Nannies who participate in shares with infants: how do you do it?

[Anonymous]

I am considering a nanny share for DS once I go back to work in October. He will be 3 months. I would ideally want to share with another child about the same age. I'm a FTM so I can't imagine how one would begin to care for 2 infants at once, even though plenty of people do it all the time. Nannies, how do you do it? How do you juggle two babies? What do you do if one or both is high needs (needs to be held constantly, etc to calm down)? I'm genuinely curious how this works for people. Is a nanny share more difficult with two infants, or is it harder with two mobile kids, or one mobile and the other not? Do you expect to be paid more for young infants than with older kids?

[Anonymous]

you can absolutely find a nanny like this - in my nanny career I have had 4 sets of two infants and never found it to be a problem. sure, there have been rare times when both are crying at once, but that is what happens when you are juggling two infants. I never found it to be a problem and once they hit 6 months old I made sure they were on the same 3 nap a day schedule. finding a nanny experienced with multiples is important - she will likely see two infants as no big deal (which is how I feel). two babies can easily be put down to nap at the same time and fed at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you can absolutely find a nanny like this - in my nanny career I have had 4 sets of two infants and never found it to be a problem. sure, there have been rare times when both are crying at once, but that is what happens when you are juggling two infants. I never found it to be a problem and once they hit 6 months old I made sure they were on the same 3 nap a day schedule. finding a nanny experienced with multiples is important - she will likely see two infants as no big deal (which is how I feel). two babies can easily be put down to nap at the same time and fed at the same time.

Thanks for your feedback. What would a reasonable hourly rate be, per family, for a nanny experienced with multiples? I was thinking $10 an hour per child, max $12. We live in a great, metro accessible location, so we wouldn't require any driving.

[Anonymous]

that would be absolutely fine, I think. I get paid $13/family but I've also been through a series of raises with these families so if you are hoping to keep this nanny long term you would want to factor that into your budget.

there are also a few other things you and the family would need to discuss before finding a nanny - what the sick policy is, who the host family will be, what you will do on nanny sick/vacation days, etc.

[Anonymous]

Why do you want the share to be with another infant vs a toddler? I find it so much easier on everyone when there's an age spread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you want the share to be with another infant vs a toddler? I find it so much easier on everyone when there's an age spread.

Having seen my nanny with a share with infants and having cared for a toddler and infant (my oldest are 14m apart), 2 infants is considerably easier. they get on the same schedule, do the same acitivites, etc. With a toddler and infant, one sleeps 9am and 2pm and the other sleeps at noon and its hard to go anywhere. Its also harder to chase a toddler with a baby in hand.

[Anonymous]

I've done this multiple times. It's much easier like pp said with two infants the same age than kids who have a big age gap. I just get them on the same schedule and we're good to go. I've never had both babies be high needs, always only one. One thing to consider OP, DO NOT spoil your baby. It makes days on both baby and nanny hard because sometimes she does have to attend to the other child and yours will be crying during that time.

[Anonymous]

While I do not know myself personally how a nanny can handle two screaming, hungry, sleepy babies, I do think that the younger a child is, the more the nanny should be financially compensated.

Younger kids need to fed by the nanny as well as changed often.

Even daycares have higher rates for infants vs. toddlers.

[Anonymous]

Some people just don't mind a baby crying until you're able to get to him/her. That's why twin/triplet parents prefer to have an extra pair of hands to help.

I really don't recommend shares for babies. If the parents tried to do it, they'd understand after day one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people just don't mind a baby crying until you're able to get to him/her. That's why twin/triplet parents prefer to have an extra pair of hands to help.

I really don't recommend shares for babies. If the parents tried to do it, they'd understand after day one.

I totally disagree and I'm the PP that said I've been in multiple shares watching infants. it is absolutely amazing watching two infants grow up together! all of my shares have been successful and I've watched them grow from infants to preschoolers. there are nannies out there that can handle it, I love it and really don't think it's rocket science. it's all about being confident and having a schedule

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I do not know myself personally how a nanny can handle two screaming, hungry, sleepy babies, I do think that the younger a child is, the more the nanny should be financially compensated.

Younger kids need to fed by the nanny as well as changed often.

Even daycares have higher rates for infants vs. toddlers.

That's because the law has a higher ratio of caretakers to children in day care. Until they can go to the bathroom themselves.

So if nannies want to be paid more for infants because they "are more work", do thy get paid less as the infant ages?
How long do you pay a nanny a premium for infants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I do not know myself personally how a nanny can handle two screaming, hungry, sleepy babies, I do think that the younger a child is, the more the nanny should be financially compensated.

Younger kids need to fed by the nanny as well as changed often.

Even daycares have higher rates for infants vs. toddlers.

That's because the law has a higher ratio of caretakers to children in day care. Until they can go to the bathroom themselves.

So if nannies want to be paid more for infants because they "are more work", do thy get paid less as the infant ages?
How long do you pay a nanny a premium for infants?

There's no standard for anything in the nanny world. Just about everything is up to each nanny and the potential employers.

[Anonymous]

Some nannies work only with babies and will move on at a certain point.