have the baby in the stroller while the toddler runs around. Fresh air will do them both good. |
Anonymous
You should know that some nannies earn $25/hr for one child. |
Anonymous
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A lot of things that you do with a preschooler are good exposure for a baby, even if you wouldn't do it for just the baby if one-on-one. Like, would I take my six month old to story time at the library when it specifically is label preschool story time? No, but it's fine to bring her along as a younger sibling and she likes seeing the books & listening to the story. When the preschooler is doing an art project, the baby finds it fascinating. And they both like kids' music events.
Conversely, I include the preschooler in playing with the baby - together, we sing songs to her and when the older kid starts to get bored with the baby stuff, I set her up with her own activity in the play area. She can play by herself for a reasonable amount of time. |